The Ultimate DIY thread - Ubuilding (Pics)
Hey all, There is another, albeit smaller, side to this whole RV thing - those crazy folks who build their own for whatever reason. Whether you've scratch-built it from the ground up, assembled a kit...
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I figured I'd post up some numbers on the solar panels.
I mentioned a few pages back that I've been using the solar panels to make my morning toast...sort of.
I set the panels up in a rack on the roof and fed them down through the dining room window into the charge controller. On the sideboard, I have a group 31 deep cycle (~100A*h) and a 1250/1000 W MSW inverter. I ran an extension cord to my (900W) toaster and, while the buzzer does sound indicating the inverter is running at capacity, the fault light doesn't come on and shut the inverter off the way it does for an overload.
I started off right at 12.6V. The battery had all night to equalize but in the following pics they didn't. The voltages are instantaneous so take them with a big grain of salt.
Surge voltage drop right after turning the toaster on - I expect this momentary overload is what's triggering the buzzer.
This is the 'stabilized' running voltage
And this is right after shutting the load off
Of course, that voltage continues to climb, both from equalization and from the solar input.
Right now (3 hrs later) the voltage is at 14.74 so the panels are doing their thing.
This isn't that 'scientific' of a measurement, but I'm doing it to convince her that camping doesn't have to mean living like cave people. I've also got a couple of those LED courtesy lights in the dining room running off the battery all the time for those late night trips to the john or the fridge.
I mentioned a few pages back that I've been using the solar panels to make my morning toast...sort of.
I set the panels up in a rack on the roof and fed them down through the dining room window into the charge controller. On the sideboard, I have a group 31 deep cycle (~100A*h) and a 1250/1000 W MSW inverter. I ran an extension cord to my (900W) toaster and, while the buzzer does sound indicating the inverter is running at capacity, the fault light doesn't come on and shut the inverter off the way it does for an overload.
I started off right at 12.6V. The battery had all night to equalize but in the following pics they didn't. The voltages are instantaneous so take them with a big grain of salt.
Surge voltage drop right after turning the toaster on - I expect this momentary overload is what's triggering the buzzer.
This is the 'stabilized' running voltage
And this is right after shutting the load off
Of course, that voltage continues to climb, both from equalization and from the solar input.
Right now (3 hrs later) the voltage is at 14.74 so the panels are doing their thing.
This isn't that 'scientific' of a measurement, but I'm doing it to convince her that camping doesn't have to mean living like cave people. I've also got a couple of those LED courtesy lights in the dining room running off the battery all the time for those late night trips to the john or the fridge.
