Added 200 Watts of Solar to my 'B'

Len and Jo · Jul 2, 2015

Finished my van upgrade to more complexity (or is it just a higher toy level??).

Not really a bad job considering that the van was not pre-wired for solar, nor that there were roof attachments for solar, or that the van top is a Sportsmobile Penthouse Top (moves up and down).

Added two 100 watt panels and a MPPT charge controller. Project tooks two days to complete once I had the panels.

Rene T · Jul 2, 2015

Nice job. How many batteries do you have?

Len and Jo · Jul 2, 2015

Two new gulf cart 6v batteries for ~205 Ah.

Len and Jo · Jul 9, 2015

Have basically run the van refrig (nothing else though) off of the 200w of solar I installed a week ago. I get about 1.5 hours of direct sun each day. Sun gets above the east tree line about 11:30am and sets on the west tree line about 1:00pm. I did take the refrig off line for 2-3 hours over this 7 day period to chk some voltages and current draws. Not enough sun to really top off the house batteries but they are still getting at least 90%+ of charge by early afternoon.

Glad we got 200 watts and a MPPT controller. Have to play around some more but I don't think my battery charger and the Renogy 20A controller want to be friends but have only put them together for a few minutes to date. Have to run them both at the same time a lot more and figure out what is happening.

Our 3.2cf 110v AC requires our inverter to be on all the time: 24 hour day: 0.9A x 24 + 4.1A x 5.5 = 44Ah per 72F day. One of the 7 days the refrig only drew 31Ah because of cool day and cooler night.

Of course in hot weather more sun would be needed for the solar to keep the house batteries charged for the refrig.

Renogy · Jul 17, 2015

Nice setup you've got going, especially since it wasn't pre-wired for solar. Good job

Len and Jo · Jul 24, 2015

We just got back from an 11 day trip and had a chance to test the solar panels. When it was really sunny and clear the 200w panels would through the MPPT controller be putting 160-170 watts into the house batteries. Two or three hours of that plus the lower levels on input during partial shade would recharge the house batteries from the refrigerator and light (LED's) usage for the previous 24 hours. Very nice.

This was in Michigan, north of the 45th parallel, and 50ish percent humidity. I did climb up to the roof every morning and clean them and give them a kiss.

The panels we bought were Renogy and the controller is also a Renogy.

Len and Jo · Jul 27, 2015

For my fellow retired engineer types...... This shows my 200 watts of series wired MPPT controlled solar panels in the woody north east. This is also about the 45 parallel for the sun angle.

Added 200 Watts of Solar to my 'B'

Len and Jo

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