Solar Kit
Just received my kit. 2 100w panels with a 30a pwm controller. Hoping it will recharge my 2 GC2's. I am alone in the trailer and power use is min. Any thoughts?
Forum Discussion
You're seeing voltage drop along, and due to, the wiring between the controller and the batteries.
That's the reason you see so much talk here in the forums of portable kits having their controller out at the panels instead of the controller being back at the batteries - where it really belongs for maximum energy transfer efficiency ... which is where folks put the controller in RV roof-top systems and RV portable systems they put together themselves. Since the kits are supposed to be ready-to-go plug-and-play systems, they have to come such that the user has nothing else to do to use them but set them up and attach the output cable to the RV's battery system.
The current you're seeing would be a bit higher if the batteries were seeing a higher voltage on their terminals and the batteries would be seeing a higher voltage on their terminals if the voltage was not being reduced by resistance in the wiring between the controller's output and the batteries. It's kind of a catch-22 vicious circle. However, the plug-and-play portable panel manufacturers and most users of them consider the situation as "good enough" ... as compared to the zero current they were getting from the sun's energy before they had any kind of solar at all!
That's the reason you see so much talk here in the forums of portable kits having their controller out at the panels instead of the controller being back at the batteries - where it really belongs for maximum energy transfer efficiency ... which is where folks put the controller in RV roof-top systems and RV portable systems they put together themselves. Since the kits are supposed to be ready-to-go plug-and-play systems, they have to come such that the user has nothing else to do to use them but set them up and attach the output cable to the RV's battery system.
The current you're seeing would be a bit higher if the batteries were seeing a higher voltage on their terminals and the batteries would be seeing a higher voltage on their terminals if the voltage was not being reduced by resistance in the wiring between the controller's output and the batteries. It's kind of a catch-22 vicious circle. However, the plug-and-play portable panel manufacturers and most users of them consider the situation as "good enough" ... as compared to the zero current they were getting from the sun's energy before they had any kind of solar at all!
