Solar charger for 4 6v golf cart batteries LONG TERM?

[DiskDoctr]

After a few years of medical hiatus, moving camper to a semi-permanent spot on our property. Looking for reasonable setup to keep our 4x 6v golf cart batteries topped up.

Usage will be 1-3 days about 3-4 times per month. We will have a generator available if we take it.

Topping off batteries after we leave or if we are away for a month or two is the goal.

It is on top of high hill in SW Pennsylvania, so looking at solar.

Don't want to get the wrong "trickle charger" that kills the batteries prematurely. Also don't want to be required to stay extra (few hours?) to run generator after a stay, or require a "service trip" just to charge up batteries.

We would run off generator and/or 2k inverter from batteries during out stay, likely run coffee maker, microwave, etc in am and eve, which also runs our 4 stage charger.

Winter usage as well, so propane fridge and RV furnace that uses the energy gobbling fan. Likely an internet link and remote camera setup for security will run 24/7

2005 Cougar 33BHS

Thanks in advance.

[theoldwizard1]

valhalla360 wrote:

Assuming the OP shuts off the electrical loads when he leaves, keeping the batteries up while he's gone is pretty much a non-issue. Even if the output is down by 90% due to overcast/snow cover, it should be fine.

The batteries will hold a reasonable charge by themselves for several weeks assuming there is absolutely no load (I would disconnect the batteries when I left). A couple of hours on a generator and charger would bring them up to snuff !

I would not want to leave them for more than 1-2 months.

[StirCrazy]

pianotuna wrote:


Renogy is fine--until it breaks. They are slow to respond to requests for help apparently.

I have actualy found them very quick to respond, maybe Im just lucky

Steve

[pianotuna]

DiskDoctr wrote:
Thanks. I am going to look into a setup for 300w plus. Probably have to get a little at a time but might be a good idea to plan to run most things without the generator, too 😉

Hi,

Start with an energy audit.

Renogy is fine--until it breaks. They are slow to respond to requests for help apparently.

This series of articles may help:

https://freecampsites.net/adding-solar/

[valhalla360]

StirCrazy wrote:

Im more worried in a fixed location of being able to ensure your batteries stay charged up while your not there. I am not sure how cold it gets where the OP is talking about or what kind of winter storms come through.. snow covering of the panels can stop the charging dead if they are low and it gets real cold you could dammage the batteries, where as if they are charged up fast you will be safe for a while. on a moble set up you can just plug it in at home when you get that snow storm (which I had to do last week.) so im not worried about the battery state running low and freezing the electralite when it gets cold. Unless the plan is to bring the batteries back and forth each trip..

Assuming the OP shuts off the electrical loads when he leaves, keeping the batteries up while he's gone is pretty much a non-issue. Even if the output is down by 90% due to overcast/snow cover, it should be fine.

He also has the option to tilt the panels which increases output and reduces snow cover, since it's not moving.

[StirCrazy]

valhalla360 wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:
I think 10 to 25% is way low especialy for a stationary place they won't be towing home each time. I would still do double the recomendation for batteries this keeps the cycle depth even lower so better for the batteries and you have even more reserve if you there and you get a week of bad weathet.

I have 10 times my max daily use in battery for my camper, and emough solar to fill my max daily use by noon on a good day. I do a lot of bad weather and shaded camping with that one and two years ago with the normal deep cycles I found with 50% duty on the furnace I was realy getting worried on the 3rd night about the batteries staying over 50%. I was going below freezing each night and only just above in the day and I was camped in the trees while it rained for 3 days :R

No harm to go massive overkill...other than to the OP's wallet.

A fixed location would actually lead me to be less conservative as you don't have to build a system for a wide variety of conditions (Ie: you know up front if there are shading issues on the panels)

ya panels are cheep as heck , its the batteries that cost the money, but you guys south of the boarder are luckey, you could get 8 costco 6V for less than 800 bucks... up here it would be a lot more.

Im more worried in a fixed location of being able to ensure your batteries stay charged up while your not there. I am not sure how cold it gets where the OP is talking about or what kind of winter storms come through.. snow covering of the panels can stop the charging dead if they are low and it gets real cold you could dammage the batteries, where as if they are charged up fast you will be safe for a while. on a moble set up you can just plug it in at home when you get that snow storm (which I had to do last week.) so im not worried about the battery state running low and freezing the electralite when it gets cold. Unless the plan is to bring the batteries back and forth each trip..

the other thing I try to do is eliminate the use of generators in 6 years of having solar I have never even had the desire to have a generator and never had to worry about power. well except once.. but that was during the heat wave two summers ago when it was 48 degree celcius and I was camping... the truck ac was my friend haha...

[valhalla360]

StirCrazy wrote:
I think 10 to 25% is way low especialy for a stationary place they won't be towing home each time. I would still do double the recomendation for batteries this keeps the cycle depth even lower so better for the batteries and you have even more reserve if you there and you get a week of bad weathet.

I have 10 times my max daily use in battery for my camper, and emough solar to fill my max daily use by noon on a good day. I do a lot of bad weather and shaded camping with that one and two years ago with the normal deep cycles I found with 50% duty on the furnace I was realy getting worried on the 3rd night about the batteries staying over 50%. I was going below freezing each night and only just above in the day and I was camped in the trees while it rained for 3 days :R

No harm to go massive overkill...other than to the OP's wallet.

A fixed location would actually lead me to be less conservative as you don't have to build a system for a wide variety of conditions (Ie: you know up front if there are shading issues on the panels)

[StirCrazy]

valhalla360 wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:

DiskDoctr wrote:
I tried out that solar calculator.

It came back with 530 watts with 55 amp MPPT, 425ah lead acid batteries.

Used winter numbers with furnace at 20hrs per day, 0.5hrs microwave usage, etc

We have 4x 6v golf cart batteries (Duracell) and 2kw inverter. Batteries are a few years old, always connected to 4 stage charger/AC. Believe they are 215ah/each with 2 pairs in parallel (standard for 12v setup)

Likely will be adding a 24/7 camera and internet wifi backhaul link across the top and then down the mountainside to our house. So that will add a little more usage.

so if thats what you are getting , I would personaly pad my chances and at least double the solar panels and batteries. if I got that for numbers I would put 3 or 4 400 watt panels and I would double your battery capacity to help keep the usage under 50% of the battery capacity to get maximum life. and theres no harm in haveing extra battery capacity for thoes stormy few days when you won't get full preformace from the solar.

The website already has depth of discharge as part of the calculations.

Padding a bit is a good idea but I would be looking at 10-25%, not double. Better to look up the wifi & camera specs and put in real numbers. The idea of doing an audit is not to just pick random numbers out of your.... At 24/7, the wife/camera could be fairly substantial.

A big question if camping in the dead of winter (as evidenced by 20hr of furnace run time), is what sun-hours did you select. Normally, using 4 is a good generic assumption but most people don't camp in the north in the dead of winter.

I did a quick check and in Erie PA for a panel mounted flat, it varies from 1.13 (December) to 6.51 (July). Assuming 4hr could leave you way under powered in the winter but compared to more typical users who camp mostly April-October will report much higher output than you will see in the winter.

I think 10 to 25% is way low especialy for a stationary place they won't be towing home each time. I would still do double the recomendation for batteries this keeps the cycle depth even lower so better for the batteries and you have even more reserve if you there and you get a week of bad weathet.

I have 10 times my max daily use in battery for my camper, and emough solar to fill my max daily use by noon on a good day. I do a lot of bad weather and shaded camping with that one and two years ago with the normal deep cycles I found with 50% duty on the furnace I was realy getting worried on the 3rd night about the batteries staying over 50%. I was going below freezing each night and only just above in the day and I was camped in the trees while it rained for 3 days :R

[valhalla360]

StirCrazy wrote:

DiskDoctr wrote:
I tried out that solar calculator.

It came back with 530 watts with 55 amp MPPT, 425ah lead acid batteries.

Used winter numbers with furnace at 20hrs per day, 0.5hrs microwave usage, etc

We have 4x 6v golf cart batteries (Duracell) and 2kw inverter. Batteries are a few years old, always connected to 4 stage charger/AC. Believe they are 215ah/each with 2 pairs in parallel (standard for 12v setup)

Likely will be adding a 24/7 camera and internet wifi backhaul link across the top and then down the mountainside to our house. So that will add a little more usage.

so if thats what you are getting , I would personaly pad my chances and at least double the solar panels and batteries. if I got that for numbers I would put 3 or 4 400 watt panels and I would double your battery capacity to help keep the usage under 50% of the battery capacity to get maximum life. and theres no harm in haveing extra battery capacity for thoes stormy few days when you won't get full preformace from the solar.

The website already has depth of discharge as part of the calculations.

Padding a bit is a good idea but I would be looking at 10-25%, not double. Better to look up the wifi & camera specs and put in real numbers. The idea of doing an audit is not to just pick random numbers out of your.... At 24/7, the wife/camera could be fairly substantial.

A big question if camping in the dead of winter (as evidenced by 20hr of furnace run time), is what sun-hours did you select. Normally, using 4 is a good generic assumption but most people don't camp in the north in the dead of winter.

I did a quick check and in Erie PA for a panel mounted flat, it varies from 1.13 (December) to 6.51 (July). Assuming 4hr could leave you way under powered in the winter but compared to more typical users who camp mostly April-October will report much higher output than you will see in the winter.

[valhalla360]

DiskDoctr wrote:
Similar to traveling, except no alternator to charge before/after trips. Hoping solar will do that job for us.

You basically trade the alternator for the solar while you are gone, so in both cases (at least hopefully), you are starting at full charge. From then on, it's pretty much the same operating situation.

[StirCrazy]

DiskDoctr wrote:
I tried out that solar calculator.

It came back with 530 watts with 55 amp MPPT, 425ah lead acid batteries.

Used winter numbers with furnace at 20hrs per day, 0.5hrs microwave usage, etc

We have 4x 6v golf cart batteries (Duracell) and 2kw inverter. Batteries are a few years old, always connected to 4 stage charger/AC. Believe they are 215ah/each with 2 pairs in parallel (standard for 12v setup)

Likely will be adding a 24/7 camera and internet wifi backhaul link across the top and then down the mountainside to our house. So that will add a little more usage.

so if thats what you are getting , I would personaly pad my chances and at least double the solar panels and batteries. if I got that for numbers I would put 3 or 4 400 watt panels and I would double your battery capacity to help keep the usage under 50% of the battery capacity to get maximum life. and theres no harm in haveing extra battery capacity for thoes stormy few days when you won't get full preformace from the solar.

[Grit_dog]

But road building sounds like a different topic than battery charging and I’ll caution that aside from maybe a few folks such as myself, internet road building instructions are probably not going to be very informative and not a good place to learn how to build a road in general.

[Grit_dog]

DiskDoctr wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
An ideal "topping off" solar charger...

Does this fit the bill?

Renogy (BT model)


I am planning the wifi backhaul to the house for monitoring video, thermostat/temp, etc. Maybe even battery state?

This will allow us to pre-heat the camper before we arrive in winter. Winter usage is expected if I can get this road done before arctic weather moves in. Just picked up a fitting for the backhoe today.

oh yeah-

WHAT is MAXIMUM INCLINE/SLOPE of a road for a camper, as a general rule?

Good to research what your power and charging needs will be. And the plan for solar in your scenario sounds plausible.
But if I’m reading right, you don’t have a road to the site yet.
Without knowing anything about or getting into details, the path in sounds like it may be steep. Idk how long the road will be but dozer = cutting grade for road. Backhoe = digging trenches and loading/moving material with the front bucket. Unless you’re VERY good on a backhoe….
Max grade you can pull the camper up is also subjective. And there are far more considerations than just the average or max grade.
But as an upper limit, if you’ve solved any break over (dragging hitch or tail of camper) issues as well as turning radius (if it’s that steep you may need a switchbacks?) then the max grade is what you can pull a camper your size and weight in 4wd.
Again totally subjective.
I’ve had no issues, not even close to being an issue, hauling my 4place enclosed snomachine trailer up 20% grades. 2wd when dry, 4wd when wet and front axle only chained up when ice or greasy snow. Assuming you’re not going to ever take the camper up or down it when it’s winter road conditions or muddy, I wouldn’t be concerned until 20% + grade.
And you always have 4lo, and tire chains as options (even in dry conditions) for greater grade-ability to get the camper in or out.

[Grit_dog]

DiskDoctr wrote:
Thank you.

After placing our camper, it will be staying in the same place long term.

We will travel to and from it by 4x4 and/or ATV. It is in middle of nearly 100 acres.

Sounds like a wonderful location!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

It looks like an expensive unit. E:

I'd allow some fooling around time after putting it to work to make sure you and it are on the same page. The temperature compensation sending unit will have to see where the batteries are. Sometimes solar heating will heat the structure where the meter is.

I wouldn't want to see my flooded batteries lower than say 12.90 when the temperature is below freezing. You're in PA not North Dakota so absurdly low temperatures should be uncommon.