Portable panels wire size
Hey guys, I need some help. Would you consider giving me some advice please? I’m putting together a portable solar panel setup. The panel’s will be the following. Max Power: 140Wp Open Circui...
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Your 15v limit will not be reached anyway IMO, so don't worry about it. Also that 15 is at the battery not at the controller.
On solar in the afternoon with battery voltage finally above 14v, your amps are going to taper as battery nears full. But the voltage will only keep climbing if there is no equal or greater draw on the batteries at the same time. It doesn't take much of a draw to equal what the solar is putting in by the time you are over 14v.
EDIT, I should make that draw to be higher than the solar amps. Until they are equal, the battery will still charge and the solar will run the draw as well, so the draw has to be higher than the total solar before the batts don't get anything and voltage stops rising.
That is why I figure the highest SOC I will ever get to on any day is sometime before supper when I start using battery after not using it much in the afternoon. (Which allows the battery voltage to climb in the afternoon)
Once I start using things like the inverter, that knocks battery voltage right down. The only restriction is that the pre-supper/late afternoon voltage not be over 15 or the inverter won't work to help make supper.
In the OP's case, he has that freezer inverter load going all day, so his battery voltage is never going to get very high. He will do better with the solar than without it, but he is still going to be a generator and charger guy. The idea then is to have "some solar" to reduce the time the generator has to run each day, plus have a high amp charger for the generator to use.
Four hours on four batts is a very long time for a 50-90 recharge.
I can do a 50-90 on six batts in two and a half hours and I can do a 50-90 on four of them in two hours. However that is using 140 amps on the six and 105 on the four. ( PowerMax 100 amper and VEC1093 40amper)
Now the limit is how many charger amps can the generator support --eg my Honda 3000 can do 130amps of non-PF corrected chargers. 131amps will make it conk out. The 100amper is PF corrected so I can actually go to 150a with the 100 plus another 50 of non-PF.
Sooo, as the OP has been saying, he has two things to do:
A. get some solar- simple portable (say two 120w for ease of handling instead of one heavy huge 240) on cheap PWM on a long wire for parking in the shade. Don't fuss about exactly how much it will do, just accept whatever it does for you any given day.
B. get the biggest amp charger his generator can run (PowerMax 75,85, and 100 amper size are PF corrected so a Honda 2000 ought to be able to run one--I don't know for sure)
On solar in the afternoon with battery voltage finally above 14v, your amps are going to taper as battery nears full. But the voltage will only keep climbing if there is no equal or greater draw on the batteries at the same time. It doesn't take much of a draw to equal what the solar is putting in by the time you are over 14v.
EDIT, I should make that draw to be higher than the solar amps. Until they are equal, the battery will still charge and the solar will run the draw as well, so the draw has to be higher than the total solar before the batts don't get anything and voltage stops rising.
That is why I figure the highest SOC I will ever get to on any day is sometime before supper when I start using battery after not using it much in the afternoon. (Which allows the battery voltage to climb in the afternoon)
Once I start using things like the inverter, that knocks battery voltage right down. The only restriction is that the pre-supper/late afternoon voltage not be over 15 or the inverter won't work to help make supper.
In the OP's case, he has that freezer inverter load going all day, so his battery voltage is never going to get very high. He will do better with the solar than without it, but he is still going to be a generator and charger guy. The idea then is to have "some solar" to reduce the time the generator has to run each day, plus have a high amp charger for the generator to use.
Four hours on four batts is a very long time for a 50-90 recharge.
I can do a 50-90 on six batts in two and a half hours and I can do a 50-90 on four of them in two hours. However that is using 140 amps on the six and 105 on the four. ( PowerMax 100 amper and VEC1093 40amper)
Now the limit is how many charger amps can the generator support --eg my Honda 3000 can do 130amps of non-PF corrected chargers. 131amps will make it conk out. The 100amper is PF corrected so I can actually go to 150a with the 100 plus another 50 of non-PF.
Sooo, as the OP has been saying, he has two things to do:
A. get some solar- simple portable (say two 120w for ease of handling instead of one heavy huge 240) on cheap PWM on a long wire for parking in the shade. Don't fuss about exactly how much it will do, just accept whatever it does for you any given day.
B. get the biggest amp charger his generator can run (PowerMax 75,85, and 100 amper size are PF corrected so a Honda 2000 ought to be able to run one--I don't know for sure)
