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 radio guys really have a time with these self generated noise sources.
My 100WATT Icom 706 full mode HF/2M/440 mobile unit gets eat up with RFI noise coming from the truck electronics. In my case it turned out to be the fuel pump electronics that was the worse case RFI noise. Still have not eliminated it.
Then you move into the trailer and the Inverters really tear up things in the 7Mhz bands for me. Loud bands of BRRRRRs all over the place. Not much you can do here to eliminate it. The 120VAC extension cords become antennas when plugged into the receptacles. You can build up all sorts of filters, center taped transformers, all kinds of things to eliminate the RFI and nothing really works...
Then I installed LED lights to reduce my current load only to find out the expensive LED lights that incorporated their BUCK BOOST regulators produced really bad RFI for the VHF/UHF frequency ranges. Never noticed it at first until we ended up camping off the power grid using the OTA Bat wing antenna to pick up the local towns high def Broadcast digital TV signals. Couldn't pick anything and then turned off my ceiling lights that were using LED boards. Picked up all kinds of digital stations after that. Then I could turn just one LED light and the TV picture would freeze and then is few seconds you get the dreaded blue screen saying "NO SIGNAL". Turn off the light and it jumps back to working...
Then I noticed the same for the NOAH WX Radio, My VHF/UHF radio operations was very much reduced on receive. RFI noise everywhere haha... I tried two three ferrite beads things and some caps here and there but never could find the magic spot. My fix was to replace the high dollar LED boards for the ebay/china $4.99 led boards that did not use the regulators circuits and all is fine now. This is some $250 dollars to late however haha... If I am camping at regular camp grounds using cable connections it was not all that noticeable.
Some folks say they have never noticed any RFI signals using the high dollar regulated type LED fixtures. Then again alot of others also have the same problem as I have so go figure....
The same will go with the solar panels. Most folks say they head for the woods now and never take along their generators. They last for five to ten days running off a couple of 120WATT solar panels. I have already done some preliminary tests here with variable DC supplies that will mimic the DC outputs of the solar panels and with my 255AH battery setup starting out with a 90% charge state will drop down to 50% charge state by 8AM the next morning with my usual loads for that one day/night battery run.
I put in 14.4VDC@10amps and left on charge for a good 6-7 hours for my three 85AH batteries and could not reach 90% charge state by the end of that period. It was still drawing the full 10AMPS at the end of 7 hours. I could do it with one 85AH battery on charge but that would NOT do me any good for the usual battery run I am accustomed to be doing. I would be in that dark before 8PM with just one 90% charged-up battery running things...
So my solar power has to produce 14.4VDC@60AMPS to duplicate what my on-board PD9260C Converter/charger does to be able to return my batteries to their 90% charge state in as little as three hours time. Of course this is NOT going to happen with running three 120WATT Solar panels that only produces around 5-6AMPS each at 14.4VDC coming from the MPPT controller. To add more pain I am also planning on adding two 300AH battery banks to replace my one 255AH battery bank in the near future as well.
Then of course my other problem is I have to know for sure by 4-5PM each day if the solar power is going to have my batteries anywhere near their 90% charge state and if not I will need three hours of time to legally run my generator to make it happen. Most places have generator restrictions in place after 8PM each night where we go here on the East side of the US.
The one test I haven't been able to do here is to have the solar panels do their thing up to the 4-5PM time frame each day and then switch to the generator to top them off back up to the 90% charge state. I think my PD9260C will require a full three hour run when I start out with 14.4VDC@60AMPs of capacity to complete the 90% charge sate even if the solar panels already had it up to lets says a 80% charge state. I believe the smart mode electronics in the PD9260C will run the full time regardless where it starts out in its charge cycle???
Of course I really won't know how all of this will work with my setup until I get at least two 120WATT Panels up and running where I can monitor everything as it happens.. Most of the folks that I have discussed this with agree with me saying it won't work with my day/night battery load. I have had a couple say it will work however and the solar panels will take up the slack during the day and if I need to re-charge with the generator after 4PM each day it won't take very long to attain the 90% charge state???
What I need to do now is to test how long 14.4VDC@15AMPS capacity will take to re-charge my 255AH battery bank to its 90% charge state. I don't think I can do this in 6-7 hours hours mimicking the high sun load day?? I already know how long it takes if I have 14.4VDC@60Amps capacity which is three hours using my PD9260C converter/charger. Some has said why not legally run the generator at 8AM each morning for two hours and then let the solar panels do their thing for 6-7 hours during the SUN day topping off the batteries at 90% or more.
I am just rambling on here scratching my head hehe...
Roy Ken
My 100WATT Icom 706 full mode HF/2M/440 mobile unit gets eat up with RFI noise coming from the truck electronics. In my case it turned out to be the fuel pump electronics that was the worse case RFI noise. Still have not eliminated it.
Then you move into the trailer and the Inverters really tear up things in the 7Mhz bands for me. Loud bands of BRRRRRs all over the place. Not much you can do here to eliminate it. The 120VAC extension cords become antennas when plugged into the receptacles. You can build up all sorts of filters, center taped transformers, all kinds of things to eliminate the RFI and nothing really works...
Then I installed LED lights to reduce my current load only to find out the expensive LED lights that incorporated their BUCK BOOST regulators produced really bad RFI for the VHF/UHF frequency ranges. Never noticed it at first until we ended up camping off the power grid using the OTA Bat wing antenna to pick up the local towns high def Broadcast digital TV signals. Couldn't pick anything and then turned off my ceiling lights that were using LED boards. Picked up all kinds of digital stations after that. Then I could turn just one LED light and the TV picture would freeze and then is few seconds you get the dreaded blue screen saying "NO SIGNAL". Turn off the light and it jumps back to working...
Then I noticed the same for the NOAH WX Radio, My VHF/UHF radio operations was very much reduced on receive. RFI noise everywhere haha... I tried two three ferrite beads things and some caps here and there but never could find the magic spot. My fix was to replace the high dollar LED boards for the ebay/china $4.99 led boards that did not use the regulators circuits and all is fine now. This is some $250 dollars to late however haha... If I am camping at regular camp grounds using cable connections it was not all that noticeable.
Some folks say they have never noticed any RFI signals using the high dollar regulated type LED fixtures. Then again alot of others also have the same problem as I have so go figure....
The same will go with the solar panels. Most folks say they head for the woods now and never take along their generators. They last for five to ten days running off a couple of 120WATT solar panels. I have already done some preliminary tests here with variable DC supplies that will mimic the DC outputs of the solar panels and with my 255AH battery setup starting out with a 90% charge state will drop down to 50% charge state by 8AM the next morning with my usual loads for that one day/night battery run.
I put in 14.4VDC@10amps and left on charge for a good 6-7 hours for my three 85AH batteries and could not reach 90% charge state by the end of that period. It was still drawing the full 10AMPS at the end of 7 hours. I could do it with one 85AH battery on charge but that would NOT do me any good for the usual battery run I am accustomed to be doing. I would be in that dark before 8PM with just one 90% charged-up battery running things...
So my solar power has to produce 14.4VDC@60AMPS to duplicate what my on-board PD9260C Converter/charger does to be able to return my batteries to their 90% charge state in as little as three hours time. Of course this is NOT going to happen with running three 120WATT Solar panels that only produces around 5-6AMPS each at 14.4VDC coming from the MPPT controller. To add more pain I am also planning on adding two 300AH battery banks to replace my one 255AH battery bank in the near future as well.
Then of course my other problem is I have to know for sure by 4-5PM each day if the solar power is going to have my batteries anywhere near their 90% charge state and if not I will need three hours of time to legally run my generator to make it happen. Most places have generator restrictions in place after 8PM each night where we go here on the East side of the US.
The one test I haven't been able to do here is to have the solar panels do their thing up to the 4-5PM time frame each day and then switch to the generator to top them off back up to the 90% charge state. I think my PD9260C will require a full three hour run when I start out with 14.4VDC@60AMPs of capacity to complete the 90% charge sate even if the solar panels already had it up to lets says a 80% charge state. I believe the smart mode electronics in the PD9260C will run the full time regardless where it starts out in its charge cycle???
Of course I really won't know how all of this will work with my setup until I get at least two 120WATT Panels up and running where I can monitor everything as it happens.. Most of the folks that I have discussed this with agree with me saying it won't work with my day/night battery load. I have had a couple say it will work however and the solar panels will take up the slack during the day and if I need to re-charge with the generator after 4PM each day it won't take very long to attain the 90% charge state???
What I need to do now is to test how long 14.4VDC@15AMPS capacity will take to re-charge my 255AH battery bank to its 90% charge state. I don't think I can do this in 6-7 hours hours mimicking the high sun load day?? I already know how long it takes if I have 14.4VDC@60Amps capacity which is three hours using my PD9260C converter/charger. Some has said why not legally run the generator at 8AM each morning for two hours and then let the solar panels do their thing for 6-7 hours during the SUN day topping off the batteries at 90% or more.
I am just rambling on here scratching my head hehe...
Roy Ken
