Solar Panels

Hi mena,

For how long?

I did not say it would not run a microwave. My microwave is a *hog* 1591 watts (what the heck were the rv makers thinking?). That represents a load of 160 amps, or for four six volt batteries 80 amps per cell. They are happier at 25 amps per cell.

Your L-16 batteries will do it with ease, because they have a much larger surface area on the (wonderful) plates--but golf cart batteries are not nearly in that class.

What I was trying to say was that at 2000 watts demand the six volts may exhibit voltage drop (after all that works out to 100 amps per cell, or four times what they are happy with). When they are bursting full--not a problem--but how long can they sustain that demand?

The Peukert corrected amps on a 464 amp-hour battery bank for 200 amps demand is 381 amps. Now each cell is going to behave as if it has a load of 190 amps!!!! If I compare that to 12 volt jars, the (Peukert) load is still pretty high at 95 amps per cell.

Probably warming up a cup of coffee will not be a problem--but doing a tv dinner for 20 minutes is not going to make the battery bank happy (even if it were 12 volt jars). There are simply not enough amp-hours.

pianotuna wrote:

You won't be running a 2k inverter very long on 4 six volt batteries. They suffer far more from voltage drop than 12 volt jars.

Oh PT, you sure can run a MW from 4 6V batteries.

Hi,

I suggest you look around for a different installer and a different brand of panel.

Here are 120 watt panels for $114 each: 120 watts

This firm also sells many other panels, so search a bit on their web site.

You won't be running a 2k inverter very long on 4 six volt batteries. They suffer far more from voltage drop than 12 volt jars.

The trace c-40 was once state of the art. Now you would be much better off with a more modern product such as the Tristar 45 amp.

1BryNelson wrote:
So as I've said in past been looking, researching this RV solar. This is what I'm going to do. 1st, 12v system, 24 volt waste money on rv, they are meant for residential sending power back to electrical grid. 4 6volt batteries and 4 160 watt panels. Magnus MS2012 2,000 pure sine inverter, Magnus remote MARC50 remote, magnus battery maintain kit, Trace C40 Controller, 4 Carmanah 160 watt solar panels. Tilt-able solar panel brackets (45°). On something like this I'm not DIY. So total with installation is $4163.

$380 each is best found per panel for the Carmanah 160 watt panels so far from RV Solar and Electric.

1BryNelson wrote:
4 Carmanah 160 watt solar panels.

How much for the panels?

""NO you are NOT going to run the A/C on Solar""

Not sure why you stated that above since it is something i'm not considering nor ever asked anyone about here.

So as I've said in past been looking, researching this RV solar. This is what I'm going to do. 1st, 12v system, 24 volt waste money on rv, they are meant for residential sending power back to electrical grid. 4 6volt batteries and 4 160 watt panels. Magnus MS2012 2,000 pure sine inverter, Magnus remote MARC50 remote, magnus battery maintain kit, Trace C40 Controller, 4 Carmanah 160 watt solar panels. Tilt-able solar panel brackets (45°). On something like this I'm not DIY. So total with installation is $4163.

NO you are NOT going to run the A/C on Solar
not unless you have about 1000 or more Amphrs of battery and about 2000w of solar panels on the roof
quite frankly you don't have enough room for that

in any situation, say just normal electric use day & night

the batteries have to last all night with out going below 50% discharge, then the solar has to able to supply the recharge while also powering everything used during the day
A/C is just not in the equation

I know one fellow with a 5th wheel trailer, a truck chassis full of batteries, that can run a small converted 5000btu window unit off batteries during the night (4 hours or so just to cool the bedroom), he spends most of the next day recharging those batteries VIA GENERATOR POWER

for solar powered homes they have very special (2) PC A/C units that won't fit an RV, and many times the insulation on the solar stick house, than we can fit into an RV

NaViDa wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
By ac, I assume you mean 120vac, so that probably means tv, p c, DVD, satellite etc..

If that is so... But a "kill A watt" meter, about $20 at home depot
Plug it into the entertainment circuit, plug all your devices into a power strip that is plugged into the kill a watt, and then everyday for a week read the amount of power used

Once you know the real daily avg kilo watt hours used,
We can advise you on batteries and solar panels

I have 505 watts on the roof use the Onan for MW and coffee maker
And still find I need extra generator charging, we use a lot of power everyday
We full-time this is home , different needs for different life/use styles

"AC" meant 'air conditioning'. I just found this 250W mono for a reasonable price, so now i'm interested in at least 1, if not 2, of these at this point. 250W solar panel Renesola JC250S-24-Bb monocrystalline

pianotuna wrote:
Hi NaViDa,

My first solar system was a scant 30 watts. It did a good job of fully charging 250 amp-hours of battery bank, between trips.

My panels predate the flexible Unisolar product. I purchased the panels and charge controller from Star Lite Solar in Yuma, AZ via ebay. I tried to be nice--and attempted to order directly from them--so they would save the ebay listing costs--but they wanted MORE money than from the ebay "buy it now". My cost was $5.50 per watt, seven years ago.

In those days, because panels were expensive per watt, MPPT controllers made financial sense. Currently, unless there is no room left on the roof--it is cheaper to use a pwm system and buy an "extra" panel.

To service the battery bank 100% from solar, I have to use "bank switching", but that allows me a LOT of flexibility, too. (For example charging one bank while using the other.)

When I was not full time, my system provided all the power I needed for several days in a row--drawing down the battery bank farther and farther. Between trips (even in December and January), the solar would fully recharge the battery bank. Most of my camping is boondocking based.

Future plans are to purchase a larger pure sine wave inverter, and add another 800 watts (and yes I'll use MPPT).

The only mistake I made was buying a controller that was just big enough, so I have to buy another one if I wish to increase the wattage.

Hi,

I'm glad i came here to learn more about what i need to do now, but many of the things you and many here have stated, i still dont get. I do know i'll need a higher end controller now and to start out with more than 200W and what "mono" means at this point. And with the help of this forum and Youtube, the rest i'm sure will come before its time to purchase and thereafter.

What's so exciting about all of this is its a dream come true for me to be even at this stage!

thanks for helping:)!

Hi NaViDa,

My first solar system was a scant 30 watts. It did a good job of fully charging 250 amp-hours of battery bank, between trips.

My panels predate the flexible Unisolar product. I purchased the panels and charge controller from Star Lite Solar in Yuma, AZ via ebay. I tried to be nice--and attempted to order directly from them--so they would save the ebay listing costs--but they wanted MORE money than from the ebay "buy it now". My cost was $5.50 per watt, seven years ago.

In those days, because panels were expensive per watt, MPPT controllers made financial sense. Currently, unless there is no room left on the roof--it is cheaper to use a pwm system and buy an "extra" panel.

To service the battery bank 100% from solar, I have to use "bank switching", but that allows me a LOT of flexibility, too. (For example charging one bank while using the other.)

When I was not full time, my system provided all the power I needed for several days in a row--drawing down the battery bank farther and farther. Between trips (even in December and January), the solar would fully recharge the battery bank. Most of my camping is boondocking based.

Future plans are to purchase a larger pure sine wave inverter, and add another 800 watts (and yes I'll use MPPT).

The only mistake I made was buying a controller that was just big enough, so I have to buy another one if I wish to increase the wattage.