solar charge controller

Hi fellas, sorry I did not provide more details. So I have two 100w panels and the charge controller that came with the kit was a smaller one so I upgraded to the Pwm 30a controller. It's made by viewstar which is what renogy sells. My plan was to hard mount the controller to the wall of the adjacent compartment to my battery box. I can then hard wire to the battery bank and have the panel wires running from the controller to battery compartment, then out the bottom vent to the panels. When I said portable, what I meant was that at this time I'm not going to install the panels on the roof but have them nearby the MH. I think I will eventually do a permanent install, just not enough time working and getting other things done before a long trip.
Thanks
Bill

Hopefully Bill will attach it to something. 12A electrical equipment with (probably) terminals not covered, should not be laying around un-fastened when it's working. Or bump all around the compartment while on the road.

How long can you hold your hand on a 60 watt light bulb without it burning you? Power dissipation is necessary or the life of the controller may be short.

I am awful leery of bumping charge controllers around. Seen too many damaged ones. Could pop the door open a crack. That otter vent quite nicely.

Cargo hold is "somewhat" ventilated, hatches are not air tight. But this is beside the point. What is important, is whether the compartment is big enough for heat dissipation. Also, do you have enough clearance from other objects - as prescribed by the manufacturer. There should be "some" indications if not for this, then for a similar controller.

They usually put cheap off-brand controllers in those kits, that nobody buys on purpose and nobody knows about. But, if you tell its Amp rating, we'll tell you how "close" to battery it should be, and with what cable, and how much clearance, more-less. Proximity to battery depends on the cable.

IIRC, my 30 Amp MPPT requires 6" clearance from top and bottom and is not recommended to be installed in small enclosed volumes like closets.

Edit - PS:
Disregard controller Amp rating for battery cable calculations if you won't be adding more panels in future. If this is a PWM controller, you only need to know Isc of this 200W solar array.

The cargo areas are pretty neat places to mount alot of these type of electronics...


GOOGLE IMAGES

I am still in the planning stages here for my solar panel install but I will most definitely want to have a panel setup that I can observe from the living area of the trailer.

I would want to keep track of the good and bad times for the solar panels in a effort to perhaps keep the panels better in the high sun portions of the day...

My goal is for around 400Watts of solar panels and I want to see a good 20AMPS of DC CURRENT being developed during the high sun portion of the day...

With just your smaller portable panel this may not be a concern for you but little things that do good seems to always get bigger and bigger for me once I see the big advantages I gain from them... i.e. plan for future growth perhaps...

Roy Ken

X2

The cargo compartment is considered a ventilated space, you're good to go. Just follow the Mfg's instructions as to mounting.