SoloPower SP1-85 85Watt flexible solar panel wired into MPPT Tracer 2210RN charge controller into an Interstate 80ah battery (came with the camper, do have plans for upgrade probably next season). Link to my install.So far I am still just using the terrible battery gauge on the factory "monitor panel", I still need to get a proper ammeter or the LCD meter panel for my charge controller to get some real data, so this is a fairly poor unscientific test.Anyways the results on our first real test of the system, 3 nights camped (with maybe an hour or so of direct sunlight around noon hour, shaded the rest of the day), and we did nothing to try and conserve power, vortex vent fan ran 24/7 (it was in the upper 80's, so it needed to), we charged our laptop and cell phones at least once a day, and 1 shower a day plus normal sink/toilet usage of the water pump. We would be down to the 1/3 mark on the battery after my morning shower, and by the end of the day we would be back up to full on the meter, though the charge controller never entered "float" mode, so I doubt we ever got a real FULL charge.In contrast to our last 3 night trip with no solar panel, and similar usage we drained the battery so low that the meter said E and it had dropped so low that the "automatic" fridge was no longer running on LP, which I have to imagine means it got pretty dang low (likely battery damaging low), we ended up just packing up and leaving early that day since we had run out of power, and other than running the tow vehicle with the 7-pin tow cable, we had no way to recharge.All in all I am super happy I invested the (fairly minimal in my opinion) money in this setup, it is performing even better than I had hoped for.

I'm feeling the same as you, I put 200 watts on my trailer roof with the plan to do 200 watts portable but I am finding that with normal use and running the heater a little at night I never drop below 12.1 volts on my meter with just 200 watts of solar. Even on cloudy days I am bringing in some power which keeps the battery's charged.As for a meter I just picked up this meter and this switch from Amazon. I just wired the meter and switch into a 12 volt line running to a couple lights in the trailer, it might not be as dead on as if it was directly wired to the battery but its close enough.

Muddydogs wrote:I'm feeling the same as you, I put 200 watts on my trailer roof with the plan to do 200 watts portable but I am finding that with normal use and running the heater a little at night I never drop below 12.1 volts on my meter with just 200 watts of solar. Even on cloudy days I am bringing in some power which keeps the battery's charged.As for a meter I just picked up this meter and this switch from Amazon. I just wired the meter and switch into a 12 volt line running to a couple lights in the trailer, it might not be as dead on as if it was directly wired to the battery but its close enough.I thought about doing a small cheap meter like that, but right now I am leaning towards the LCD Panel accessory that mates to my charge controller, it will show battery voltage plus solar charge current, which would be nice to know.

I'm still in "gathering information" mode on solar, so don't mind me if this is a dumb question.I want to know if when you were checking your battery charge at the end of the day, did you disconnect the solar panel or charger first?

Something sounds strange here...80AH battery taken down to "1/3" and being nearly fully charged with an 80w panel....Can someone that knows more than I do the math here......Just trying to understand this better.Also, taking a battery down more than 50% causes irreversible damage...no?

Rbertalotto wrote:Something sounds strange here...80AH battery taken down to "1/3" and being nearly fully charged with an 80w panel....Can someone that knows more than I do the math here......Just trying to understand this better.Also, taking a battery down more than 50% causes irreversible damage...no?I am not claiming these tests were scientific, I even specifically said they are not, I am using the cheap crappy "micro monitor" panel in the RV, they are known to be terribly inaccurate. I assume my charge controller has a slightly smarter battery meter (though without the LCD accessory, all I have to go by is LED color) and it briefly dipped out of green into orange after my morning shower, never hit red.And I am fully aware I have probably damaged my battery in the past, and maybe on this trip too depending on how accurate my inaccurate meters are, I don't really care about this battery, it's the cheap factory battery, I have plans to replace it anyways and add more monitoring, and be much more careful about how I treat it then.

First real trip out with solar panel | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

ryanw821
Explorer
Jul 22, 2015
I should note, I will post more when I get proper meters, and have some ACTUAL data to share.
This was just meant to be an anecdotal success story based off what my expectations were of the setup I chose, and how it appeared to work over a 3 night weekend trip.
ryanw821
Explorer
Jul 22, 2015
BubbaChris wrote:
I'm still in "gathering information" mode on solar, so don't mind me if this is a dumb question.

I want to know if when you were checking your battery charge at the end of the day, did you disconnect the solar panel or charger first?

I did not disconnect anything, but I checked my meter end of day after "solar" LED had gone out indicating charge controller was no longer charging.
ryanw821
Explorer
Jul 22, 2015
Rbertalotto wrote:
Something sounds strange here...80AH battery taken down to "1/3" and being nearly fully charged with an 80w panel....

Can someone that knows more than I do the math here......Just trying to understand this better.

Also, taking a battery down more than 50% causes irreversible damage...no?

I am not claiming these tests were scientific, I even specifically said they are not, I am using the cheap crappy "micro monitor" panel in the RV, they are known to be terribly inaccurate. I assume my charge controller has a slightly smarter battery meter (though without the LCD accessory, all I have to go by is LED color) and it briefly dipped out of green into orange after my morning shower, never hit red.

And I am fully aware I have probably damaged my battery in the past, and maybe on this trip too depending on how accurate my inaccurate meters are, I don't really care about this battery, it's the cheap factory battery, I have plans to replace it anyways and add more monitoring, and be much more careful about how I treat it then.
Rbertalotto
Explorer
Jul 22, 2015
Something sounds strange here...80AH battery taken down to "1/3" and being nearly fully charged with an 80w panel....

Can someone that knows more than I do the math here......Just trying to understand this better.

Also, taking a battery down more than 50% causes irreversible damage...no?
BubbaChris
Explorer
Jul 22, 2015
I'm still in "gathering information" mode on solar, so don't mind me if this is a dumb question.

I want to know if when you were checking your battery charge at the end of the day, did you disconnect the solar panel or charger first?
ryanw821
Explorer
Jul 22, 2015
Muddydogs wrote:
I'm feeling the same as you, I put 200 watts on my trailer roof with the plan to do 200 watts portable but I am finding that with normal use and running the heater a little at night I never drop below 12.1 volts on my meter with just 200 watts of solar. Even on cloudy days I am bringing in some power which keeps the battery's charged.

As for a meter I just picked up this meter and this switch from Amazon. I just wired the meter and switch into a 12 volt line running to a couple lights in the trailer, it might not be as dead on as if it was directly wired to the battery but its close enough.

I thought about doing a small cheap meter like that, but right now I am leaning towards the LCD Panel accessory that mates to my charge controller, it will show battery voltage plus solar charge current, which would be nice to know.
Muddydogs
Explorer
Jul 22, 2015
I'm feeling the same as you, I put 200 watts on my trailer roof with the plan to do 200 watts portable but I am finding that with normal use and running the heater a little at night I never drop below 12.1 volts on my meter with just 200 watts of solar. Even on cloudy days I am bringing in some power which keeps the battery's charged.

As for a meter I just picked up this meter and this switch from Amazon. I just wired the meter and switch into a 12 volt line running to a couple lights in the trailer, it might not be as dead on as if it was directly wired to the battery but its close enough.

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First real trip out with solar panel

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