Solar - Upgrade or replace outright?
The new-to-us coach has a small solar panel system. I would like to upgrade it to the point where I could reasonably hope to capture 50 or 60 amp-hours per day in light conditions that are less than ...
Forum Discussion
OP here. I’m not too “poor.” Not terribly wealthy either. :) Let us say I want to spend my money sensibly.
I have a 40-amp portable charger (B&D VEC1093DBD) that I can run with my Yamaha Ef1000is to make up a shortfall. I hate to run the big Onan just to charge batteries, mainly because it consumes so much propane that I would rather use for other things without unduly shortening my stay. I hope an appropriate amount of solar can minimize the need to run a generator.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and I’ve come to a couple of tentative conclusions:
1) The first thing I should do is probably buy and install a good battery monitor so I know with greater certainty how much power I am using on a typical day and where I stand with the battery charge in cold weather. I probably also need to equalize the batteries and ensure they are in the best condition I can put them in.
2) I have concluded that shade will be more of an issue than I thought or expected. It seems that having one cell in a panel can effectively kill the output from the panel. I’m not camping in deep woods, but the campground where I camp most has enough shade to be a problem for a roof-mounted system. A portable system, one that I can move around and angle to get the best available sunlight, is probably my best alternative. As a rough guess, I figure I could get by well with maybe 200 watts if I can move the panels and point them to the sun.
Is there a good, cost-effective choice to the somewhat pricey Trimetric monitor? I’m thinking of something that can reliably tell me how many net amp-hours I’ve used. If not, which Trimetric model do you recommend?
Thanks again to everyone who has contributed!
Wayne
I have a 40-amp portable charger (B&D VEC1093DBD) that I can run with my Yamaha Ef1000is to make up a shortfall. I hate to run the big Onan just to charge batteries, mainly because it consumes so much propane that I would rather use for other things without unduly shortening my stay. I hope an appropriate amount of solar can minimize the need to run a generator.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and I’ve come to a couple of tentative conclusions:
1) The first thing I should do is probably buy and install a good battery monitor so I know with greater certainty how much power I am using on a typical day and where I stand with the battery charge in cold weather. I probably also need to equalize the batteries and ensure they are in the best condition I can put them in.
2) I have concluded that shade will be more of an issue than I thought or expected. It seems that having one cell in a panel can effectively kill the output from the panel. I’m not camping in deep woods, but the campground where I camp most has enough shade to be a problem for a roof-mounted system. A portable system, one that I can move around and angle to get the best available sunlight, is probably my best alternative. As a rough guess, I figure I could get by well with maybe 200 watts if I can move the panels and point them to the sun.
Is there a good, cost-effective choice to the somewhat pricey Trimetric monitor? I’m thinking of something that can reliably tell me how many net amp-hours I’ve used. If not, which Trimetric model do you recommend?
Thanks again to everyone who has contributed!
Wayne
