Renogy Solar Panels
I just received my new 100 W Renogy Portable Suitcase. Using the factory default settings except for Celsius to Fahrenheit and time/date changes, I noticed that when I first hook the panels up to my c...
Forum Discussion
Play with it, get $30 meter to monitor daily power consumption, then you will know how much solar you really need.
I can tell you already that if you want to run - without generator - everything but very high 120V loads like microwave, you will need 250-300W permanent solar. This is - if it's mostly sunny. To have a safety margin for long wet spells, you would need to double this. When people are telling that 100W keeps battery full, they either use a genny before the solar, or their energy needs are lower than average AND it's sunny all the time.
100W won't do much in terms of the amount of charge. But it can minimize the genny time by feeding the last 15-20% of charge, after genny has brought them to 14.4V. Those last 20% are very slow, battery needs low current and 100W can provide this. Solar will keep it at 14.4V for an hour or two and then will switch to Float - if controller does what it should.
Temp comp usually doesn't need configuring. It either works or not. But the sensor should be on the battery, not on the panel.
I can tell you already that if you want to run - without generator - everything but very high 120V loads like microwave, you will need 250-300W permanent solar. This is - if it's mostly sunny. To have a safety margin for long wet spells, you would need to double this. When people are telling that 100W keeps battery full, they either use a genny before the solar, or their energy needs are lower than average AND it's sunny all the time.
100W won't do much in terms of the amount of charge. But it can minimize the genny time by feeding the last 15-20% of charge, after genny has brought them to 14.4V. Those last 20% are very slow, battery needs low current and 100W can provide this. Solar will keep it at 14.4V for an hour or two and then will switch to Float - if controller does what it should.
Temp comp usually doesn't need configuring. It either works or not. But the sensor should be on the battery, not on the panel.
