Solar Kit
Just received my kit. 2 100w panels with a 30a pwm controller. Hoping it will recharge my 2 GC2's. I am alone in the trailer and power use is min. Any thoughts?
Forum Discussion
waynefi wrote:
I had removed a battery from the TT and set it on my porch while doing the experiment, so no other loads. I have set the timer to 180 minutes and the boost voltage to 15.
I did notice that the controller displays both panel and battery voltages, and I was looking at panel volts.That accounts for 0.1 of the difference, and now my DVM agrees with the controller measurement.
There is a fuse and an SB50 connector in the line, I'm not sure how much drop they contribute. The wire is marked as 1.5 mm2, so I think that is an area, not a diameter. I'm not sure what wire gauge that is.
I will probably re-wire with thicker wire.
I checked and the 1.5mm is the equivalent of 15awg. That's pretty small gauge wire. I researched it and the panels to the controller is fine for the 1.5mm, but recommended upgrading cable from controller to the batteries. My short little fused segment with alligator clips is 12awg.
Another question for you Solar Guru's out there. My Renogy suitcase 50 watt panels max at 18 volts and the 30 watt coming tomorrow has a max of 17.5volts. Does that prevent me from attaching them in parallel? What if I connect the 30 watt to a 50watt that connects to thew other 50watt and then to the controller? If not, I will just get another controller for the 30 watt. Any problem with a second controller hooking up to batteries at the same time?
