Critique proposed solar battery upgrade
Currently have a Jayco hybrid (Jayfeather 26L) but moving to a Denali 5th wheel in the spring (2012 DE324LBS). Currently have 4 Trojan T125’s with 600 watts of solar, with a Kisae 2000 watt pure sine...
Forum Discussion
OldSmokey wrote:
several things.
1. what is your daily watt hour requirements, do you know ?
this, the panel watts and autonomy define your Ah capacity
Haven’t really measuredd it seriously, see below.
2. how many days autonomy without sun, 2,3,4,5?
Ideally 4-5, right now I can usually keep up if I’m in a reasonably sunny site.
We very rarely use the RV furnace, we have a Mr. Buddy that does the job, but in the new 5er, we’ll probably rely more on the furnace and consume more overall. We also have an inverter genny we can use if we get a few bad days in a row, but I prefer to avoid it if I can.
3. where do you primarily boon dock ?
Eastern Canada, north eastern USA, usually in semi wooded sites, which is why I’m leaning towards over capacity on the solar.
4. 1000 watts and 12v is a bad idea, better to be in 24 or 48 territory.
No plans for 12v, likely 24 since I alr day have one at that voltage.
5. what is your MPPT CC make and model ? you may be able to
get away with just one controller at higher voltages
Right now I use a combination of a Rogue MPPT at 30 amps for a single 24v 250 watt panel and a Solar Force 30 amp for a legacy 12v array of 3 panels for a combined 290 watts. Agree that moving to a single higher capacity controller is the way to go.
