The Tiny Tillson Teardrop Trailer (T4)

[BLTillson]

On the electrical side of things...

The only thing I caught was no disconnect between your panel and the controller. Without that, if you disconnect your battery, you can damage some controllers. Certainly my Renogy works that way.

Tony

Tony, I was looking into what you said and reviewing the thread from my posting in electrical questions and I think I am covered. I have the rotary switch that isolates the charge input between solar, shore and vehicle. The only instance where I see an issue is if the battery is disconnected while the rotary switch is set to solar charge. This is a rare event and I would need to turn the rotary to the off position before disconnecting the batterie(s). A simple warning note in the battery box would avoid that situation. Am I seeing this right?

[BLTillson]

A little progress note and picture. I am getting ready to order the water tank from Plastic-Mart. I had been holding off being that it was a fairly expensive item. Oops, it's $20 more than when I first decided on this tank. It was special because I had little space for it, only 5" deep. I found a 35" x 19 1/2" x 4 3/4" fresh water tank. That is 11 gallons. Since we will not be doing much boondocking this will be enough. We also have a little Berkey that will filter any additional water we need. I finally got the plans looking good and have the pipes routed and protected.

Water Tank Detail.png (322.84 KiB) Viewed 229 times

[S. Heisley]

A little progress note and picture. I am getting ready to order the water tank from Plastic-Mart. I had been holding off being that it was a fairly expensive item. Oops, it's $20 more than when I first decided on this tank. It was special because I had little space for it, only 5" deep. I found a 35" x 19 1/2" x 4 3/4" fresh water tank. That is 11 gallons. Since we will not be doing much boondocking this will be enough. We also have a little Berkey that will filter any additional water we need. I finally got the plans looking good and have the pipes routed and protected.

Water Tank Detail.png

Berkey went out of business at the end of 2023, but they transfered their filter business to a company called Boroux. (Spelling may be incorrect.) Those filters will fit your Berkey tank and work just as well.

[BLTillson]

Berkey went out of business at the end of 2023, but they transfered their filter business to a company called Boroux. (Spelling may be incorrect.) Those filters will fit your Berkey tank and work just as well.

Oh wow, I did not know that. It's surprising since is is such a wonderful filter. We have been using them for many years. We have a space set of filter for our big home version but not the camping version. Thank you so much for that information.

[BLTillson]

Little update. I finally made models for the new doors. At first, I was going to make my own doors but as time went on and the complexity of the project grew I decided to buy factory doors. Here is what it looks like with the new doors:

New Drawing with Doors.png (70.09 KiB) Viewed 145 times

Once I have reworked and finalized the galley hatch I will post the new pics of that.

[tony.latham]

This is a rare event and I would need to turn the rotary to the off position before disconnecting the batterie(s). A simple warning note in the battery box would avoid that situation. Am I seeing this right?

I have the rotary switch that isolates the charge input between solar, shore and vehicle.

If I understand your plan, that switch is between the controller and the battery--that will damage some controllers if the panel(s) are in the sun. Renogy controllers for sure, perhaps others.

There needs to be a switch between the controller and the panels.

I put a cutoff switch on the charging line between my vehicle and the battery. I've turned it on once to ensure it was working. During daylight, whether parked or on the road, the solar system chugs away and tops it off by noon or so. If I ever build another teardrop, it won't have a charging line from the vehicle.

But perhaps I misread your post?

Tony