Solar System Sanity Check
I am doing a wheels up camper conversion on a 2005 high top Sprinter van. The amount of research, build thread reading, Amazon searching and ordering and time involved in this is staggering. …but in a good way. It’s an exciting project!! We’ve wired up the LED’s, Water pump, MaxxAir Fan, back up camera….getting ready to insulate.
So, my question today is about solar. I’ve spent dozens of hours reading many of the opinions and “Experts”, and there are a ton of them.
The amount of information is amazing and intimidating. Probably the most intimidating part of this entire build. I am trying to keep on a fairly tight budget. No lithium batteries for me!
I am weekend warrior. I have no plans to fulltime in this thing. Out a few days and then back home.
I have done my usage calculations and this is my plan –
• 2 Costco Golf Cart Batteries 200 AH (vented and secured inside the van) 2 X $85
• 200 Watt Renogy System from Amazon $339 Includes a PWM controller
• Adding a battery monitoring panel $20
• Adding a 1500 watt modified sine wave inverter (brand tbd) $350 +/-
Is there anything I am missing? Of course we will have all the proper bits, fuses and connections in place. My research tends to have me leaning toward the PWM controller. Not enough major benefits for a 200W system to spend extra for MPPT.
I am open to your suggestions.
I have read the great information posted by pianotuna…..and by handybob. Very informative..thank you
I just need some help before I pull the trigger on ordering all this stuff.
Thank you
HuckFinn
So, my question today is about solar. I’ve spent dozens of hours reading many of the opinions and “Experts”, and there are a ton of them.
The amount of information is amazing and intimidating. Probably the most intimidating part of this entire build. I am trying to keep on a fairly tight budget. No lithium batteries for me!
I am weekend warrior. I have no plans to fulltime in this thing. Out a few days and then back home.
I have done my usage calculations and this is my plan –
• 2 Costco Golf Cart Batteries 200 AH (vented and secured inside the van) 2 X $85
• 200 Watt Renogy System from Amazon $339 Includes a PWM controller
• Adding a battery monitoring panel $20
• Adding a 1500 watt modified sine wave inverter (brand tbd) $350 +/-
Is there anything I am missing? Of course we will have all the proper bits, fuses and connections in place. My research tends to have me leaning toward the PWM controller. Not enough major benefits for a 200W system to spend extra for MPPT.
I am open to your suggestions.
I have read the great information posted by pianotuna…..and by handybob. Very informative..thank you
I just need some help before I pull the trigger on ordering all this stuff.
Thank you
HuckFinn
