Zamp 200w portable panels

[bill-e]

I bought a 200w portable solar panel by Zamp and brought it with me to The New Hampshire State Championships Cowboy Shoot this weekend.

Of course it rained for 4 days and there was zero sun but on Friday I set it up for about 4 hours and even with the extremely overcast sky pulled in about 6.5 AH.

This panel is supposed to generate up to 90 AH in a 7 hour day which is more than enough to keep my batteries charged and will allow me to install an inverter for my coffee.

It is heavy and big but it does fit through my passthrough hatch, if I decide to to store it in there.

I also brought with me a 700w Keurig K-Cup coffee maker which only draws about 5 amps. It makes just as good a cup of coffee as my large one and allows me to only start one generator to make a cup in the morning. I'm hoping that eventually with an inverter and the panels I don't even have to do that.

[pianotuna]

The best of the best is the Smart Gauge.

Victron is cheaper, smaller, and better than the trimetric.

bill-e wrote:
I think if I really get into solar that I'll pick up the Bogart TriMetric meter.

[bill-e]

Interesting note on the meter. If I connect my Zamp directly to the battery terminals the meter sees it as the battery and displays the load rather than 0A like it would if the Zamp was connected to the shunt. So this way I can read the charging current on the Zamp controller at the same time as the load draw on the meter.

[Rbertalotto]

Wow! 10a is nothing to sneeze at! Sounds like it should keep up with your demands favorably.

[bill-e]

Roy, thanks. The most I've seen from the panels is 10 amps (max is supposed to be 11.4). I've run some tests, the latest was a 24 hour period where I had only about 30ish ah of charge yesterday because of both the weather and the fact that where my camper is parked I can't get at a whole day's worth of sun. So I ran it all day with what I would consider my normal load. Then I went in at 11pm and measured my voltage, it was somewhere around 12.5v. I turned on my 12v CPAP and let it run all night. 9am voltage was like 12.48v.

Next will be the same test with another day of charging/load to see what my voltage recovers to...if at all. Fun stuff.

I also think that at some point this summer I'm going to run about 30' of 4awg and put a Zamp plug at the rear of my camper. That will be 2/3rd's less loss than I get with my 10 awg 15' extension and give me more range with my panels.

Lastly I am seriously thinking of getting an inverter and installing two outlets...one by the entertainment center and one on the kitchen island.

[bill-e]

westend wrote:
I've read good things about that meter. You could just get another to have the in-out usage feature. I'm teaching myself to use the Victron battery monitor I have. I find it easier to flip a switch and look at a couple of old analog meters I have mounted on a cabinet face. I can see them from outside.

Yea, I considered it for a minute. I think if I really get into solar that I'll pick up the Bogart TriMetric meter. This was mostly so that I would have an initial idea about what my load was.

[Rbertalotto]

Hi Bill,

Don't listen to the nea sayers....When I built my 280 watt system I was told by a bunch of folks on here that my wire was wrong, I need to tilt them, my panels were too expensive , 12V panels were a waste of time...I should use a different controller, my batteries were wrong and I used the wrong size circuit breakers.....All from the worlds leading authorities...

But as you saw this weekend. I went four days...and two at a nearby campground before the meet, with two of the 6 days pouring rain, and I never ran my generator once!!! I made 4-6 cups of coffee a day....watched a 2+ hour movie every night....used my laptop/cell booster/wifi booster until my fingers bled....charging the laptop, the hot spot and bunch of folks cell phones.....ran the 12V compressor every evening to clean the guns...ran the water pump often for dishes and a shower every day....AND NEVER UNPACKED THE GENERATORS!

I saw your system putting out some good numbers when the sun was shining. I'm sure you'll be happy with the performance you will see and you can always add to it later for more "juice" if needed...

As far as price....some folks on here are so cheap they would run retreads on their trailers. And others spend $50K -$100K for a POS travel trailer with all the usual RV QC issues and complain about a few hundred dollars for well built, quality accessory.....

The internet can be a nasty place. Manners are not needed when not face to face.....:B

[hedge]

Really like my victron meter, I have the bt dongle and it makes it so easy to use from the app. I probably wouldn't use it as much without the app.

[westend]

I've read good things about that meter. You could just get another to have the in-out usage feature. I'm teaching myself to use the Victron battery monitor I have. I find it easier to flip a switch and look at a couple of old analog meters I have mounted on a cabinet face. I can see them from outside.

[bill-e]

More pics

$18 meter from Amazon

Test Setup - I wanted to make sure that this $18 meter met my needs before running cable. Plus I'll need a longer ground (white) cable)



This is my parasitic load without the frig heater.



and with the frig heater



And because this is a one way meter, this is what it looks like when I'm charging. I could add another meter and revers two wires and get the charging current.

[bill-e]

I tried using existing holes for a tie down when there is threatening weather but nothing seemed to work being that the legs attach by two points and not three to form a triangle. Putting too much tension on bungees or ropes would cause the whole assembly to bend one way or the other.

I came up with this idea which will let me drive stakes right at the bottom of the legs and secure it from there rather than at the panels.

The legs attach to the bottom brace with clevis pins so it's easy and quick set up/down.

Here's what it looks like assembled



A close up of the attachment point



And for securing it to a stake, a simple piece of rope that you drive a stake through.

[bill-e]

Thanks Don, I'll peruse it over the next couple of days.

My first test of the panels was today. 6 hours of use in sunny but hazy sky with high thin grey passing clouds, 84F. Because of where I store my RV when home I had to keep moving the panel and a few times I cam out to find it partially shaded.

I had my MaxAir fan on full bore, 4 LED lights, my Frig with the heater on and the exhaust fan running on thermostat, and my 12v stereo playing for about 2 hours. During that 6 hours it charged 43ah. I disconnected the battery from both the RV and panel and let it settle for a half hour. It (2x T105RE) measured 13.02VDC so I'm pretty happy with this initial test.

Tomorrow I run it about the same but with the radio on for 6 hours and then my cpap for 8 and measure the battery in the morning after 24 hours. That would be a worse case for me until I get an inverter then my desire would be to make two cups of coffee on it and be able to keep the fan running leaving enough for the cpap.

[bill-e]

full_mosey wrote:

bill-e wrote:

...What's expensive for some might not be for others.

Price is what you pay, value is what you get---Warren Buffett

Many things are easy, once you know how!

Perhaps what you need is for someone to recommend a solar installer. 🙂

HTH;
John

Nope, I'm quite happy with what I have now. In a couple of years if I've been able to convince my wife to do more dry camping and the next gen flexible panels look better I'll install them but I would still want the portable because we like trees.

[full_mosey]

bill-e wrote:

...What's expensive for some might not be for others.

Price is what you pay, value is what you get---Warren Buffett

Many things are easy, once you know how!

Perhaps what you need is for someone to recommend a solar installer. 🙂

HTH;
John

[pianotuna]

Hi Bill,

Here is a simple flow chart.

Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT. What ever type of controller is chosen, make sure it has adjustable set points and a temperature probe that is on the battery.

If you use solar as a battery charger, one rule of thumb is between 60 and 150 watts of panels per 100 amp-hours of storage. The smaller the battery bank the higher the wattage needed (per 100 amp-hours). Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet which includes an energy audit, that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!

solar spreadsheet by N8GS

If you full time or use an inverter lots, then populate the entire unshaded area of the roof with panels. I'm considering replacing my awning with solar panels.

For a nice explanation of solar, try this link:

Golden rules of solar