POPUPs with Solar Panels added to roof
Would like to see some photos of POPUPs with SOLAR PANELs added to the roof area. I am in the very early stage of looking into installing SOLAR PANELS on my Starcraft 14RT Off-Road POPUP roof. M...
Forum Discussion
We actually have three solar panels but the only two that go with us when camping are the 185W attached to the roof 66 cell high voltage and a Unisolar 144W high voltage flexible panel that is 18' that I store rolled up in the tongue box. Both panels were intended and used in a grid tie system (picked up on ebay). I have seen the 66 cell as high as 74 V on a cold day, this is fed into the Morningstar MPPT Sun Saver and I have seen it produce 17V under a full moon. The Unisolar is a tare off of some ones roof and puts out a bout 34V and goes into a Steca PMW, one of the only higher voltage PMW controllers I have found.
Our needs are more modest, the refrigerator, lights, TV and satellite receiver, water pump...
I could easily go with another 66 cell on our roof but we do not need it. I have not seen on any other RV forum the advantage of high voltage panels and an MPPT controller.
http://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/suppo ... rimer2.pdf
"The difference between a PMW and MPPT
For PWM controllers the input current equals the output current and is not transformed.
An MPPT controller transforms higher voltage and lower current at the input to a lower battery voltage and higher charging current on the output.
Effect of maximum charging power limit of a Morningstar TrakStar MPPT controller on an over sized array Better production early and late in the day.
Operates at maximum power rating getting full charging potential of MPPT controller more often.
Better production during low solar insolation periods (cloudy weather)
Limits the maximum charging current."
Note In this instance they are discussing a panel with a higher wattage than the 200 W but it applies also to a high voltage i.e. my 185 W.
With the often limited space to mount a panel on a teardrop the use of a higher voltage panel and MPPT controller may be a good choice
Our needs are more modest, the refrigerator, lights, TV and satellite receiver, water pump...
I could easily go with another 66 cell on our roof but we do not need it. I have not seen on any other RV forum the advantage of high voltage panels and an MPPT controller.
http://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/suppo ... rimer2.pdf
"The difference between a PMW and MPPT
For PWM controllers the input current equals the output current and is not transformed.
An MPPT controller transforms higher voltage and lower current at the input to a lower battery voltage and higher charging current on the output.
Effect of maximum charging power limit of a Morningstar TrakStar MPPT controller on an over sized array Better production early and late in the day.
Operates at maximum power rating getting full charging potential of MPPT controller more often.
Better production during low solar insolation periods (cloudy weather)
Limits the maximum charging current."
Note In this instance they are discussing a panel with a higher wattage than the 200 W but it applies also to a high voltage i.e. my 185 W.
With the often limited space to mount a panel on a teardrop the use of a higher voltage panel and MPPT controller may be a good choice
