Solar Panel

[jim81147]

We just bought a 5er that has a solar panel set-up . It is a Kyocera 130 watt panel rated for 7.39 amps @ 17.6V . I know nothing about these so my questions are , is this a good brand? is this alot of electricty ? is there any maintenance procedures I should be doing? Thanks for any help you can offer.

[w6pea]

It's a good panel. depending on how many battery's your 5'er has. On my RV I have 6-battery's, 3 -100w panels and a 2.0 Pro-Sine 2000w. Inverter.

I can boondock for as long as it takes me to fill my black tank and grey tank without hook ups.

I have several friends that have that same panel and they swear by them.

Welcome to the forum.....enjoy your 5'er.


If We Can't Haul It.....You Don't Need It ! Motor-T

[jim81147]

The 5er has 1 12V battery . We were wanting to upgrade to more and better batteries but were not sure if the panel had the capability to work more than one battery .The one it came with is not a true deep cycle . I had a thread here about 6 V vs 12 V batteries to help me decide which might be the better fit for me .

[johnnyringo]

Prior to becoming an RVer, we had lived aboard our 40' sailboat. We spent winters in the southern Bahamas anchoring out for 4 to 6 months(kinda like drycamping). I had four 130W Kyrocera panels feeding a 620 amp battery bank (three 4D Lifeline's) regulated by a BlueSky MPPT controler (voltage regulator). That said, the Kyrocera panels are a high quality panel. I would strongly recommend you add a controler if your sure you don't have one. A larger battery bank would also be a valuable addition. A good source for panel and controllers is Affforable Solar. www.affordable-solar.com

[Shadowcatche]

Look at the solar that really works in the boondocking section of this forum Solar That Really Works Lots of information. I just finished installing a 185 W solar system on our teardrop trailer. The trailer was designed to have a very low electrical consumption with LED lights and using computer case fans etc.

[RVRoadTrip]

Kyocera is an excellent brand with an outstanding track record.

[Gary RVRoamer]

7.39 amps is 7.39 amps whether you have 1 battery or 4. If the four are hoked in parallel, they all share in whatever charge is available. The max 7.39 amps times ? hours of full sun gives you the total number of amp-hours (AH) that the panel can charge. In the north you probably have only 5-6 hours where you might get full sun in mid summer, so that is half a battery worth of charging (about 40 AH). In regions where the sun stays high longer, you might get 9-10 hours of good output, so maybe 70 AH.

[Gary - K7GLD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim81147 The 5er has 1 12V battery . We were wanting to upgrade to more and better batteries but were not sure if the panel had the capability to work more than one battery .The one it came with is not a true deep cycle . I had a thread here about 6 V vs 12 V batteries to help me decide which might be the better fit for me .

Your setup SHOULD have a regulator in it - if not, 7.5 amps to a single battery will boil the water out of it in pretty short order - 2 or 3 batteries in a bank would give better reserve power, and lots less likely to be damaged from overcharging...

[jimbo16720]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer 7.39 amps is 7.39 amps whether you have 1 battery or 4. If the four are hoked in parallel, they all share in whatever charge is available. The max 7.39 amps times ? hours of full sun gives you the total number of amp-hours (AH) that the panel can charge. In the north you probably have only 5-6 hours where you might get full sun in mid summer, so that is half a battery worth of charging (about 40 AH). In regions where the sun stays high longer, you might get 9-10 hours of good output, so maybe 70 AH.

You know I hear this all the time about available sunlight in the north being alot less than in the south. I live right by the New York stateline in Pa and the sun is up at 7am and goes down at 9pm in the summer. Granted all that time isn't direct sunlight but that's 14 hrs of sunlight. If you drop 2 hrs from each end that's still 10 hrs of useable sunlight. People make it sound like the sun comes up at noon and down by 6 around here. Any sunlight will generate some power, maybe not the full rated power but it will make power.

[jim81147]

The system does run to a morningstar controller , not sure which model off the top of my head.