Solar project thoughts.
Hi guys. Midway through installing. I have the panels mounted and working through wiring. Looking for thoughtful comments. Here are a couple pics of install to date.
Forum Discussion
GpnAZ wrote:
Holy smokes, what a bank of batteries and you probably need a bank to buy all those!! What type batteries are you using and what's the weight on all of them? How many total watts do you have for solar panels? I can't help with wiring or monitoring needs but we have some pretty knowledgeable people on this forum when it comes to solar, BKA being one of them. Nice project!
The batteries are manufactured by CALB They are prismatic LiFePO4 cells. The individual cells are 3.2v so placing 4 in series yields 12.8v battery. They can also be configured to 24v, 48v etc..
The cells weigh about 7.3 pounds each, so this bank weighs in at 175 pounds. Only a little more than what the generator that would occupy this same compartment weighs. By removing the (2) 6v from the battery compartment the end result is a reduction in camper weight compared to genset and stock batteries.
As far as cost. The batteries cost me landed with busbars $550 per 100AH. 100AH CALB cells arrive tested to +/- 15% over stated capacity, so you do have a usable 115AH. I will probably make my own cut off at 90% and that will probably be infrequent to drop that low.
