Reputable Solar Installers?
Not sure if this is the right board in which to post this, but I was wondering if people could remind me of the really good solar outfitters in the RV community. I know I've seen a couple names...mayb...
Forum Discussion
"I don't understand what you are saying about "how much of the total is solar". The total AH flow into battery for the day = my total solar harvest for the day."
Almot that is an interesting approach. One quibble is how much the solar monitor allows for heat loss on charging, (ISTR Trimetric uses 4%) but never mind that-- on to answer the question why I think that approach would be wrong:
When I look at the Trimetric amps read out during the day it might say +5 amps. If I know I have one 3 amp light on then I derive that solar is doing 8 amps.
I expressed it wrongly by saying that what you see on the Tri is the "total." I should have said the "net" (although that is technically wrong too)
If the solar monitor upstream says 8 amps and the Trimetric said +5 amps then you would know you have 3 amps being drawn by something.
I found out here that my "net" idea is hogwash since the Tri only shows battery. So when it says +5 amps in the afternoon because that is all the battery will accept, and then I turn on the 3 amp light and it still says +5 amps, I know now that the solar is doing 8 amps but not from what I used to think, that the battery had 8 in and 3 out, but because the battery has 5 in and the solar is doing 3 more off to the side.
So what about AH? If the solar is doing work off to the side as well as charge the battery it will show the total solar AH, but the Trimetric will show battery only. (what I think of for convenience as the "net")
What is it you want to know then, an AH total that may be more than the battery ever saw, or just what the battery saw so you can tell if it is back to what it was when you started?
IMO the solar monitor's AH in total could be misleading by being over, which could let you think the battery is higher in SOC than it got. However that should show up when you see the "morning voltage" and it doesn't match the AH out/ the est capacity for SOC. In this case the morning voltage would be lower than expected.
How do you tell when the solar monitor gets out of whack for battery work count vs any other work it did in AH that didn't go to the battery? You would have to reset the AH count based on the morning voltage. So what use is the solar AH count at all, where you have to use the morning voltage to get the real SOC? With the Trimetric the morning voltage and the AH count usually match. (Sometimes the Tri needs a reset, but for other reasons)
Almot that is an interesting approach. One quibble is how much the solar monitor allows for heat loss on charging, (ISTR Trimetric uses 4%) but never mind that-- on to answer the question why I think that approach would be wrong:
When I look at the Trimetric amps read out during the day it might say +5 amps. If I know I have one 3 amp light on then I derive that solar is doing 8 amps.
I expressed it wrongly by saying that what you see on the Tri is the "total." I should have said the "net" (although that is technically wrong too)
If the solar monitor upstream says 8 amps and the Trimetric said +5 amps then you would know you have 3 amps being drawn by something.
I found out here that my "net" idea is hogwash since the Tri only shows battery. So when it says +5 amps in the afternoon because that is all the battery will accept, and then I turn on the 3 amp light and it still says +5 amps, I know now that the solar is doing 8 amps but not from what I used to think, that the battery had 8 in and 3 out, but because the battery has 5 in and the solar is doing 3 more off to the side.
So what about AH? If the solar is doing work off to the side as well as charge the battery it will show the total solar AH, but the Trimetric will show battery only. (what I think of for convenience as the "net")
What is it you want to know then, an AH total that may be more than the battery ever saw, or just what the battery saw so you can tell if it is back to what it was when you started?
IMO the solar monitor's AH in total could be misleading by being over, which could let you think the battery is higher in SOC than it got. However that should show up when you see the "morning voltage" and it doesn't match the AH out/ the est capacity for SOC. In this case the morning voltage would be lower than expected.
How do you tell when the solar monitor gets out of whack for battery work count vs any other work it did in AH that didn't go to the battery? You would have to reset the AH count based on the morning voltage. So what use is the solar AH count at all, where you have to use the morning voltage to get the real SOC? With the Trimetric the morning voltage and the AH count usually match. (Sometimes the Tri needs a reset, but for other reasons)
