Solar charging - can it be so?
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the solar and power issue, but I have learned a lot. In conversation with my RV service tech, an independent guy who takes pride in his knowledge and work, I wa...
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The earlier start with a higher voltage notion sounds good, but at the time of the earlier start your amps are so low, who cares? Say you get 2 amps from 7-8am that you would not get otherwise. That is 2 AH. My goodness, two whole AH!
On no shade different sets real life--I put three 100w panels (6.2 Isc each) in parallel with a PWM and got 18.6a to the battery by Trimetric when array aimed at high noon. I quickly swapped to MPPT and got 18.x (forget exact amount).
It turned out that panel heating kills off wattage with MPPT to the same degree that PWM "wastes watts" according to MPPT advertising, so it was a wash.
I then tried the panels in series with the MPPT (can't do that with the PWM) and got--ta da-- 18.x to the batts by Trimetric. Same.
So that's what I got in real life. Three 100w panels will do what they do and that's that. You can't get blood out of a stone and wire them funny to get more, or use a different controller. At least I couldn't.
Solar is so variable each day, you can't realize all these so called advantages that you will ever notice. Pick something that makes the most sense and that's your solar. After that it is all up to the weather man what good it does you. Meanwhile keep your generator handy, because you will need it if you don't have one, and might not need it if you do have one (Sod's Law with that)
On no shade different sets real life--I put three 100w panels (6.2 Isc each) in parallel with a PWM and got 18.6a to the battery by Trimetric when array aimed at high noon. I quickly swapped to MPPT and got 18.x (forget exact amount).
It turned out that panel heating kills off wattage with MPPT to the same degree that PWM "wastes watts" according to MPPT advertising, so it was a wash.
I then tried the panels in series with the MPPT (can't do that with the PWM) and got--ta da-- 18.x to the batts by Trimetric. Same.
So that's what I got in real life. Three 100w panels will do what they do and that's that. You can't get blood out of a stone and wire them funny to get more, or use a different controller. At least I couldn't.
Solar is so variable each day, you can't realize all these so called advantages that you will ever notice. Pick something that makes the most sense and that's your solar. After that it is all up to the weather man what good it does you. Meanwhile keep your generator handy, because you will need it if you don't have one, and might not need it if you do have one (Sod's Law with that)
