Forum Discussion

mchero's avatar
mchero
Explorer
May 02, 2014

Ready to jump into solar!!

Just upgraded to our new coach! The long term plan is to full time. Both Deb & I love to boondock so Im ready to take the solar plung!

Coach has plenty of real estste on the topside. rear section of the roof appears to have enough space for 4 high voltage panels if need be.

Batteries are located street side last bay (full slide). Fridge is on the curb side, non slide. I believe the fridge vent would be the place to run the cables, if so I assume I'll need to get a rough distance estimate for cable run from panels to batteries correct?

Not sure where to place the all the hardware, the "power center" is at the entry door. Looking for suggestions.

House Batteries, Found some interesting findings;
Wet Cells, don't have exact battery info, will look into that this afternoon. I did notice that the cables where connected w/o thinking that the caps would need to be removed! I also noticed one of the jumpers between batteries is getting rather thin on the connector, appears to be corrosion. Will need to pull ALL batteries, clean/paint the trays. Also appears I'll have to locate some hold down straps & such.

What should I do about the battery cables, I believe I will need to makeup some cables, suggestions? Can I purchase precut with the ends or make my own? If making my own what will the crimper run?

One last issue, Coach has a Xantrex & it "appears" it's set to GEL. I'm wondering if it originally had GEL's & someone swapped out the batteries and did NOT set the Xantrex. What would the GEL setting do to my wet cells?

Going to have fun with this thread!

Thanks for all the help/suggestions.

Robert McHenry
Concord NH

23 Replies

  • mchero's avatar
    mchero
    Explorer
    May 05, 2014
    Well I started to dig into the electrical side of the coach. Noticed the Xantrex was telling me that batteries where charged BUT a switch on the electrical panel showed my house batteries down to 11 volts!

    inspected the 4 interstate deep cycle (golf crart) batteries & found ONE terminal hotter than a fukashima reactor core!

    Went down to Tractor supply & picked up two 2 gauge cables, pulled ALL connectors, cleaned, replaced two cables & used the dielectric grease when I re-assembled them!

    The batteries where pulled down to 8VDC!!

    Well, This AM I checked the converter & found ALL batteries back to a full charge. I'll load test to determine the state of the house batteries.

    AMAZING!!! Crappy cables can take out a good set of batteries!

    Still planning to place a couple hi voltage panels so stay tunned. Will start ordering the hardware needed to make up cables..... Stay tunned.
  • harold1946's avatar
    harold1946
    Explorer
    May 03, 2014
    harold1946 wrote:
    Almot wrote:
    harold1946 wrote:
    The AGS will maintain the battery bank and supply power to run the ac as needed, hands off.

    I imagine this thing starting at 2 am and waking me up. Would probably go to the store and demanded my money back, plus $$ for emotional stress :)... It's easy enough to eliminate the very need in AC, other than low-current loads like TV (and those are not even worth mentioning).

    The only thing that you can't have without a generator (in a trailer) is airconditioner. All other loads are a matter of balance between energy consumption and production. Below latitude 30 my 2 high-voltage panels collect 30 AH in overcast in winter. Make it 4 panels and you have 60 AH, enough or almost enough for lights, TV or laptop, heat and 5-6 cu.ft 12V fridge - depends on laptop time and outside temperature (don't forget, it's winter collection and winter temperatures). Get 500 AH battery bank and you have enough to live on for 3-4 days without any solar, or 3-4 weeks of partial solar harvest (i.e. when solar collection covers 80-90% of consumption but not 100%). If you live in location where partial clouds are every day and all summer long, it's tough. If you can't balance the consumption side, this is - usually - the toughest.


    If you were boondocking in an area where the night time lows were in the 80 - 90F range you would wish there was an AGS. If boondocking with daytime temperatures in the 100F range, likewise the AGS will cover that also.
    Being fulltimers,we do not conserve " balance consumption". We live and do the same things we did in the S&B. The great part is we can do it anywhere we please and in most weather conditions.
    I do not need to get a 500 AH battery bank. I have 900 AH.
    Any time the comsumption exceeds the production of power my AGS will compensate.


    It beats waking up at 2 AM soaking wet with sweat. :B
  • harold1946's avatar
    harold1946
    Explorer
    May 03, 2014
    Almot wrote:
    harold1946 wrote:
    The AGS will maintain the battery bank and supply power to run the ac as needed, hands off.

    I imagine this thing starting at 2 am and waking me up. Would probably go to the store and demanded my money back, plus $$ for emotional stress :)... It's easy enough to eliminate the very need in AC, other than low-current loads like TV (and those are not even worth mentioning).

    The only thing that you can't have without a generator (in a trailer) is airconditioner. All other loads are a matter of balance between energy consumption and production. Below latitude 30 my 2 high-voltage panels collect 30 AH in overcast in winter. Make it 4 panels and you have 60 AH, enough or almost enough for lights, TV or laptop, heat and 5-6 cu.ft 12V fridge - depends on laptop time and outside temperature (don't forget, it's winter collection and winter temperatures). Get 500 AH battery bank and you have enough to live on for 3-4 days without any solar, or 3-4 weeks of partial solar harvest (i.e. when solar collection covers 80-90% of consumption but not 100%). If you live in location where partial clouds are every day and all summer long, it's tough. If you can't balance the consumption side, this is - usually - the toughest.


    If you were boondocking in an area where the night time lows were in the 80 - 90F range you would wish there was an AGS. If boondocking with daytime temperatures in the 100F range, likewise the AGS will cover that also.
    Being fulltimers,we do not conserve " balance consumption". We live and do the same things we did in the S&B. The great part is we can do it anywhere we please and in most weather conditions.
    I do not need to get a 500 AH battery bank. I have 900 AH.
    Any time the comsumption exceeds the production of power my AGS will compensate.
  • mchero's avatar
    mchero
    Explorer
    May 03, 2014
    I have the Onan Energy Command 30 that has the option to set the system to automatic. You can also have a quiet time automatic setting meaning you can program the times you DON'T want the generator to start, e.g. 10:00PM to 10:00AM.

    I have some PICS of the top of the roof I'll post here shortly. Today we do the cleaning from top to bottom! Wile I'm at it I will check out possible cable runs. I'm thinking perhaps run the cables down the left rear. I'll take some PICS as well.

    RM
  • Almot's avatar
    Almot
    Explorer III
    May 03, 2014
    harold1946 wrote:
    The AGS will maintain the battery bank and supply power to run the ac as needed, hands off.

    I imagine this thing starting at 2 am and waking me up. Would probably go to the store and demanded my money back, plus $$ for emotional stress :)... It's easy enough to eliminate the very need in AC, other than low-current loads like TV (and those are not even worth mentioning).

    The only thing that you can't have without a generator (in a trailer) is airconditioner. All other loads are a matter of balance between energy consumption and production. Below latitude 30 my 2 high-voltage panels collect 30 AH in overcast in winter. Make it 4 panels and you have 60 AH, enough or almost enough for lights, TV or laptop, heat and 5-6 cu.ft 12V fridge - depends on laptop time and outside temperature (don't forget, it's winter collection and winter temperatures). Get 500 AH battery bank and you have enough to live on for 3-4 days without any solar, or 3-4 weeks of partial solar harvest (i.e. when solar collection covers 80-90% of consumption but not 100%). If you live in location where partial clouds are every day and all summer long, it's tough. If you can't balance the consumption side, this is - usually - the toughest.
  • harold1946's avatar
    harold1946
    Explorer
    May 02, 2014
    If you plan on extended stay boondocking with a residential, save your time and energey, forget the energy audit. Go with the largest battery bank and solar array the budget will allow.
    Then also invest in an AGS (automatic generator start) system and that will cover situations when the solar is not adequate, and believe me there will be those times.
    We have been fulltime boondocking for five years now and consider the AGS completes the package. The AGS will maintain the battery bank and supply power to run the ac as needed, hands off.
    Extended boondocking/ fulltime boondocking is a whole different ballgame.
  • Almot's avatar
    Almot
    Explorer III
    May 02, 2014
    Down fridge vent or not - it depends. If you wire panels in parallel (recommended if there is any shading), then you need a junction box with a short run of MC4 to the box, and then #6 or #4 from the box. This box would have to be either on the roof, with #6 going through the bottom of the box into the roof, or on the fridge vent side - AM Solar have such a box. Looks a bit ugly when you put vent cover on, 'cause it doesn't fit well under the cover, but it works. On the List of installs you will find both methods: with the rooftop box from Home Depot (be Renoman, if I'm correct) and with the AM Solar box mounted on the fridge vent (by Sleepy).

    With panels in series up to 600-700W you can go with #10 MC4 extension through fridge vent or plumbing vent, junction box is not needed so you can avoid extra hole in the roof.

    With residential fridge you need 400-500W solar to feed fridge alone, on a sunny day. If you plan to avoid using a generator as much as possible (wouldn't make sense carrying all those panels otherwise), you should either stay with LP fridge, or consider 5-7 cu.ft 12V fridge.
  • mchero's avatar
    mchero
    Explorer
    May 02, 2014
    Jhilley, Eleclent link! That's a great crimper. I'll order it!

    OK, Looks like the link above from "Golden Rules of Solar" has all the info on crimping & such.

    Thanks!

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