Full Time RV solar and shade

[harleylip]

to all those who helped me out with my solar dilemma. End result , 1050 watts of solar panels, Morningstar 60 controller, remote meter, and ran a 6 gauge wire from trailer to batteries, (no voltage drop at all), and all works great. Been boon docking up to 7 days and never start generator . Residential fridge, no problem , even watch tv at night up to 3 hours. Thank you all for your input, hope to meet up with some if you on my travels.

[Bumps]

We put 6X100w of PV on the roof (Renogy monocrystalline panels). Five of the panels are wired in parallel to MPPT charge controller to 8X6v coach battery bank. We took the sixth 100w panel (on the end of the array) to a second/smaller MPPT. Output from the second MPPT is switched so that I can stack the charge to the coach batteries, if I need to, or direct it to the 2X12v chassis battery bank. Am really liking the flexibility of this design and the ability to keep the chassis batteries at full SOC when boondocking. \ken

[Reed Cundiff]

Harleylip and Bumps - your solar panel arrays look great. We have a 5th wheel and the a/c, sky lights and fans really get in the way of having such orderly arrays.

Reed and Elaine

[terry735001]

one thing i forgot to add was your solar panels make shade

[elkhornsun]

12 volt panels are producing an output voltage of 17 volts and even allowing for line loss there is still 16 volts reaching the controller. I did some calculations for power with the panels tilted and assuming that the panels are perfectly aligned to the sun during the day and you rotate the RV as the sun moves past the possible gain is about 30%. The gain is greatest during the winter months when the sun is positioned lower and very little gain during the summer months or the further south you are located. For my house I picked an angle to maximize the annual output. For my RV I have the panels flat and they provide double what I have ever needed. The house batteries are always back at 100% by noon.

[Reed Cundiff]

Yep, we have had 5 to 6" of snow shade on the solar panels for 2 1/2 days so far and the solar panels are not doing so well LOL. Snow is melting and will scrape the snow off when I get the pickup back (12' telescoping ladder is in the back)

The batteries are down by 400 amp-hours (at 12 V nominal or about 4.8 kW-hours). Yesterday was Mother's Day and Elaine and daughter-in-law made waffles on two different waffle makers for over an hour on the batteries (it is warmer in the 5th wheel than a house with cooking and catalytic propane heater going). We are trialing the system to see how voltage drop compares to watt-hours used. We are at 52.3 V and the system needs to be turned off or recharged at 49.6V. LFP has a fairly linear drop until about 15% charge is reached. This is why one should never drop below 20% charge without observation.

Having a 22 month old grandson next to one is delightful; however, one finds that touchpad is disabled or wi-fi is turned off and wonder why.

[Reed Cundiff]

Sun came out and scraped the snow off the six panels and we were charging at 1430 W (sun was just about overhead) with batteries charging at 25 amps (52V) or about 105 amps at 12V equivalent. Never had such a high rate of charge but had never let it go down to -4800 W-hours (-400 amp-hours at 12 V). Fully charged in 4 hours.

Do need sun for solar.
Reed and Elaine

[harleylip]

WOW ! Really love my solar . In central Utah now and it's cold at night and early morning (32). On solar, with heater running , tv and satellite receiver on 5 hours last night, 2 hours this am, used toaster, coffee maker. It is now 8:54 am and batteries are at full charge already . GO BIG OR GO HOME is what I was told by a few of you readers. I am glad I listened! You guys are great. Went as long as 8 days so far with never starting generator . For those thinking of solar , GO BIG !!!

[Scooter]

My feeble brain says you need to cram as many 6v batteries in your rig as humanly possible......and than cram a few more in.

[onlakegaston]

X2 Scooter....
I have very limited space where batteries are now...13x19.5x12 under entry steps but would like to go solar.. Where do you all put "battery banks"? Storage space on my w22 chassis is limited...are you all converting storage space to battery space?

[Scooter]

Jim.....there is a storage compartment close to the entry door that has a slide-out trey and four 6v batteries. We don't have any solar panels on the roof. We used to have an Arctic Fox 1150 truck camper with two 120v panels on the roof and we converted some storage to four 6v batteries. Worked pretty good.

I guess if one wanted to use more storage compartments for more 6v batteries.....

[Reed Cundiff]

Snotty - in post #15, you mention:
1. Installing limb guards. Could you post a description of these and perhaps photographs. We are always catching branches.

2. You mounted your panels 4" to ameliorate shading from ac and sky lights. I like
The idea. Were there problems with this installation?

Our original TT came with space for two standard 12 v batteries. Son installed four glass mats, inverter etc in the baggage compartment. Moved to a larger 5th wheel and he placed these in "crawl space" behind baggage compartment. The LFP, inverter, controller etc are now in the forward generator compartment since we decided against a large generator. There are a number of dead spaces in most RVs that can be used
Reed and Elsine

[MartinP]

Made mine portable with stands made from PVC pipe. Park in the shade, solar panels in the sun using a 25 foot power cable. Works great. Panels are protected inside the MH when not in use.

Martin

[davdamon]

I have 2 100 watt panels and only get 12.8 volts where did I go wrong