Solar Power

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JiminDenver said:
Mike

I'm with you on the campground thing. We wanted all of the modern niceties after roughing it while camping for decades but one trip crammed into a spot where you could hear the people softly talking around their camp fire a few spots away and we headed back to the hills.

I'm hoping to get my system installed this summer if the weather ever clears. we have had one week between the spring storms and the summer monsoon season so it will be a bit here and there. Right now I am witing for the lugs for the 1/0 wire I have.

We have three 250w GT panels ran by a Morningstar TS-MPPT-60. Even though it isn't mounted we can still use all or part if the weather clears. I did run a test of the system and the 5000 BTU air conditioner on one of the hottest days so far. The system ran it directly from 11 am to 3 pm with no drop in voltage on the battery. It will also power a hot plate using 470w, a 400 watt heater or adds a big assist in running the larger items like the microwave.

Here is the driveway test of the air conditioner. The panels are flat as they will be mounted. They pushed 45a all day but they are in series, parallel will push more and keep the controller cooler. Tracking the system would be good for over 55a.

Hi

My goal would be to have enough panels to run a single roof AC.  My single AC system pulls about 1600 watts.  Rough math tells me I need 130 amps if not more from my solar array. 

Thats like a 2400 watt system.  I am running almost a 600 watt system and my meter shows me about 35 amps max into my battery bank.

Maybe I am reading it wrong but are you really running an ac unit off pure solar?  My units are from 2001.  I have no idea if new ac units pull less power.

Thx for your time.
 
Trivet said:
This website won't allow me to view it unless I disable my ad blocker.  It says:

"Due to large number of people using ad block like programs we require that they be disabled so that Mopar1973Man.Com can generate income."

It depends on your Internet Explorer and not the website !
Get Mozilla Firefox, much quicker then MS Explorer ! ;)
 
Willie1971 said:
Hi

My goal would be to have enough panels to run a single roof AC.  My single AC system pulls about 1600 watts.  Rough math tells me I need 130 amps if not more from my solar array. 

Thats like a 2400 watt system.  I am running almost a 600 watt system and my meter shows me about 35 amps max into my battery bank.

Maybe I am reading it wrong but are you really running an ac unit off pure solar?  My units are from 2001.  I have no idea if new ac units pull less power.

Thx for your time.

I am running a tiny A/C straight off of the solar but to go any larger it would make sense to switch to a mini split system as they are so much more efficient. I've seen 9000 BTU mini splits that used 677w and that was with a SEER rating of 15. I'm told you can get them with SEER ratings of 30 so you could replace the cooling ability of your roof air for a lot less power. Considering the roof airs are designed for use with hook ups and profit margins, they are not very efficient at all.

So either invest in a huge system and bank to match or the air conditioner that will be usable with a smaller system and bank.
 
legrandnormand said:
It depends on your Internet Explorer and not the website !
Get Mozilla Firefox, much quicker then MS Explorer ! ;)
I do have Firefox. 

The issue is that the website won't allow people who use ad blockers to view it because, as the pop-up window I got from the website says, it won't make any money from those views.  Which makes me wonder if this thread was started in the first place to drive clicks there.

Personally, I equate ad blockers with fast-forwarding through TV commercials.
 
Ads on web sites are what allow us to have so much good information available to us at no cost to ourselves.  Your accusation that Michael is using this topic to drive traffic to his web site and get clicks on ads is completely unfounded and uncalled for.  If he had a Pay button instead of the ads, would that be more satisfactory to you? 
 
We have a large teardrop trailer, I know kind of an oxymoron, with a 185 W high voltage panel intended for a grid tie system that is tied into a Moringstar MPPT controller which feeds a 150AH Lifeline . Typically I see 30+V even when shaded. We spent eight days on the north shore of Lake Superior in a site with maybe one hour a day with full sun on the panel. At the end of the eight days we were are 64% SOC.
The tear has all LED lights and a 300W Morningstar SureSine inverter which powers the TV/DVD chargers for camera and laptop battery. Six gallon water heater is DSI.
 
Ned said:
Ads on web sites are what allow us to have so much good information available to us at no cost to ourselves.  Your accusation that Michael is using this topic to drive traffic to his web site and get clicks on ads is completely unfounded and uncalled for.  If he had a Pay button instead of the ads, would that be more satisfactory to you?
I didn't accuse Michael of starting this topic to drive traffic to his revenue-generating website; I just reported that I wondered if that's what was going on.  Because I see a post that says, "Hey, come look at this" and find out that I can't look at it unless I change my viewing preference to allow him to earn income.  And it's not like there's a dearth of threads on solar setups.

I don't have an objection to the existence of ads on websites, although I choose not to have them on my own website and instead just absorb the cost myself.  But to say that there is "no cost to ourselves" isn't really seeing the whole picture.  For one, I feel that having to look at ads is a cost to myself (which is why I use an ad blocker), but for another, especially on this forum, there's a huge cost to ourselves in the time and effort we put into writing posts that help other people out.  If thousands of people didn't volunteer their time, forums like this wouldn't exist.

I make the choice to give in that context, as well as with my own website.  I understand that others don't, and that's why paywalls and ads exist.  But I try to be alert to click bait.

 
We're looking to buy a solar power kit - do any of you know if the quality of the online products (e.g. Grape Solar) is about the same as the ones you find at the dealers (e.g. Go Power or Zamp)?  Looks like online they offer the same warranty?  If we can do it ourselves, we'd go that route, just wondering if there's other factors aside from price we're not considering...  Thanks
 
Personally, I am not a big fan of kits as they lock you into components of their choosing and of course their brand.  A better system will be had by going a  la cart.
 
I am in total agreement with gizmo. I had a lot of "intellectual" help installing my system, from a guy named Bob Shearer (aka Handy Bob), who helped me pick and choose my components, but I did all the physical work myself. When you determine your specific needs/wants in a solar system, I think you're much more likely to get a system that best suits your needs if you pick and choose the components.

As far as which parts to buy, stay with the brand names and you'll be OK. That may mean that you'll end up paying a bit more, but at least the company will be around if you need support/warranty work. A lot of bargain-basement solar panel companies popped up in recent years, only to go out of business due to cut-throat competition.

Kev
 
Kits can be ok but by the time you understand enough to know what kit meets your needs, you will want to build something custom because it will meet your needs better.

 
My 2 cents worth.

I spent 3 three months in the winter in Key West off the grid.

Last summer I installed solar.
https://plus.google.com/photos/100134941818677618372/albums/6045203904154119489?authkey=CJzQzvLw57a7CQ

Jim in Denver found a local installer selling left over panels for $1/watt.  I got a single 245 watt panel.  Thanks Jim.

Normally I run the generator about 300 hours for the winter.  This past winter I ran it 43 hours.
 
I have a couple of questions.  Instead of starting a new thread I figure that someone already responding here may have a good answer.

I have a fairly small freezer in the Stacker, ( chest freezer about 1/2 normal size ).  I use it for freezing extra stuff when I am plugged in to A/C.

It is about 4 feet tall 3 foot wide and about2 foot deep.  A regular house type compressor freezer.

I recently bought the 1,250 watt Invertor that MIke sold here as well as the Solar charge controller that he also listed.

I have two of the blue top Optima batteries installed in the Stacker already.

Here is my plan:

I want to used the batteries and Invertor to keep the freezer working all the time. 

When on the road the charge line may, (not sure of the amp draw of the freezer) keep the freezer cold while going down the road.

I also want to put enough panels on the roof or side of the Stacker to make sure that the batteries keep up as well as keep the batteries charged while boon docking.  Again this is mostly for the invertor to power the freezer but also the 12 volt lighta in the Stacker.

This is not for the Coach at all at this time.

Now the questions.  Does anybody have any idea of how much amp draw a small chest freezer will consume?

Any idea about sizing the wattage of panels to keep the two OPtima deep cycle batteries working?

I think that the 1,250 watt invertor will work fine, any dissent or agreement on this?

I will probably get the panels, wiring, and fuse either in Q or maybe from the solar guy at the Slabs while staying in the Fountain of Youth RV resort near there
in October.

This project is basically to allow us to keep plenty of food frozen after the Costco runs.

Thanks in advance.

If the moderators think that this should be broken off to a new thread than certainly do that.
 
I looked up specs on some new freezers.  An 8cu ft freezer pulls 150 watts.

As for the panel size, I cannot guess there.  It depends on how long the freezer compressor is running.
 
Second group of brain teaser questions.

We might need a Rocket Scientist or at least an Electrical Engineer for this one as it is totally different than the last.

Tomorrow I am buying 6 golf cart batteries for the golf cart.  it seems a shame that thiese cannot have a dual use.  Most of the time they are just sitting unless the golf cart is used, ( very rarely and mostly for grandkids or others grandkids).

Now at a minimum I do know that I get 12 volts from the golf cart battery bank for the lights and horn by using the negative post of battery one and the positive post of battery two.

Is there any way to do the same for batteries 3 and 4 and batteries 5 and 6?

Now right away I do realize that there is a voltage difference between negative post 1 and 3, they are not at the same ground level, (one is ground and the other is 12 volts is respect with ground one.  Also the ground at battery 5 is 24 volt with respect to negative post 1.

Now if I rewire them as one big 12 volt bank using normal series/parallel wiring I can certainly do that but it defeats the purpose of dual use without either switches or rewiring every time.

Question for the Electrical Engineer,  Is there a method for isolating the grounds to eliminate the differing voltage levels in the bank?

Idealy I would add a seperate set of cables just like the way the golf cart currently gets its 12 volt supply, but I would do this to three seperate sets of 2 6 volt batteries.  then I would combine these three 12 volt supplies to a common heavy connector, (like the charger plug to the golf cart).  This connector ideally would allow for supplying 12 volts as well as allowing for the charging of the entire battery bank using either solar panels or a 12 volt battery charger.

Hey, I said it was a brain teaser.  If anyone could do it. it must be this group of boondockers.

Again thanks in advance, at least if gets you thinking about it.
 
Thank you Vince,  That was a key element is what I needed to know.  I cannot get to the freezer right now as I am traveling and the cars are in the stacker

Want to take a shot at the Brain Teaser I just posted?
 
That would be 36 volt in series, you could get a 36 volt inverter and use the power. The problem is getting it back up again.
 
If you keep both the positive and negative wires from each set of 2 batteries isolated from the others, you can treat it as 3 separate 12V systems.  Of course, the loads have to be isolated from each other as well.
 
Jim,

You are correct, However I just bought a 12 volt invertor and the real issue is recharging while either using the 12 volt charge line or solar panels or hopefully both to recharge the 6 batteries on the golf cart.

Ned,

Yes isolation is the key to having a seamless battery bank system that does not require reconfiguration of the wiring from one use, ( 36 volt golf cart), to the other use, ( 12 volt battery bank).

I could however use the first two batteries in just the same manner as the lights and horn do now.  Unless I discharge the entire bank equally by finding an isolation method I will probably cause some issue with unequal discharging of part of the battery bank.  However that might not be such an issue because that is what must happen to some extent  when you use the 12 volt equipment right now
 

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