Portable Solar for occasional use

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StephenM

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Good morning,

Most of our trips will be in the upper mid west and Ontario Realistically we will boondock for maybe 10-12  nights a year due to needing electric hooks for air con. On these trips we will spending most of our time outside and use LED lights, furnace and water heater frugally. The on board genset will be used for a while in the morning and evening if needs be.

From speaking offline with Kevin Means and a few solar experts I have judged that a 150w to 200w system is what I need to start.  I would love a roof system but that is not something I can afford to have installed professionally and do not want to undertake this myself (maybe in a few years time).


Has anyone gone down the portable route? and if so would love to hear how.you have gotten on with it.

Also if I started with one 80 to 100w system and got another can I hook both up to my battery bank?

Thanks in advance,

Stephen








 
The first thing that occurs to me is that a 100W panel will be something like 24"x48"x 2.5" and you need a way to tote it around as well as some sort of (preferably tiltable) bracket for when it is deployed.
 
The Renogy 100 watt mono panel is 47" x 21.3" x 1.4" and weighs 16.5 lbs. They have 0.13" tempered glass covering them.

When you pick your starter system pay attention to the maximum amperage/wattage that the solar controller can handle to make sure that you will be able to add on the number of panels you want to in the future. Some controllers are designed to be daisy chainable.
 
HI Gary,

I would probably store it under the bed.

Hi Frank,

That makes sense of the daisy chaining.

This is my winter project :)
 
For storage two 80 watts would be better.

Has anyone ever come across the Eco Worthy brand?
 
I have the eco worthy portable for my TC. The wires that it comes with are way undersized ( easy fix) also the controller is subpar. I added the MPPT from eco worthy as well. I use an anderson connector and 6ga wires to connect the panels to the controller, and the I cannibalized a cheap set of jumper cables to connect the controller to the batteries. I see 10 amps to the batteries in nice sun.
 
Thanks Rick,

How much was the controller from them?

Any issues with the legs?
 
Are you happy with it Rick?

Why do you say the controller is sub par?

Do you think the dimensions are true to size as what is advertised?
 
Stephen.

Almost 4 feet long is right, like I said huge. As for the controller, only a tiny light to tell you its working. I want to see what's going on. I was also curious about MPPT controllers and when I bought it, it was only $45.



 

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A small folding table makes an excellent tilting mount for portable solar panels. Sturdy, and easily moved to track the sun throughout the day.

After dealing with multiple small panels daisy chained, I would go with one large one. It's one item to store instead of two or three.

We only boondock two or three times a year, so an expensive solar system doesn't make sense for use. We've gone four days with our portable solar, without running the generator. That's with LED lights and the fridge on propane.
 
Hi Rick,

I have a  trmetric battery motor which will tell me what's going in to the battery.  Would you think I would need a better controller like you have? Also if I could ask the seller can I upgrade the controller.  One other question for you, what do you use to store yours? I read folks on Amazon use the shipping box.

Hi HW,

Great idea with the table.  What kind of system and watts is it?  For me cheaper is better :)

 
Eco worthy have more items on their home page for sale than on Amazon.  They do have 200w folding poly setup for 356$, also they have a 120w Mono one for 273$ but even folded it's 4 foot long.  I was hoping to store the kit inside the house and not the basement.

The 100w mono could be made option also.
 
I store mine on the dinette seat of my TC. I am sure the stock controller is just fine, just my OCD getting the best of me. I do not use it with my fifth wheel, as I have a permanent roof mounted solution for it.
 
That sounds like a great storage idea, I presume you have the dinette made up as a bed?

We carry kayaks in our class A so space while traveling is at a premium. I was hoping to get a system small enough to store it under our bed.

I am leaving heavily towards the 120 watt mono kit.

I have emailed the Amazon seller with some questions.



 
I used the calculator from Go power, it put my weekend usage at about 130amps  and they reommended the 80 watt model.

I had discounted the 120w Go power offering due to cost but the 80watt is affordable to me.  I like the price of the Eco Worthy one but I would need to extend the cable, get Anderson connectors a storage bag so it adds to the price.



 
I ordered the 100w Mono rv kit from Renegy with 20ft of cable for 329$. I like this option as it will let me mount the charge controller where I like and don't need to use crocodile clips.
 
StephenM said:
Are you happy with it Rick?
Why do you say the controller is sub par?
I'm quite sure the portable solar kits you're looking at come with PWM controllers. There's nothing wrong with PWM controllers as long as the solar array they're controlling isn't putting out high voltage. MPPT controllers have the ability to convert excess voltage to amps - PWM controllers don't. And it's all about putting amps back into the batteries.

Kev
 
Hi Kev,

The Renogy one came with a 30A pwm Adventurer controller. 

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-adventurer-30a-pwm-flush-mount-charge-controller-w-lcd-display/

I am glad I got this sorted as can set it up this week.

The Go Power kit was 440$ with an extended cable so saved some cash and got an extra 20w of solar.  The 120w Go power kit was 600$ and Zamp even more.  I like the idea of mounting the controller and not mucking about with battery clamps.



 

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