Portable Solar Advice Needed
My RV has a 160 panel on the roof. I'm looking for about 100 watt portable unit. I haven't decided on the wattage yet, but I think anything under 120 watts might be beneficial for my situation. W...
Forum Discussion
My Advice? Don't make it portable. They tend to grow legs, and you will worry about it while out sightseeing.
If you have a pair of batteries, they will last a entire weekend if they started out the weekend fully charged, and the little light that hits them can add some power to the battery.
Also the roof mounted solar panels will shade any part of the roof that they cover, so cover a lot of the roof, and you will be in the shade all the time!
SunElec.com
You will need a charge controller if the battery is able to be fully charged in one day. But if you keep a close eye on the battery voltage, and stop charging at around 13 volts, you can get away without the charge controller.
Worst case if you let a battery sit at 15 volts for a couple of hours while is a AGM will get destroyed, a sealed lead acid will get destroyed. A golf cart battery will need a few ounces of water, but will get equalized, and be good as new. (given that you would be using a 100 watt solar panel). So it would be possible to charge a 200 amp hour battery bank without a controller while camping and using power all day long to run things like the CO meter, propane detector and refrigerator that will consume about 35 AH daily, or use more than 1 amp per hour of your charge going into the battery, so not all 100 watts will go to charging the battery anyway! And a 100 watt solar panel will barely make up for the 35 AH used overnight to run the CO meter, propane detector and refrigerator anyway.
Have fun camping! Don't think about the solar. I have a 415 rated watt solar system installed in my RV since 1999, and it shades the RV, charges the batteries, and works great!
Fred.
If you have a pair of batteries, they will last a entire weekend if they started out the weekend fully charged, and the little light that hits them can add some power to the battery.
Also the roof mounted solar panels will shade any part of the roof that they cover, so cover a lot of the roof, and you will be in the shade all the time!
SunElec.com
You will need a charge controller if the battery is able to be fully charged in one day. But if you keep a close eye on the battery voltage, and stop charging at around 13 volts, you can get away without the charge controller.
Worst case if you let a battery sit at 15 volts for a couple of hours while is a AGM will get destroyed, a sealed lead acid will get destroyed. A golf cart battery will need a few ounces of water, but will get equalized, and be good as new. (given that you would be using a 100 watt solar panel). So it would be possible to charge a 200 amp hour battery bank without a controller while camping and using power all day long to run things like the CO meter, propane detector and refrigerator that will consume about 35 AH daily, or use more than 1 amp per hour of your charge going into the battery, so not all 100 watts will go to charging the battery anyway! And a 100 watt solar panel will barely make up for the 35 AH used overnight to run the CO meter, propane detector and refrigerator anyway.
Have fun camping! Don't think about the solar. I have a 415 rated watt solar system installed in my RV since 1999, and it shades the RV, charges the batteries, and works great!
Fred.
