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Son_of_Norway's avatar
Son_of_Norway
Explorer
Mar 28, 2017

New Solar System with No Clear Objective

I have a battery system that wound up being kind of complicated. I have 3 battery banks: 1 set of golf carts 230 ah., 1 set of AGM's 200 ah and I Group 31 AGM around 100 ah. I usually use them for a few days of boondocking and charge them afterwards. The Golf Carts and AGM banks have separate AC chargers and are isolated from each other by relays during charging.

So now I am the proud owner of a brand new solar system with 2 100-watt panels and a PWM controller. After a bit of thought I realized that I bought this system with no clear objectives and no exit strategy. It doesn't seem that dividing the output among all those batteries would do that much. So my question is: What should I do with this system?
  • Tom_M1's avatar
    Tom_M1
    Explorer
    Apr 05, 2017
    Here's someone that brought their house system with them:



    Twelve 255 watt panels. They sold their house and kept the solar system.
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Apr 04, 2017
    Yes home panels work fine. I have three.
    They are typically 24 volt so you really should get an mppt controller.
  • Donoa23's avatar
    Donoa23
    Explorer
    Apr 04, 2017
    GordonThree wrote:
    At first I thought this post was about the 200 or so bodies NASA plans to classify as planets in our Solar System.
    huuum I wasn't the only one. :p


    I just have a question about solar system associated to a travel trailer. I would like to know if it's possible (or not) to install solar panels from a house roof on it ? cause my neighbour can sell me one.

    It looks like this :



    Any advice would be greatly appreciated !

    Thanks !
    Alan
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Mar 29, 2017
    I have two banks, one of 215AH Flooded and one 100AH of AGM. I have 235W of solar and it is paralleled to the two banks. My AGM's are surviving well with the controller settings I use, YMMV.
  • scrubjaysnest's avatar
    scrubjaysnest
    Explorer
    Mar 29, 2017
    Never ever mix battery types. While the GC-2's and grp 31 have similar charging profiles the AGM's do not. Go to Pianotuna's blog on solar at freecampsites.net and then start from there.
  • mike-s's avatar
    mike-s
    Explorer
    Mar 29, 2017
    Not enough info. You have 3 battery banks. I won't ask why, but how? Does each power a different zone? Or do you switch between them? Which bank is primary/gets the most use?

    You say they're isolated for charging. I hope you're not implying that they're all paralleled together when in use - that would be bad, very bad.
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Mar 29, 2017
    That is a start. Now you need a couple more mismatched panels and a second controller. ;)

    Otherwise I would connect to the GC2 and close the relays when needed.
  • GordonThree's avatar
    GordonThree
    Explorer
    Mar 29, 2017
    At first I thought this post was about the 200 or so bodies NASA plans to classify as planets in our Solar System.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Mar 29, 2017
    I would just keep all the batteries in parallel and connect the solar to them all. If your power usage is not too great, it probably could keep up on average and you might not need to do much if any charging at home.

    Possibly it would make more sense to think about rearranging/upgrading your battery bank to be more consistent rather than trying to shoehorn the solar into a rather eclectic set of batteries.

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