supermanotorious is FINALLY going solar!

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supermanotorious

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Joined
Jun 29, 2015
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592
Location
Phoenix, AZ
and why not?! my advanced inverter installs take care of 95% of the work in a "solar" project, in fact all I need is the charge controller and the panels with wiring.

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,96811.msg913533

what are your thoughts on these panels? any other panels you can recommend? I'm not asking how many, etc, but which are the ones to go with?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009Z6CW7O
 
That panel should work as well as any other 36 cell panel.  The ones you want to avoid are the 32 cell panels - their working voltage is marginal for fully charging 12 volt batteries, especially when they get hot.
 
I recently bought some 160 watt panels from Home Depot for around $200 on sale. 

They shipped to the store near me at the time and I picked them up with no shipping charges.

Just posting because I thought it was a good price.
 
I hope that this post does not seem like throwing cold water on a product.

Be sure that you understand the details on those panels.

They are residential panels and that website seems to show them mounted in a grid on a supporting framework.

They are also fairly large at 39.4 inches by 78.46 inches or about 3.5 feet by 6.5 feet.

The 24 volts is not a problem as long as you use a MPPT charge controller that will reduce the voltage going into a 12 volt bank or a 24 volt bank.

I am not saying not to use these, but be sure that you understand the specs.
 
Duly noted. I have mapped out my roof and can actually fit them fairly comfortably.
 
Desert_Rat said:
Duly noted. I have mapped out my roof and can actually fit them fairly comfortably.

edit: I asked quite a number of strangers who the best manufacturer of PV was,and  I was directed to Solarworld by the majority of them. American made (extremely important to me), and top notch quality. The fact they had these behemoths was icing on the cake.
 
I like the idea of the 24 panel, I'll have to do a cost analysis to see if that plus a converter is more affordable than buying 3 100W panels
 
I'm pretty sure that on cost balancing, a 24v 100w panel is cheaper then a 12v 100w, on its own.

Cheaper cabling and termination against a wash in cost for mppt and inverter. Fuses and breakers are 24v. The question really is, in what setup is a 12v system less expensive?
 
well $1/watt is fine by me, these seem to be the best deal on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V4844F4

I was looking at AIMS converters and seemed it all was a wash

Luckily I'm in no rush to get this installed but we are going to Yellowstone in March and I'd like to have it done by then

more research to do

if you look at my other threads you'll find that once I put my mind to something, it gets done rapidly and professionally
 
well if you saw from my other posts, we did Zion instead of Yellowstone this month and it was our first test of the new battery bank

the bank didn't perform as well as I had hoped and there are some things to fine tune like the extra long run from the converter to the battery bank

but I decided to really start purchasing the panels, the first showed up today, I plan to buy 1 per paycheck then maybe buy the charge controller/battery monitor over 2 paychecks so I dont have to finance any of this

it was putting out 22.3V in less than full sun this morning but I cant tell you how many watts

I'm excited to get this project installed and start reaping the benefits
 
"finally" is a loose description, today I ordered 3 more panels and the battery monitor, the charge controller should be here today or tomorrow, I'm on the fence with mounting the panels, roof mount seems ideal but my dad made a point, we generally like to camp in the shade, he suggested I fabricate a collapsible frame to position the panels on the ground, so they can be moved around to ideal sun exposure, but that also invites theft, I dunno

we're going camping this weekend and hopefully I'll be set up to charge and monitor the battery bank by then, who knows, I may work on it while we're camping
 
I got the charge controller today and pre-wired it for the battery bank, all I'm waiting on is the monitor to arrive tomorrow, the shunt is ready to be installed which will complete the bank to charge controller circuit, still trying to decide what to do for the panels but for this weekend, they'll likely be on the ground, or sitting loose on the roof, better not forget to take them down before leaving camp!! Once the shunt is installed, I'll snap a few pics to post
 
I have the shunt/monitor installed! Waiting for the other three panels to show up but otherwise it's all connected. I'm not sure how to configure the Victron BMV-700. My batteries are Interstate RC105    Ah: 20 hr @ 210 and I have 4 of them wired in series/parallel, what do I enter for total/desired amp hour?

System Voltage: 6V + 6V = 12V
System Capacity = 210AH + 210AH = 420AH  ????

ALSO, given these batteries, can anyone provide the values I should enter for Charged Voltage, Tail Current, Charged Detection Time, and Charge Efficiency Factor?
 

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welp, I had to read the manual a few times and watch a couple videos on Youtube but I got some rough parameters to put in there, already learned my fridge is the amperage theif! it's propane only when boondocking from now on, unless the genny is on
 
Everything is going pretty well. I realize my converter is not directly attached to the negative post on the battery bank, I believe it is frame grounded so that activity is not getting captured by the monitor. So, should I run the converter ground to the shunt, or, provide frame ground via the shunt? I believe the latter would also capture the tongue jack etc.
 
Again I answer my own questions, I disconnected the battery to frame ground and all went dead confirming the converter is frame ground. I moved the ground wire so it goes from frame to shunt, now all wattage/amperage use is getting tracked except for starting the genny.
 
The panels performed so well, I wish I got them sooner. Maybe this coming weekend I'll get them permanently installed. Here you can see the crazy pollen that accumulated on them at Dogtown Lake.
 

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I've kind of hit a wall now that I have all the components. I have half a mind to fabricate brackets to mount the panels, the sort that would allow me to prop them up one way or the other to track the sun, and half a mind to just buy some, leaving me jammed up.

Also, as for running the wires in to the cabin, I would likely use the refer vent but then what? I would probably have to run cable covers across the face of interior walls and I'm just not looking forward to that.
 
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