Solar Panels for battery charging
Hi - we have a 1998 Fleetwood Angler 8'. I am wondering if anyone here has installed a solar power kit for charging the battery. I have not put in an auxillary battery and don't like to hook in to m...
Forum Discussion
Hi CAJW,
Once the battery bank reaches 85% of fully charged, acceptance rate per 100 amp-hours is approximately 12.5 amps, or about 144 watts. It would not matter if you had 1440 watts--the battery simply won't accept a higher rate of charging. When the bank is at 95% even fewer amps will flow in.
So, in your case, about 220 watts is all that is prudent, for battery charging.
If you are wanting automatic equalization the number of watts drops to about 60 per 100 amp-hours. If you have a large battery bank that becomes the number to use. So if your bank were 600 amp hours instead of 146 the ideal number would be about 360 watts.
However, IF you want to run other loads then a case can be made for more wattage.
Now that I full time, I'd populate the entire roof with panels, because I'm a "hungry" power user with a big inverter.
Once the battery bank reaches 85% of fully charged, acceptance rate per 100 amp-hours is approximately 12.5 amps, or about 144 watts. It would not matter if you had 1440 watts--the battery simply won't accept a higher rate of charging. When the bank is at 95% even fewer amps will flow in.
So, in your case, about 220 watts is all that is prudent, for battery charging.
If you are wanting automatic equalization the number of watts drops to about 60 per 100 amp-hours. If you have a large battery bank that becomes the number to use. So if your bank were 600 amp hours instead of 146 the ideal number would be about 360 watts.
However, IF you want to run other loads then a case can be made for more wattage.
Now that I full time, I'd populate the entire roof with panels, because I'm a "hungry" power user with a big inverter.
CAJW wrote:pianotuna wrote:
Hi,
Start with a big battery. Add 150 watts of solar for every 100 amp-hours of battery bank, with a good controller. Cost is currently under $2 per watt for materials.
If I'm understanding the above correctly, since I have two HD24-DP Interstates that have approx. 73 Amp hours each, I'd need 219 watts of solar capacity to recharge them? I've seen others put up 300-500 watts of solar capacity so is this overkill or have I misconstrued your information? Maybe he's already done so, but seems to me the OP would want the same information on the Costco system before committing.
