solar battery needs/ requirements
plan to get a solar set up for our camper, enjoy dry camping. while I am still investigating what I will install have a battery ? are deep cycle batteries a must? plan to probably use 2, as only ne...
Forum Discussion
Most of us find that what we thought was enough wasn't. We went from 160 watts of panels and supposedly 300 AH of battery (4 group 24 marine/deep cycle) to 420 watts of panels and 484 AH of battery. We could use another couple of hundred watts of panel.
Besides the energy audit I have two specific recommendations:
1) Use a wire gauge capable of at least twice the current you plan to get from your panels. Makes it much easier to upgrade later.
2) Mount the controller as close as possible (a few feet) to the batteries with as large a gauge wire as possible without being stupid about it. (4/0 cables with for 10 amps of current is just plain silly and a waste of money) You can afford to loose a few tenths of a volt between the panels and the controller but NOT between the controller and the battery. If you must skimp on wire size do it on the input side of the controller.
Besides the energy audit I have two specific recommendations:
1) Use a wire gauge capable of at least twice the current you plan to get from your panels. Makes it much easier to upgrade later.
2) Mount the controller as close as possible (a few feet) to the batteries with as large a gauge wire as possible without being stupid about it. (4/0 cables with for 10 amps of current is just plain silly and a waste of money) You can afford to loose a few tenths of a volt between the panels and the controller but NOT between the controller and the battery. If you must skimp on wire size do it on the input side of the controller.
