Setting up my solar system
I'm in the planning stages of adding solar to my travel trailer. I currently have a battery bank of two 6V flooded lead acid GC batteries in series that is 215 Ah 12 volts. I am planning on adding ...
Forum Discussion
Yup, Panel basics 101 teachs us that low sun angles on flat panels yields low power.
The bigger picture: 30V panels are less than half the cost of 12V per watt. A current dealer ad has 295W 60 cell panels for $100 - not a typo. With the more expensive MPPT controllers you still save dollars. Plus you get the shadow benefit especially when they exist for trees or what ever.
If 200W of panels is the goal then sure consider 12V and PWM controller.
There are pros and cons to initial install and upgrades. One pro is earlier solar at less cost. One con is you purchase upgrades that are compatible and likely is not state of the art. That's why I did my research and in 2014 jumped in at 750W. I can't add another serial panel to my controller but could switch to serial/parallel with 4 panels. But I would instead buy 3 295w panels for $300 and sell my existing panels.
So what about my controller that is now over paneled? It's happy and limits to 60A. With 750W my max was 53A, pushed hard, clear day, southern latitude at 1:00PM. So losing a few watts at noonish with 885W is not a issue and I gain capacity from sunrise to sunset and especially during the shoulder hours.
The bigger picture: 30V panels are less than half the cost of 12V per watt. A current dealer ad has 295W 60 cell panels for $100 - not a typo. With the more expensive MPPT controllers you still save dollars. Plus you get the shadow benefit especially when they exist for trees or what ever.
If 200W of panels is the goal then sure consider 12V and PWM controller.
There are pros and cons to initial install and upgrades. One pro is earlier solar at less cost. One con is you purchase upgrades that are compatible and likely is not state of the art. That's why I did my research and in 2014 jumped in at 750W. I can't add another serial panel to my controller but could switch to serial/parallel with 4 panels. But I would instead buy 3 295w panels for $300 and sell my existing panels.
So what about my controller that is now over paneled? It's happy and limits to 60A. With 750W my max was 53A, pushed hard, clear day, southern latitude at 1:00PM. So losing a few watts at noonish with 885W is not a issue and I gain capacity from sunrise to sunset and especially during the shoulder hours.
