Upgrading 2023 Micro Minnie 2108FBS for Extended Off-Grid Camping

[bcborn]

Plans for a upgrading our 2023 2108FBS for longer off grid camping is now in the build stage.

We are increasing the 200 watts solar on the roof to 600 watts. Installing a Xantrex 2000XC Inverter Charger, adding a 2nd solar on the side port for a 2nd portable panel (with controller) or for use as a DC port for SAE plug devices (air pump, DC lights etc..) 300Ah Lithium battery and Victron Shunt to monitor all. Adding a stand alone DC fuse panel for any future expansion and a Victron 75/15 MPPT for the portable panel (no controller). Swapping out the Go Power 30A PWM Controller for a Victron 100/50 MPPT as well. Additional to that, I'm adding manual circuit breakers to the Solar Controllers so I can switch is sequence (Battery Power then Solar Power). Fusing at the battery is taken care of with MRBF fuses (250A & 60A) mounted on a 600A buss.

I'm also making a change to the wiring of the OEM Battery Disconnect switch to ensure 99% of the trailers DC circuit is shut down when switch in off position. Added a second disconnect to keep the Xantrex Inverter charger on its own circuit.

The only circuits that will remain live when the OEM Battery Disconnect is switched off, are the 600 watts of roof solar and break-a-way switch.

I revised the under bed storage cabinet to include drawers, battery/DC electrical compartment.

In my case with currently having the battery under the bed/passthru, the battery and ground wires as shown go to left. Once I complete the wiring the battery positive wire (shown in terminal strip photo) will be removed as it will not be needed. Power to the terminal strip will come from the Battery Disconnect wire.

I would like to Thank All those that provided ideas. I would especially like to Thank Fred(Fred2106DS), Jim(Marine359) and Mike(IdahoHunter) for all their input. You guys are a wealth of knowledge'

 

[bcborn]

Here is a revision to the Battery Disconnect Wiring. Had to make a change to ensure Power Center was Fused. I also show flow from battery.

The Mini Auto Reset Breaker have a Battery Side Terminal, Thus the change for wiring the power coming from battery disconnect which connected to top terminal mini breaker #1. It now connects to top terminal of Mini Breaker #4

The 6 Ga wire coming from the Power Center gets shortened and reattached to Top Mini Breaker #1 so it is fused.

 

[bcborn]

Here is the terminal strip change, when putting the Lithium Battery into the Passthrough. Eliminating all existing battery wiring on the tongue. Remember the Break-A-Way wire was relocated to Battery Disconnect, thus the reason it is not shown here.

 

[bcborn]

Completed the wire under the bed and new battery compartment. Next up Pass Thru wiring which entails Victron Solar controllers (75/15 & 100/50), Neg Buss, 6 Way Fuse Panel, 2nd Solar on Side and rewire of the OEM Battery Disconnect

 

[ejrobau]

I am watching your modifications and have a question. On the exterior fuse strip you show input from the exterior solar port. You show it as coming from the controller. However, I think it does not go through a converter and connects directly to the battery so any connection to that port needs a controller. Am I misreading something?

I think the answer is that the one wire shown is joined together behind the shield in the upper driver side corner of the front of the trailer with the wire comding out of the controller, so an exterior controller for the outside port plus the wire coming from the controller delivers a controlled recharge to the battery. So you still need a controller on the plug in exterior port and it is joined with the controller discharge from the roof panels and both charge the battery with a controlled charge coming from two controllers.

I did my conversion a little differently with no inverter. I am still somewhat confused about why the front jack and breakaway switch don't have fuses. I placed them on fuses in my redo.

Just noticed that the jack does have an inline fuse. So, now I have two fuses in my setup. Redundant for sure, so I will change it out. That explains the configuration and answers my own question. Now my remaining question is why no fuse for the breakaway switch. Same answer? Inline fuse?

 

[bcborn]

Yes the solar on side port on the slide side is connected to the terminal strip on frame to get 12 volts power to controller on Portable Panel and to get power from the Portable Panel to charge battery. (To use this port you need a solar panel with solar charger attached).

The battery wires for the OEM Go Power Controller on the door side is for the roof panel (s) and to power this controller. To do so Winnebago spiced into the solar on side port on slide side and behind panel in pass thru as you mentioned.

If you do not have a roof panel, you will likely not have a controller inside and you will not have battery wires over to the typical controller location for the Go Power Controller. You probably will not have the PV wires that go to the roof for roof panels either.

Hope that clears thing up.

 

[ejrobau]

Thanks. I added 200w to the roof myself for a total of 400w. I changed out the controller to an Epever MPPT 40 amp rated controller and have a bluetooth module on it so I could see what is going on with the charger. These were easy upgrades by simply changing the wires and battery location.

Over the past couple of weeks I finally relocated those poorly placed fuses on the tongue and had a couple of remaining questions. I recently realized that there was an inline fuse for the front jack and all that is left is the mystery on why there is no fuse on the breakaway switch. I placed it on a fuse. Don't think it will hurt anything.....I hope.

I also have a 320 amp T rated fuse on the battery and a Victron shunt so I can see what is going on with the battery demands. I carry a generator in the back of the tow vehicle so if things get cloudy, I can charge for a couple of hours in the morning.

I elected to not use an inverter for simplicity. If I need to charge, or use the microwave, blow dryer for my wife, toaster, or the AC I turn on the generator with my remote switch from inside the trailer. My starlink and Sony TV have voltage step up devices on them so they are overhead demand efficient.

I have a portable suitcase with an additional 160w and plan on plugging that in when things get low. In addition, I carry two 100 am hour portable liFePo4 batteries that can be charged by the suitcase setup or my generator. They are lightweight and portable so if I want, I can connect a heated blanket to one of them and leave it at the bottom of the bed for easy access.

The charging regime is no no generator until I need it. If I do need it, it runs for a couple of hours in the morning to do the heavy lifting and then the panels do the rest of the charge. This is because the stock charger on the converter is not quite optimized for the wire size and LiFePo batteries from what I understand. So the generator does the bulk charging with the converter and then the solar panels top it off. I did not want to pull and replace the #6 wire from the converter to the batteries. instead I made the run as short as possible by being aware that the shorter the wire the better. Everything seems to be working fine.

Thanks for the clarification. Your setup is going to be nice.


Thanks for the reply.

 

[bcborn]

Thanks. I added 200w to the roof myself for a total of 400w. I changed out the controller to an Epever MPPT 40 amp rated controller and have a bluetooth module on it so I could see what is going on with the charger. These were easy upgrades by simply changing the wires and battery location.

Over the past couple of weeks I finally relocated those poorly placed fuses on the tongue and had a couple of remaining questions. I recently realized that there was an inline fuse for the front jack and all that is left is the mystery on why there is no fuse on the breakaway switch. I placed it on a fuse. Don't think it will hurt anything.....I hope.

I also have a 320 amp T rated fuse on the battery and a Victron shunt so I can see what is going on with the battery demands. I carry a generator in the back of the tow vehicle so if things get cloudy, I can charge for a couple of hours in the morning.

I elected to not use an inverter for simplicity. If I need to charge, or use the microwave, blow dryer for my wife, toaster, or the AC I turn on the generator with my remote switch from inside the trailer. My starlink and Sony TV have voltage step up devices on them so they are overhead demand efficient.

I have a portable suitcase with an additional 160w and plan on plugging that in when things get low. In addition, I carry two 100 am hour portable liFePo4 batteries that can be charged by the suitcase setup or my generator. They are lightweight and portable so if I want, I can connect a heated blanket to one of them and leave it at the bottom of the bed for easy access.

The charging regime is no no generator until I need it. If I do need it, it runs for a couple of hours in the morning to do the heavy lifting and then the panels do the rest of the charge. This is because the stock charger on the converter is not quite optimized for the wire size and LiFePo batteries from what I understand. So the generator does the bulk charging with the converter and then the solar panels top it off. I did not want to pull and replace the #6 wire from the converter to the batteries. instead I made the run as short as possible by being aware that the shorter the wire the better. Everything seems to be working fine.

Thanks for the clarification. Your setup is going to be nice.


Thanks for the reply.

I recently realized that there was an inline fuse for the front jack and all that is left is the mystery on why there is no fuse on the breakaway switch. I placed it on a fuse. Don't think it will hurt anything.....I hope.

The way Winnebago wired the terminal strip (if your is like mine) both the jack and the breakaway are protected by the auto reset fuses.

If you follow the electrical flow from the power at the top of mini breaker #4 it flows down to the lower terminal and the mini breaker buss bar. The tongue jack and break-a-way are both on the lower buss bar and are therefore fused by #4 mini breaker. Having said that the tongue jack in line fuse was not needed. Having extra of the same size hurts nothing.

In my finished project, I going to move the power wire from the top terminal of Mini Breaker #4 (solar on side (slide side is not protected) to the bottom terminal of mini breaker #1 so the slide side solar on side port is protected (30 Amp). Thinking its over size for my use (but protected), I will put put a 15 - 20 amp inline fuse at the port just inside the pass thru wall. (Both these changes not shown in drawing)

 

[bcborn]

Here is a progress report.

Due to space limitations on the door side of the pass thru for the two solar controllers, I decided to mount the Victron 75/15 on the slide side of the pass thru. I mounted the Victron 100/50 MPPT in pretty much the same area as the old Go Power PWM Controller.

The original Solar on Side Port on the slide side was a 12 Volt source for a portable panel with controller. I removed the solar on side wires from the marrette connections in the pass thru to utilize as PV wires for the Victron 75/15 Controller (Solar Panel without Controller). The power wires from the terminal strip are now a straight power run to the Go Power PWM Controller.

As I'm replacing the Go Power Solar Controller with a Victron 100/50 MPPT Controller for my 600 watts of solar on the roof. The power wires from the battery to the Batt terminals of the Victron 100/50 needed to be #6 AWG.

So to utilize the original 10 Ga power wires in the front wall coming from the terminal strip, I mounted a 2nd SAE Port c/w fuse (Solar on Side) in the same approximate location on the opposite side (door) of the trailer. NOTE: Before drilling locate the vertical aluminum frame location.) This port could be used for a portable panel with a controller of for a 12 Volt source to power any aux equipment (lights, air pump etc.)

There was no change to the original 10 Ga wires in the front wall coming from the roof panel (s) and they are connected to the Victron's PV Terminals. As mentioned the new Victron 100/50 required #6 AWG wire and this wire goes back to the OEM battery disconnect switch and Neg buss bar near slide side of pass thru.

Both Controllers can be shut down with the manual reset circuit breakers at each Controller as can the solar power, by their dedicated manual reset circuit breaker at each Controller.

The battery Compartment wiring remained unchanged and has yet to be tied into the pass thru components (yet to be mounted and wired) along with power for the solar controllers.

All schematics have been revised to reflect the 75/15 solar controller location and wiring. Please refer to this latest posting for the most up to date information.

If any one has questions, I would be more than happy to answer.

 

[bcborn]

Pass thru wiring complete

 

[bcborn]

DC/DC Charger arrived yesterday and installed. To clean up the pos wiring I added a 3 way splitter at the same time.

Last pieces of the puzzle are to tie in the AC wiring from the Converter/Charger to the Xantrex Inverter/Charger and install the two (2) additional 200 watt Go Power Eclipse Expansion Solar Panels on the roof.

 

[klook]

I am watching your modifications and have a question. On the exterior fuse strip you show input from the exterior solar port. You show it as coming from the controller. However, I think it does not go through a converter and connects directly to the battery so any connection to that port needs a controller. Am I misreading something?

I think the answer is that the one wire shown is joined together behind the shield in the upper driver side corner of the front of the trailer with the wire comding out of the controller, so an exterior controller for the outside port plus the wire coming from the controller delivers a controlled recharge to the battery. So you still need a controller on the plug in exterior port and it is joined with the controller discharge from the roof panels and both charge the battery with a controlled charge coming from two controllers.

I did my conversion a little differently with no inverter. I am still somewhat confused about why the front jack and breakaway switch don't have fuses. I placed them on fuses in my redo.

Just noticed that the jack does have an inline fuse. So, now I have two fuses in my setup. Redundant for sure, so I will change it out. That explains the configuration and answers my own question. Now my remaining question is why no fuse for the breakaway switch. Same answer? Inline fuse?

A breakaway switch is not supposed to be fused! It is supposed to apply brakes at all costs!

 

[ejrobau]

I took it off the fuse and connected it to the positive strip of my new fuse box without a fuse. The lift motor was an in line fuse. Everything working perfectly.

Thanks

 

[bcborn]

A breakaway switch is not supposed to be fused! It is supposed to apply brakes at all costs!

This is how Winnebago wires in the break-a-way switch and it is on a circuit breaker. Bottom left of mini breakers

 

[klook]

This is how Winnebago wires in the break-a-way switch and it is on a circuit breaker. Bottom left of mini breakers

So Winnebago can't possibly make a mistake....Google it.

 

[bcborn]

I did read, there could be an auto-reset circuit breaker, but never a fuse.

 

[klook]

That makes no sense. The brakes are on an emergency only circuit. They should never be interrupted by a breaker or fuse, it defeats the purpose.

 

[bcborn]

I get it, makes total sense. If tripped Break-A-Way fails to operate.

Funny it gets past Department of Transportation (DOT) in USA and Transport Canada here.

 

[klook]

As a mobile Tech, I don't look for it. But usually I don't find a fuse or breaker. My last TT had nothing in the line and neither does my 14ft enclosed trailer. But I have seen plenty of melted wires when people think it makes a good parking break.

 

[Morich]

When we begin to consider what we know versus folks who have been doing this for years, I tend to think very hard before saying the experienced pros are the one making the mistake!
In this case, thinking an emergency use item should be fused is not likely to be correct!
There might also be some questions of the wisdom of shutting off propane and CO2 detectors while the RV is stored.
Before making changes that can cause death, we need to ask why a wire or circuit has a fuse. If the wire is not powered until an emergency comes up, what is the idea of putting a fuse in the line going to do for us? The only thing a fuse in a breakaway switch can do is keep the brakes from stopping the trailer if it breaks away and that is NOT a good thing!

The detectors are left powered to keep us from coming back to an RV full of propane when we open the door! Also not a good thing to risk!
It's a little bit like driving drunk? It may seem like fun and we can make all kinds of excuses but will the court buy those excuses?