Solar Advice Please

[Paul & Holly]

I want to add about 160W of solar to my 2009 30' Classic with the plan of keeping my existing batteries and using the 10 gauge pre-wiring to the battery busses. We only need to "top-off" our batteries as we are only using water pump, led lights, and 12v controls only for fridge.

Does 160W should appropriate?

Can someone recommend source of a kit for this with panels narrow enough to fit lengthwise on the roof? Also appropriate controller. Can the controller be mounted on the wall near where the pre-wire is in the refrigerator enclosure?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Paul

[NoResults]

Try AMsolar.com They seem to sell more RV Solar than anyone and have loads of information on their website.

They seem to get recommended a lot on this site.

Dave

[AWCHIEF]

Everybody will name their favorite suppliers. Here is mine,

https://www.renogy.com

[dznf0g]

I think 160W will be marginal to keep the batts full. You say fridge and water pump only....but you'll need lights, etc. intermittently. I am fully LED and being very energy stingy, I use about 30 - 40 Ah per day. My 160 watt panel will put out 8ish amps at solar noon and an average of probably 5.5 amps per day for about 7 hours. That would barely keep up with demand. Add a couple cloudy days and I am upside down and can't catch up. And keep in mind, I have 6 gauge wiring from my portable panel.

I added a 100 watt panel to the roof, also with 6 gauge wiring. I can now keep up with demand most all the time.

Your controller should be as close to the batteries as possible in order to minimize voltage drop of regulated controller output.

[Trailbob]

We have a dealer installed 145W panel on the roof of our AS connected with the factory 10 ga wiring. Originally, the dealer installed a Go Power PWM controller on the wall near the fridge (in the center of the trailer)-- and the system never worked well. I don't think I ever saw the the batteries up to 100% while camping.

This year I removed the dealer installed controller, and replaced it with a Bogart SC2030 PWM controller which is mounted in the front left compartment where the main battery cables enter the trailer (close to the batteries). I put a Trimetric monitor where the Go Power controller had been located. We have 2 6V batteries for 220ah capacity (and we bring a propane converted Honda 2000 for microwave use or back-up charging).

We used the trailer on a hunting trip in mid September this year, and parked in an open area. With mostly sunny skies, the 145w roof panel would charge from a morning low of 89% to 100% by late afternoon. The lowest we ran the batteries down to was 82%. With partly cloudy skies, and with the addition of a 90w portable panel for part of the day (connected directly to the trailer's SC2030) we charged to 99%. On a day with mostly cloudy skies, I didn't log the low but we charged up in the 90's% with some additional use of the portable.

On another late September trip, this time camped in the trees (but sunny skies), we were able to bring the batteries up to, or near, 100% daily by using the 90w portable panel to follow the sun.

After using this set up, I came to a few conclusions for our use (YMMV):

-For fair weather camping in an open area, we could go indefinitely with the 145w roof panel set up described above. Additional panels would be needed in other than ideal conditions.

-The addition of a portable solar panel (connected directly to the trailer's controller) was very useful. While my current one is 90w, I would probably go 120 or 160w if I did it again.

-If doing it over, I would not have gone with the single 145w panel, it makes it awkward to add additional roof panels. I would have preferred one or two 100w panels (one on each side of the roof), leaving room to add additional panels if needed in the future. (But I don't know if the factory wire would support two 100w panels.)

Eventually we would like to run larger wire from the roof to the controller, and install another 100 or 200 watts on the roof. But our system does currently meet our needs in the conditions described above.

[Cyclist]

Re: "-For fair weather camping in an open area, we could go indefinitely with the 145w roof panel set up described above. Additional panels would be needed in other than ideal conditions."

We have a similar set-up with a dealer installed Go Power 155 watt panel and controller. Our system has performed quite well; our only change has been to Lifeline AGM batteries (group 24). We have dry camped for as long as nine days at a time running only off solar but this has been in Arizona or southern Utah with sunshine every day (with some furnace use at night). We eventually bought a generator (Yamaha 2000) for less than perfect weather or when camped in shade. We do not have an inverter other than a portable one to charge cell phones/laptops.

We have also considered a portable panel and may go that route as well as it would be useful when the roof mounted panel is shaded or not at an optimal angle.

[switz]

We were able to install five rigid 100 watt solar panels on the roof of our 2015 23D International Serenity and nine rigid 100 watt solar panels on the roof of our 2014 31' Classic. We used #2 copper wiring.

We have a 300 amp-hour lithium battery in the 23D and a 600 amp-hour battery in the Classic. The hybrid Magnum MSH-3012 can augment our 2000 watt propane powered Honda generator and run the air conditioner in the 23D when needed. The Magnum MS-2812 in the Classic can start and run an air conditioner for an hour or so.

We have seen 26 to 27 amps charge rated in the 23D and close to 50 amps in the Classic on bright days. It all depends on what your power requirements are and how much you wish to spend.

The dealer installed 155 watt panel our 2013 25FB International Serenity could NOT recover the battery power from the furnace running over night even in bright sunshine. We needed one Honda 2000 watt generator running to recharge the stock batteries for the next night furnace operation.

[keeponcampin]

Originally Posted by Trailbob

"This year I removed the dealer installed controller, and replaced it with a Bogart SC2030 PWM controller.... I put a Trimetric monitor where the Go Power controller had been located. We have 2 6V batteries for 220ah capacity."

I also use the Bogart Engineering SC2030 controller and TM2030 monitor with 300w solar flat on the roof and 2 6v batteries for 220AH storage. I run a 12v Dometic compressor fridge/freezer 24/7 as well as LED lighting. Charge phone, computer and camera as needed.

I boondock 2-3 months at a time and have never needed shore power and dont have a generator.

Search "handybobsolar" he'll tell you how to make solar work.

Greg
"Where Trees Outnumber Man is a Good Place"

[Trailbob]

Originally Posted by keeponcampin

Search "handybobsolar" he'll tell you how to make solar work.

I've also learned a lot from "Handy Bob Solar". In fact, it was through reading his blogs that I figured out why the dealer installed solar controller never charged the battery properly. I only wished I had read his blogs before I bought the AS and had solar installed. It would have saved me a lot of time and money.

[McDave]

160 watts has functioned adequately for several years to keep the batts charged up in my 23' "energy efficient" Flying Cloud. We watch movies at night and run the lights and stove exhaust fan, but everything except for refrig controls and what other auto controls there may be are turned off at night. We turn on the furnace just before we get up in the morning. On a trip through Canada where it was cloudy and rainy all day for several days, the batts started running down, and I was glad we had a backup generator.


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