More Solar for "Us"
Ok, I went off.the deep end? Bought 3 used 37watt uni-solar panels and a blue sky 2000e controller for the hefty price of $400, They were being listed as 75w panels, they are not The tested open...
Forum Discussion
Muchas Gracias, Senor Wiz!
I feel like I'm getting a handle on how a "Solar Day" goes. Some observations:
--On a nominal 12V system, the MPPT charger makes only a small difference (~10%, as predicted by some and verified by Wiz). If I were to dip a toe in, buy a couple panels, I might not start with a $500 MPPT controller.
--Wiz's "typical day" mirrors mine. When I get up, I want a high power draw. IMO, only a generator can supply this. AFAICT, ten times the panels still isn't going to get you the power you want at six a.m.
--The difficulty with Wiz's charger going into boost mode ought to be 'splained more. Is there a workaround here? Or would a different charge controller yeild different results? 14V is low for a boost charge, and high for a float. Any converter on the market will override this with a higher voltage charge, so when running the gennie or hooked up to shore power, the solar will have no effect on charging, right? Is there an automatic method for diverting unused solar power to something useful?
--It doesn't seem like solar is going to make a difference until eleven a.m. By then I will have put in three hours of gennie time, just running things. So my batteries will be ready for a topoff, but nothing more. How does, say, 1200W or 2000W of solar come into play, when most of the heavy lifting has already been done by the gennie?
I feel like I'm getting a handle on how a "Solar Day" goes. Some observations:
--On a nominal 12V system, the MPPT charger makes only a small difference (~10%, as predicted by some and verified by Wiz). If I were to dip a toe in, buy a couple panels, I might not start with a $500 MPPT controller.
--Wiz's "typical day" mirrors mine. When I get up, I want a high power draw. IMO, only a generator can supply this. AFAICT, ten times the panels still isn't going to get you the power you want at six a.m.
--The difficulty with Wiz's charger going into boost mode ought to be 'splained more. Is there a workaround here? Or would a different charge controller yeild different results? 14V is low for a boost charge, and high for a float. Any converter on the market will override this with a higher voltage charge, so when running the gennie or hooked up to shore power, the solar will have no effect on charging, right? Is there an automatic method for diverting unused solar power to something useful?
--It doesn't seem like solar is going to make a difference until eleven a.m. By then I will have put in three hours of gennie time, just running things. So my batteries will be ready for a topoff, but nothing more. How does, say, 1200W or 2000W of solar come into play, when most of the heavy lifting has already been done by the gennie?
