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Old 11-26-2016, 04:37 PM   #1
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Solar in place for storage

Now that I have the coach in the new storage facility I have installed my 100 watt solar panel and controller to keep the batteries charge. I fashioned a bracket to hang the panel on the ladder with a cable bike lock to secure it.

The controller is able to charge two battery banks separately and I was able to program the controller for AGM for the house bank and Flooded Cell for the chassis bank.

When I left the coach today, the controller was showing 14.6 V going to the house bank and 13.8 to the chassis. It also showed both banks at 90% of charge.

I am confident this set up will maintain the batteries (I have the main battery disconnects OFF so there is no load on either bank). The coach is winterized now but we will be taking a trip to FL and elsewhere in early Jan and will likely return home by mid March. I will be curious to see if this set up will maintain the batteries if I run the Aqua Hot on diesel to keep me from winterizing again. I am sure the AH burner is a power hog but if I set the temp in the coach to 40-45 maybe it will work.

My first experience with solar so lots to learn.

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Old 11-27-2016, 10:05 AM   #2
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If the Controller has enough watt/amp headroom, keep your eyes out for another sale on that same panel. Adding a second one, would for sure help you if you end up keeping the heater on at that lower temp settings you mentioned.

Old tribal rule of thumb is ~6A per 100W. So say somewhere between 10-12A with optimum sun. (Sure, this will be less in the AM and PM cycles of the sun. And toss in a cloud or two too, and it could be less overall average.) On a pretend winter day, with a few clouds passing over, maybe say 7-8A on average. So 7-8 hours of good 7-8Amps, could give you 49-64 of Amp replenishment.

And of course, all of that is pretend. Your panels orientation to the sun. Efficiency of the panel, and controller, all are some of the unknowns... And figure during your research you did all that, and knew you would be yielding maybe 28-32Amps yield to the battery bank, or maybe as high as 42-48Amps if you yield 6Amps delivered per hour during that time!

Figured since you've engineered a mounting system for one panel, adding a second would be much easier this time around! And not all that expensive, if only adding the panel, assuming the Controller has the headroom to handle it.

Congrats on your storage solution, hope the next months everything proves out well for you....
Smitty

(And take my ramblings with a grain of salt. Your other thread over underling Going Green, have some very knowledgeable Solar posters in the mix!)
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Old 11-27-2016, 10:32 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Smitty77 View Post
If the Controller has enough watt/amp headroom, keep your eyes out for another sale on that same panel. Adding a second one, would for sure help you if you end up keeping the heater on at that lower temp settings you mentioned.

Old tribal rule of thumb is ~6A per 100W. So say somewhere between 10-12A with optimum sun. (Sure, this will be less in the AM and PM cycles of the sun. And toss in a cloud or two too, and it could be less overall average.) On a pretend winter day, with a few clouds passing over, maybe say 7-8A on average. So 7-8 hours of good 7-8Amps, could give you 49-64 of Amp replenishment.

And of course, all of that is pretend. Your panels orientation to the sun. Efficiency of the panel, and controller, all are some of the unknowns... And figure during your research you did all that, and knew you would be yielding maybe 28-32Amps yield to the battery bank, or maybe as high as 42-48Amps if you yield 6Amps delivered per hour during that time!

Figured since you've engineered a mounting system for one panel, adding a second would be much easier this time around! And not all that expensive, if only adding the panel, assuming the Controller has the headroom to handle it.

Congrats on your storage solution, hope the next months everything proves out well for you....
Smitty

(And take my ramblings with a grain of salt. Your other thread over underling Going Green, have some very knowledgeable Solar posters in the mix!)
Actually, HD has the same panel now on sale for $99. My controller can handle another panel and shows the wiring scheme for additional panels. It is a Go Power 30 amp controller.

I will consider my options.
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Old 11-27-2016, 02:56 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by smlranger View Post
Now that I have the coach in the new storage facility I have installed my 100 watt solar panel and controller to keep the batteries charge. I fashioned a bracket to hang the panel on the ladder with a cable bike lock to secure it.

The controller is able to charge two battery banks separately and I was able to program the controller for AGM for the house bank and Flooded Cell for the chassis bank.

When I left the coach today, the controller was showing 14.6 V going to the house bank and 13.8 to the chassis. It also showed both banks at 90% of charge.

I am confident this set up will maintain the batteries (I have the main battery disconnects OFF so there is no load on either bank). The coach is winterized now but we will be taking a trip to FL and elsewhere in early Jan and will likely return home by mid March. I will be curious to see if this set up will maintain the batteries if I run the Aqua Hot on diesel to keep me from winterizing again. I am sure the AH burner is a power hog but if I set the temp in the coach to 40-45 maybe it will work.

My first experience with solar so lots to learn.

Curious what kind of controller you have that allows you to program for AGM vs. Flooded and to two separate Banks! Also what panels do you have? $99 per 100.

Rich 2002 Magna
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Old 11-27-2016, 03:04 PM   #5
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From a 100w panel best instantaneous current you will experience is 5-6 amps - see the spec sticker on the panel. This is with direct sunlight / optimum angle. Through the day you will see substantially less. Do your estimations accordingly. 100w will likely provide for battery maintainance only. If any power usage is expected more capacity will be needed.
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Old 11-27-2016, 05:42 PM   #6
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From a 100w panel best instantaneous current you will experience is 5-6 amps - see the spec sticker on the panel. This is with direct sunlight / optimum angle. Through the day you will see substantially less. Do your estimations accordingly. 100w will likely provide for battery maintainance only. If any power usage is expected more capacity will be needed.
Battery maintenance is primary objective. If it works, I will be very pleased.
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Old 11-27-2016, 05:47 PM   #7
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Curious what kind of controller you have that allows you to program for AGM vs. Flooded and to two separate Banks! Also what panels do you have? $99 per 100.

Rich 2002 Magna
This controller:

https://www.amazon.com/Go-Power-GP-P...go+power+solar

If you connect two battery banks, it prompts you to select either Gel, AGM or Flooded Cell for each of the two banks.

The panel came from Home Depot (online order). It got good reviews from others. They have it on sale now for $99. It appears very sturdily built. I was really impressed with the thickness and strength of the aluminum frame.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Grape-Sol...100W/204211365
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Old 11-27-2016, 08:19 PM   #8
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you may connect an amp meter (or multimeter) to see the actual charge rate. at this time of the year in va, in a sunny day you might see about 4a by noon.
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Old 11-28-2016, 05:28 AM   #9
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you may connect an amp meter (or multimeter) to see the actual charge rate. at this time of the year in va, in a sunny day you might see about 4a by noon.
The display on the controller cycles thru volts, amps and % of charge. IIRC when I finished up the install two days ago in bright sun, it was showing 4 or 5 amps on battery bank 1 and 3 amps on battery bank 2. I will pay more attention to those readings when I go back to the coach later this week.
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Old 11-28-2016, 06:42 PM   #10
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I am thinking about copying your set up, I now have 1 start battery and two house batteries in front of MH ( would this be considered One battery bank or two?) I am replacing them and adding a third house battery.

Did you buy their cable? or?
If this is only one battery bank do I still need this regulator?
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Old 11-29-2016, 05:26 AM   #11
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smlranger
I am thinking about copying your set up, I now have 1 start battery and two house batteries in front of MH ( would this be considered One battery bank or two?) I am replacing them and adding a third house battery.

Did you buy their cable? or?
If this is only one battery bank do I still need this regulator?
I did not buy their cable. I got some good stranded copper wire from Lowes and made up my own cables.....10 gauge. I did get some MC4 connectors off Amazon to make connection/set up easy.

I am no solar expert for sure but I do know you need the controller. That is what acts as the battery charger and will do bulk charge, absorb and float. My panel can produce as much as 18V in full sun and, without a controller, that would cook the batteries.

Just my opinion but if all your batteries are the same type (all flooded cell, for example) I would think you could treat them all as one bank and charge them together. There are less costly controllers available but I did some research and the Go Power unit got good reviews and seemed fully optioned for the money.
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