New Boondocking Electrical Setup

First off, I'm short enough to be able to have a cot in the bed of my truck. I sleep in it on camping trips. ARE camper shell w/ Bedrug throughout. Built a new electrical system for boondocking. Renogy has a sale on their equipment so I bit the bullet and got the following: 4 12v 100Ah batteries, 1 60A charge controller, 1 2000W Inverter. Already had a Renogy 200W solar panel and knew they made good stuff. Made a battery box out of old bedframe slats, aluminum angle and a piece of plexiglass I had laying around. Bought cabling, lug ends, heat shrink, and lots of solder to custom fit the cabling from Amazon. Installed battery box in very front of bed. Sits about 2 ft in front of rear axle. Installed 4 batteries (260 lbs) in box and wired everything in. Also added color changing led strip lights inside box for ambient light inside camper. I choose red at night for the late night bathroom trips.
Charges aux batteries via alternator while driving, charges by solar panel while boondocking.
4800Wh used to 50% will last about 3 days without recharge even using a 700W microwave and an ice maker. 2 days if I use a Portable A/C unit. Using solar panel keeps it topped off.
Included block diagram of setup and layout. And yes, I have 2 starting batteries under the hood. And the cot fits snuggly over the battery box.

 

Really like this set up! Nice job. I bet it makes camping a breeze

 

Ok, here comes the big question.

Clearly this is f'n awesome. I'd love to have this, and I'd camp waaaay more often if it was in my truck.

But that said, I'm sure you kept tabs on pricing, what's the damage? $3,000? $5,000? Inquiring minds want to know how painful to the wallet this would be.

 

Total cost was less than $2000 with all parts and shipping. Battery box was homemade out stuff I had.

 

Under hood pic.

 

Sweet! Great way to camp with the truck

 

Nice setup. I really like that Renogy DC/DC Charger/Controller.

What's your ice maker? Do you run a 12V fridge?

 

Ice maker is a small countertop model from Walmart, can't remember brand but it's enough to keep up with the ice melt from the cooler. Don't run a 12v fridge, I think it would drain the batteries too quick running all the time and I don't have the room.

 

You’ll love the DC-dc charge controller, I wish I would have done that from the beginning.
You have 400ah in batteries? You could run a fridge for a week without charging!
I have 200w panel, 40amp charge controller and 100ah lipo and it runs my big ass fridge just fine.
My battery and power station are to the right of the fridge. It’s not perfect but it beats needing to bring 4 coolers or having to go buy ice(if your close to a store)

 

Your icemaker runs of 120VAC? You need to check out 12V fridge/coolers. With a 12V fridge/cooler and your set-up, you could eliminate the need for ice, and run almost indefinitely on just your solar panels -- as long as you don't use your AC. If you run the AC, you'd have to run the truck for a couple hours a day.

 

BTW: Here's the 12V compressor fridge/freezer I have (50 liter). I've had it for 3 years (camping only in the summer months) and it's been great. It's completely eliminated my need for ice. I keep it at 33 degrees so my beer is ice cold. I run my camper and this fridge/freezer on 200 watts of solar -- and I make slightly more power than I consume on a clear sunny day.
I'm not affiliated with the seller, just a satisfied customer. I just went there now so I could provide the link in this thread, and I see they have a 30% off sale for the next few days.
That makes it $245 with free shipping -- which is less than I paid for mine!

https://www.bougerv.com/products/12v-portable-car-freezer?variant=44563063800024