Our first trip out with the FLX - a short review.

[Speedbump]

Originally Posted by BingoFuel

I see, I wasn’t even thinking about inverter vs no inverter, just meant shore vs no-shore power. Only had the rig a week so I’ve yet to explore everything. Guess I need to “get in the books.” Really just need a quick start guide of some kind. After reading threads for hours I still don’t know like, when should I turn battery off, put the Xantrex in standby, basic daily useage etc. Thanks for the reply.

Some of this may help. https://youtube.com/@speedbumpmedia9584

[BingoFuel]

Nice, I’ve actually been watching your videos for the past few weeks. Thanks for those, definitely a big help having so much specific detail and experience.

[Marine359]

BingoFuel,
It would worthwhile for you to take an energy audit to determine how many watthrs you consume in a day. Knowing this number gives you the info you need to set your Xantrex, adjust the usage of appliances, and decide when you have exhausted your solar charging capabilities, and need to start a generator.. pick any hour of day. Record battery SOC, then 24 hrs later record SOC again. Change parameters of consumption,, and tinker until you’re comfortable with your consumption versus power production. Dry camping requires some thought. You have an incr3dible camping machine, but it’s not like living at home attached to the grid.

[RocknRoll]

Originally Posted by Marine359

BingoFuel,
It would worthwhile for you to take an energy audit to determine how many watthrs you consume in a day. Knowing this number gives you the info you need to set your Xantrex, adjust the usage of appliances, and decide when you have exhausted your solar charging capabilities, and need to start a generator.. pick any hour of day.

Excellent suggestion Jim.

When I first started out, I purchased a Power Watchdog surge protector+EPO. The reason I picked this one is because it has a Bluetooth app that not only tells you the condition of the power but tells you exactly how much you're using over any length of time. Pricey but highly recommended.

https://youtu.be/SZ1v_ddiF3A?t=93

[BingoFuel]

Sounds good, I think the lithium battery app has most of that information. So far have just been running ac with some lights on. Unfortunately somehow the app is telling me my battery was drained to 1% despite the xantrex app saying 25% and trailer panel saying 75%. Only thing that had been on was the inverter, my sister ran the ac/tv for a few hours, and bam. Hoping it’s not that bad.

Could that have exceeded the Xantrex’ limit given the load of the truma and tv together? Manual for Truma says 3000w is recommended for power usage/source. Can I plug in my flx with an adapter to house 120/20amp plug with an adapter to boost charging? Thanks.

[BingoFuel]

Turns out they only ran ac and tv for 30 min. It’s been pretty sunny too, double checked all loads were secured as well. Have a B1 error on solar control panel, have to check that out

[BingoFuel]

Looks like the most likely culprit was me having the Xantrex panel off of standby mode and active. I didn’t know the battery charged on standby mode which is why I had it off of standby. Sure didn’t take long to run the battery completely down. I think I’ll have to call the battery folks as I doubt it’s as simple as recharging once you almost completely discharge it. I was hoping there was some kind of protection built in.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by BingoFuel

I was hoping there was some kind of protection built in.

I don’t know the Xantrex product, but my inverter has a LVCO (low voltage cut off) setting and I’d think yours would too. You tell the inverter to shut down when the battery reaches X voltage.

It’s a bit difficult to set properly, you have to anticipate short voltage dips from the A/C and the microwave but once properly setup it does protect your battery.

[Marine359]

Be aware that a 20amp 120v outlet can deliver only 2400w (120x20). Can’t believe the Truma actually uses 3000w although a 3000w inverter may be recommended. But you should program Xantrex to zero charging amps so all of the available incoming amperage from your 20amp SP connection ca be passed through. If the Truma runs only on 12v disregard this and program Xantrex to charge battery to max amperage

[BingoFuel]

Thank you for the replies, I will look into the low-voltage cut off. As of right now I’m not worried about running the AC, I had just been turning the AC on so that I could hang out in there for a few minutes, and I am showing some friends the rig, I’m more concerned about recharging. The battery in the manual says that if you do plug into an AC source that it has to have a neutral so I’m going to check on that and make sure I have the appropriate extension cord.