Kd7vea wrote:
pianotuna Trust me, I'm not worried about having too much solar, I'm worried about having plenty of solar, but the batteries not being able to take all of the charge that the panels are capable of producing. My thought is why produce 10kw of solar energy if the charge controller can only use 1kw to charge the batteries. I would love to run a lithium battery bank, but I got 12 good Gel cells for free, so I figured I would try them out, but I know that the Gell Batteries have to take a slower charge. Also, we purchased our motorhome for $3000, and have sunk another $4000 into getting it put back together inside, so I dont want to waste money where it wouldnt benifit us. As normal, everything we have done to get this thing ready to use has cost 2 times what we initially planned. Welcome to the joys of owning an RV!
Simple solution to solar power waste. Turn on the inverter, turn on the water heater. Do this after the battery bank reaches 85% state of charge.
If that draws too much power, then switch the fridge to the 120 volt electric setting, and save on propane.
Even with my tiny system and large battery bank (at one point, 875 amp-hours @ 12 volts), on a sunny day in June I'm sometimes able to do this.
I do all of my cooking on an induction hob (NuWave is the best imo). I run my microwave when ever I wish.
