Enclosed trailer power

[tgconstruction]

Hey guys, first time visiting site. Hope this hasn’t been addressed and I missed it.
Looking for help powering my enclosed trailer outfitted for general construction.

I would need a few plugs for charging Milwaukee and DEWALT batteries, phones, other 110 needs. I also want lights for when I’m not hooked up to the truck or shore power.
I was thinking a battery bank with an inverter, set up to charge batteries when I’m on a job site that has shore power? 70% of the time I’ll be able to hook up to shore power, but want the battery set up for when I’m it’s not available.
I can frame, trim, and tile anything in the world but when it comes to electricity and low voltage I’m 101. Assume I’m completely electrical illiterate(which isn’t much of a stretch)
Thanks in advance

 

[nadogail]

In addition to Solar Panels and a Battery Bank, a small engine to spin an alternator will help you be independent of the Grid.

 

[mike93lx]

You'd need to figure out what your power draw will be and how long you want to support that draw for. The you can size your inverter and battery bank.

There are some pretty slick setups from companies like jackery, eco flow and anker that are all self contained. Just plug and play. They can charge from solar or a shore power connection, they have on board metering and you can often parallel them in the event you find it's not enough.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V6TF3M2/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Another option is a small generator. A 2-3kw 120v inverter will be very quiet

 

[fitter30]

100lb propane tank holds 23 gallons and a lp / gas generator

 

[Bert_]

Plug it in when you can, generator for when you can't. Power tool batteries just get enough that you can charge at home.

 

[BreeStephany]

I've got a jobsite trailer and I've contemplated doing a similar setup at times, but with an average of 46kWh of load on it per day during the winter, its just easier and MUCH cheaper to bring it to jobsites once temp power is in place or to run it off of a jobsite generator.

If you are just using it to solely charge batteries, phones and small 120VAC loads (not corded power tools, heaters, microwaves, refrigerators, etc.) and run lights, I would recommend using 12VDC lighting and using 12VDC to USB adapters to lower your load on the inverter and then use the inverter solely for charging batteries and powering small 120V loads.

To figure the wattage required for your inverter, take the amperage of all the 120VAC devices you plan on running simultaneously, multiply it by the voltage (120VAC) which will give you power in watts. For a bit of wiggle room on future changes that may occur in loads, I would recommend multiplying your wattage by 125% (1.25) to figure out what size inverter you need.

From this, take the wattage of the inverter multiplied by the number of hours you wish to run solely off of the batteries to determine the watthour rating of your 12VDC battery bank.

I would recommend wiring a low-voltage cutout controller that monitors the voltage of the batteries so that if they drop below 10.5VDC, it will open a 12VDC control supply to a high amperage solenoid that is wired in series between the battery and the inverter. You do not want to drain your 12VDC batteries below 10.5VDC or it can damage them long term.

You can wire in a battery charger powered off of shore power to monitor and charge the batteries when connected to shore power or generator power and then wire in a 12VDC solar charge controller connected to your solar panels which monitors and charges the batteries as well.

As others have said, there are pre-built options available for this purpose that have options for solar and shore power charging, battery monitoring and inverting of 12VDC to 120VAC that may suit your needs, but they do come with a higher price tag than DIY options.

For my purposes, my 120VAC loads are just too high to run off of 12VDC battery power and given the size of my trailer and that storage space for tools is at a premium, a large battery bank just is not an option for me. I may consider adding a 12VDC battery, battery tender and installing 12VDC LED lighting in the trailer at some point so I can have lighting in the trailer when not connected to shore power, but for me and my purposes, my 120VAC loads are just too high to rely on anything but shore / generator power.

Just my two cents.