Solar and battery help
Good Morning. I am hoping someone can provide a simple answer or 4 for me. I just read a post on the TC forum about flexible, light weight 100 watt solar panels and love the look of this, I have a Nor...
Forum Discussion
kjenckes,
That battery is not a true deep cycle battery, it is what is sometimes referred to as a hybrid; part starter battery, part deep cycle. They serve partly to provide low draw power on boats, but also provide high cranking amps when needed for starting an engine.
Golf cart batteries, otoh, are closer to being true deep cycle batteries, and although they can be used as a starter battery, they do their best job when handling long sustained low amperage draws. You may want to consider a pair of 6 volt gc-2 batteries, if you plan to boondock a lot.
As for your choice in converter/charger, please note a 'converter', with a battery charging feature, will indeed drop to around 13.6v, once your batteries reach somewhere near the 80% charged state. The problem is, this adds many hours to the charge time required to bring your batteries back up to 90-100%. If on generator, this is far from ideal. In such a case you require a charger that continues at the original higher voltage setting. And no, this will in no way harm your batteries. If on solar, however, this is not so much a concern, seeing as solar is clean, quiet, and runs on free fuel from the sun, not expensive, smelly, petrol. But if for some reason you find yourself relying on gen power more often than not, you will need to use a different charging unit. Remember, there is a good reason why (off grid) boondockers and dry campers go solar, and that is primarily to reduce generator use. So to use a device designed primarily for on-grid camping makes no real sense.
I too am in the process of figuring out my solar needs, and as you yourself and others have stated, it depends on needs, location, weather, and so on. I have concluded I need a minimum of 180-200 watts of poly portables, for instance.
As for these 100w flex panels, they are very pricey! For example, an aluminum framed glass panel will cost $1-$2 / watt, where as a flex panel could cost upwards of $4-$5 / watt. There are some good deals out there, however, so hopefully you can get what you want without breaking the bank.
That battery is not a true deep cycle battery, it is what is sometimes referred to as a hybrid; part starter battery, part deep cycle. They serve partly to provide low draw power on boats, but also provide high cranking amps when needed for starting an engine.
Golf cart batteries, otoh, are closer to being true deep cycle batteries, and although they can be used as a starter battery, they do their best job when handling long sustained low amperage draws. You may want to consider a pair of 6 volt gc-2 batteries, if you plan to boondock a lot.
As for your choice in converter/charger, please note a 'converter', with a battery charging feature, will indeed drop to around 13.6v, once your batteries reach somewhere near the 80% charged state. The problem is, this adds many hours to the charge time required to bring your batteries back up to 90-100%. If on generator, this is far from ideal. In such a case you require a charger that continues at the original higher voltage setting. And no, this will in no way harm your batteries. If on solar, however, this is not so much a concern, seeing as solar is clean, quiet, and runs on free fuel from the sun, not expensive, smelly, petrol. But if for some reason you find yourself relying on gen power more often than not, you will need to use a different charging unit. Remember, there is a good reason why (off grid) boondockers and dry campers go solar, and that is primarily to reduce generator use. So to use a device designed primarily for on-grid camping makes no real sense.
I too am in the process of figuring out my solar needs, and as you yourself and others have stated, it depends on needs, location, weather, and so on. I have concluded I need a minimum of 180-200 watts of poly portables, for instance.
As for these 100w flex panels, they are very pricey! For example, an aluminum framed glass panel will cost $1-$2 / watt, where as a flex panel could cost upwards of $4-$5 / watt. There are some good deals out there, however, so hopefully you can get what you want without breaking the bank.
