A Brilliant New Concept!
Several months ago we were contacted by someone who owns an off grid cabin up in the mountains. He knew we do some portable solar and wanted to see if we could provide portable solar power for his cabin. He only uses the cabin in the Summer and Fall and didn't want to leave any equipment outside the cabin over the Winter.
This was a real challenge because he also wanted enough power to run whatever would make the cabin comfortable, similar to an on grid home. Our little EZ-PTG solar generator, along with portable solar panels would not meet his needs.
Since one of Leisure Solar’s main goals is to do whatever possible to make our customers happy, and after much thought, the Power Trailer concept came to life.
The design started with a16 ft enclosed trailer that would have plenty of exterior roof space for the solar panels, and more than enough room inside for the bank of batteries and electronics needed to power the tiny home’s electrical needs, no matter where the home is located.
A bank of 4 Battleborn batteries was placed near the front wall of the trailer, just inside the side door.
2 Victron Power Inverters were installed on the wall above the batteries and a Victron MPPT Charge Controller was installed below the Inverters. The advantage of using a MPPT Charge Controller is that it will charge the batteries, using just the solar panels, twice as fast as the average controller. A Thornwave battery monitor was installed on top of the bank of batteries so that the owner would always know whether or not she had adequate power for her needs. Once the installation had been completed and tested, the trailer would be used to power the electrical needs of the small mountain cabin.
We soon realized the abundant storage space inside the trailer was a bonus, making this new concept an even better investment.
As the trailer was being built, we kept coming up with possible uses for this type of Power to Go. Here are a few ideas we came up with.
Power for a traveling band's sound system, with plenty of room to haul sound equipment.
Power for boondocking with a large RV that needs power for all of its electrical appliances, including the air conditioner. Extra RV storage
The interior of the trailer could actually be used as a camper, will all the power a person could possibly use.
A custom Power Trailer can be built using any size enclosed trailer that would suit the needs of the customer.