How much power do you get off your solar system

[arodriguez60]

This weekend Tamara and I were at Heron Lake State Park in NM. On Saturday I showed the My sisters kids a movie on our projector. On sunday the panel produced 1KW of power to replace what we used that evening and what we were using at the time. I have two 130 watt Sun panels and a Rogue MPPT controller. It has data for the last 31 days of production. It had only produced 500 watts max before.

[DaveFL]

What is your house battery setup? and was that 1kw at 12 or 120 volts?

[TG Twinkie]

KW is Kilowatts. It is a power measurement. The voltage does not matter.
100 amps x 10 volts = 1000 watts = 1 Kilowatt
10 amps x 100 volts = 1000 watts = 1 Kilowatt
It takes a lot bigger wire to handle 100 amps than it does to handle 100 volts and have the same power available.

[arodriguez60]

The amps coming in ranged from 17 amps to 3amps. I was outside and could see the output from the controller. It was a cloudy day and the sun would be covered by clouds off and on.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by arodriguez60

The amps coming in ranged from 17 amps to 3amps. I was outside and could see the output from the controller. It was a cloudy day and the sun would be covered by clouds off and on.

I am having trouble understanding what you are saying.

If the peak reading of the current was 17 amps at 12 volts, the power being produced at that instant was nominally 204 watts or .204 kilowatts. If you want to talk about how much energy was generated for the day, then that is measured in kilowatt hours. So, are you actually saying that 1 kilowatt hour was generated during the day? Assumming 13 1/2 hours of daylight, that would be an average of approx. 6.2 amps thought the day. I am guessing that is what you are saying. Correct?

Regards,

Ken

[arodriguez60]

That is what I am saying. Which was approx. 83 amp hrs

[Inland RV Center, In]

Solar panels are great, but.....

They all have the same problem.

The maximum output depends on the position of the sun, with respect to the panels.

The maximum output will always be when the sun is 90 degrees above the panel.

As that angle changes, the maximum power output will drop.

Therefore, seldom will the panels put out absolute maximum.

Having a "sun chaser" that tilts the panels to keep the 90 degrees, is the way to go, but not for an RV. That only works great for a fixed installation.

Bottom line, is that it's very difficult to determine the total wattage output for a period of hours, as it's constantly changing.

Some owners use 2 or 3 panels, side by side on the roof of their Airstream, mounted facing fore and aft, to better average out the panel outputs.

Then you must make sure that the sun will move from side to side on the trailer, instead of from front to back.

But still, solar panels are the way to go, but like many things in our lives, you have to learn how to use them for optimum performance or rewards, as well as the limitations.

Andy

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by arodriguez60

That is what I am saying. Which was approx. 83 amp hrs

Thanks,

Are your panels on the roof of the trailer or portable. If they are portable, I'd be interested in a picture of how you support them.

Regards,

Ken

[arodriguez60]

My panels are on top of my AS