BenK wrote:
Oh...thought the batteries were going in the trailer...my bad...
Have you considered up'ing the photonic's output from the typical
14%-17% efficiency to a bit higher?
The Japanese are now coming on line with 20% solar panels, but only
in Japan for now.
As the typical 20 year dialed in life span of solar for stationary
installations does not apply to a vehicle installation...unless you
keep your vehicles as long as I do...
The controller (inverter) should be the best you can afford or willing
to pay for.
AGM's are what I am noodling...can't wait till Sodium-Ion become
readily available and in the same price range as flooded cell (lead)
GREAT thread !!!!
PS...there is a 100% solar powered 'car' coming out soon. Not
rigid cells and curved to form the roof. That one I'll consider
but still would prefer to make my own
They haven't decided on the storage yet, but for now...it can
run al day as long as enough sun is out
I'm going to go with the Tristar TS-45-MPPT charge controller, as it has the highest published efficiency at 99%.
Ben, The panels I'm looking at are 20.5% efficient from Sunpower, the e20 line. They are available now, here for only 58 cents/watt. http://sunelec.com/ Here's a link to their specs: http://global.sunpowercorp.com/cs/BlobServer?blobkey=id&blobwhere=1300260208996&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadername1=Content-Type&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3De20_435_ds_en_a4_w.pdf&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs
There's even a higher efficiency model available by Sun, the x21 series but it's $$$. http://us.sunpower.com/solar-panels-technology/x-series-solar-panels/
There's new technology coming soon. Solar 3D is soon to come out with a 25% efficient panel that collects light more efficiently from a wider angle of incidence. In other words, it tracks the sun better capturing more photons. http://www.solar3d.com/technology.php On August 17th. they just purchased the Solar Elite plant in Durham, CA, to expand their production. I will be buying in 2018, which should give them plenty of time to crank up production. They promise to be affordable, but are focusing on the agriculture market or now, with only 10% of production slated for residential sales. By then battery technology will certainly improve, so who knows? Right now I'm planning on using FLAs because they have the cheapest cost/watt/hr/cycle, though they waste more charging energy due to a higher internal resistance (so are more subject to the Peukert effect than either AGMs or of course Lithiums.) http://www.solar3d.com/view_news.php?Id=151
Chip
