Hi all,


Can I have a single regulator that, during normal drive about town times, a single solar panel on the roof is plugged into , but, when camped with the camper on the back, can I plug another solar panel in parrallel? I assume as long as I do not exceed the input rating of the regulator all should be fine.

Cheers
Rainsey

Yep that sounds fine, I have anderson plugs on my panels and i can run 1, 2 or 3 panels without issue, I have found that you need at least a 100 watt panel per 100 a/h battery if you want to keep the batteries fully charged and charge them pretty quickly , with a 120 watt panel and 2 120 a/h batteries i found it took all day to charge the batteries and still not full but with 2 X 120 watt panels it charged the batteries in 4 odd hours

 

Souds like you have a fair amount of stored power already, what do you have in the car that you need to power when camped.

 

Two up,

It is not so much that I have a lot, rather I need a long time self sufficient. My aim is to get around a week with not needing to drive the vehicle to charge the batteries nor do I want to carry a generator ( no space but also dislike their noise and smell).

In my Truck I am running a 45 litre ARB fridge that acts as a freezer and a Waeco CF50 that is my fridge, Inverter for charging my batteries of my cameras. Add to this night lighting. Last year treking around WA, I found with 2 x 100aH batteries, I would after 3 days be running on empty.

I was contemplating a couple of CTEK 250D C to DC chargers but reading this foruma nd a few more, whilst they are good, they take a long time to actually charge. Still may go this route yet but they still rely on you being on the move.

I am trying to be as self suffiecient as possible, and being that the sun in most placed I have been seting up camp over the last few years is abbundant, Solar seems to be the choice.

Cheers

Rainesy

 

I'd mount the regulator in the ute so that the ute has a full solar setup, then get yourself a folding solar kit as they come with a regulator allready, so when the campers off it has a solar setup as well as the ute, but when they're connected they share the utes system.

 

Ahh.. did not reaslise the fold up units had regulators built in. This makes things easier if this is the case. The camper and the ute just join via an anderson tie cable mounted on the ute try. If the fold up units have regulators, I just un plug the anderson and plug in the fold up pannels, thus no regulator needed in the camper.

Thanks for that info. I have been surfing the various solr panel distributors for a while now, I must be thick as I am having trouble actually sorting out fact from fiction.

Thanks for the info.

Cheers

Graham

 

Infact, Just on the Jaycar site. The 120W fold up is only $75 more than the 120W one peice. If I bought a fold up, but mounted it on the roof of the cabin, I do not need to get a regulator for the ute. Also hazard a guess that the fold up might be a tad stronger.

All I need to do then is to have a couple of piggy back andersons that I plug the panels into that are on parallel with the existing battery set up.

Sweet.

Cheers

Graham

 

Infact, Just on the Jaycar site. The 120W fold up is only $75 more than the 120W one peice.

Just checked their prices, and IMO,

If you buy solar panels from Jaycar, you will be paying too much!! (Just sayin'..


If/when I decide I need more panels, this bloke will be at (or near) the top of my short list of suppliers >>>

Solar | eBay

YMMV


:cheers:

 

Depending on where you're planning to camp for a week or so, a 120W solar panel will not suffice. My setup is similar to what you describe, two batteries in Patrol and 2 x 110Ah deep cycle batteries in the camper. At Christmas we take both Waeco 50lt fridges camping, one as a fridge and the other as a freezer and there is no way that the panel can keep up with the charging requirements on hot days.

We were getting only about 3-4 hours of full sun where the solar panel was able to output 7A +/- continuously and maybe another 2-3 hours where we could get < 5A continuously. I was using an MPPT regulator as well, which did improve the input when shadows were abundant.

And this was with us doing the 'solar panel shuffle' all day to keep the panels optimally positioned. Even being slightly off would mean a loss of 1-2A output. We had to use a generator several times to top up the batteries because the solar panels couldn't keep up. If we had been in the outback, then it would have been a different story.

On a really hot day, when both fridge and freezer were running, I measured the total amps being drawn from the batteries at 8A. So given say an optimistic 50% duty cycle (hardly likely in 35C+ temps), you'd need 96A input every day. That is simply impossible with a 120W solar panel under the conditions we were in and probably unlikely even in the desert. We were putting in a maximum of only about 30A +/- each day.

A couple of cooler days meant that the previous hot day with a boost from then generator helped the solar panels keep up, but had we had constant days of 35C+, the generator would have been running every day for at least a few hours.

Cheers

Ray

 

Like I have said before 200 watts is a good amount for 1 fridge in any conditions. I have run a genny once in 20 years and that was to heat the tent with a fan heater.

Sent from my phone so spelling doesn't matter

 

Rainsey running 2 fridges and lights etc you would want 2 x 200 particularly if you camp for long periods and in high temps, with the camper you certainly have the space, I would get portable folding cells to give you the best output, permanently mounted is OK for homes but for travelling imho portable is better.

 

Actually space is a premium. My camper is a slide on Candy Canvas dual cab unit. With the second fridge and the likes, storage space is a bit limited, but I hear what you are saying re the portable units.

Why I was considering a roof top mout on the ute was to also act as a bit of aerodynamics. The tent section of the camper is above the cabin and acts as a big wind dam. I have to do someting to divert the wind over it so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

Cheers
Graham

 

If you're planning to permanently fix the panels to your roof, you might as well try and get 1000+W worth of panels, as you'll only get a fraction of the potential output of any panel you attach. Unless of course you're prepared to constantly move your vehicle and jack it up and down to catch the sun.

Cheers

Ray

 

Ray,

Hear what you are saying. I have been relatively naive about solar until I posted this entry on the forum. After hearing what every one has been saying, I might use the roof space for storage of some portable panels and just build a simple ( cheap) wind deflector rather than use a panel. As much as I had not wanted to do it, a Geni may have to be on the cards just for charging up the batteries. I can use Solar to comp the geni or visa versa.

Say, at the high end of town, I was reading about a Methanol Fuel Cell that Kimberly use or should I say have as an option in their Karavan camper. $10K but gives you 3 to 6 months power on 10 litres of Mentanol.

Guys, thanks for the feed back today. it has been a wealth of info. Ta heaps.

Chears
Graham

 

Two Up,

I also am against generators. Last year over in WA my blistful peace was broken when a another camper put his generator 10 meters away from his camper which happened to be down wind to me.

Pissed me off big time. Whilst I can handle the noise and stink If I do it, I do not want to push it onto my fellow campers when we are close by.

Have spent the weekend setting up an under tray compressor tank. Now I have this out of the way I am going to put all my bits and peices back into the camper and ute and take a quanitative measurement of actual current draw. My clamp ammeter should do this fine.

I have been out this evening with a tape measure figuring out where the photon to store the 220 w fold up panels that the ebay site has that you recomended. They seem to be double the thickness of the 120W panels ( or there abouts) .

As I said in my last post, you chaps have opend my eyes big time so I thank you all kindly. Now it is up to me to do the maths to fu\igure out the best combination of panels and in worst case a geni that will physically fit, be usable and give me the best usable option.

Kindest regards

Graham

 

I just went camping for 6 days, with two waeco fridges - one as a fridge and one as a freezer. I have 200ah of capacity and a 120w panel. Unfortunately a few overcast mornings really took their toll on available capacity. In the end I made the 6 days on just solar and batteries - which isn't bad considering two 37+ days and others all hot. I would recommend ctek for camper - it will charge at up to to 20 amps, which is more than panels 3 times this size can produce.

 

I just went camping for 6 days, with two waeco fridges - one as a fridge and one as a freezer. I have 200ah of capacity and a 120w panel. Unfortunately a few overcast mornings really took their toll on available capacity. In the end I made the 6 days on just solar and batteries - which isn't bad considering two 37+ days and others all hot. I would recommend ctek for camper - it will charge at up to to 20 amps, which is more than panels 3 times this size can produce.

Slim,

when you say I would recommend ctek.... exactly what are you recommending .. the dc - dc charger? Or are we talking a 240v charger whilst sitting in a powered camping site?

Kindest Regards

Rainsey

 

I would recommend the ctek dual 250 dc-dc charger in the camper trailer.

 

This is a bit of a hijack but I just have one question and don't want to start a new thread.

Can you get a charge controller that will take power from a 24V panel and put out 12V? I know you can get 12/24V controllers that will do either, but not sure if any of them will step down. I only ask because I have a very good 24V panel but obviously can't do much with it without running two batteries in series then stepping the voltage down between the batteries and the load...

 

This is a bit of a hijack but I just have one question and don't want to start a new thread.

Can you get a charge controller that will take power from a 24V panel and put out 12V? I know you can get 12/24V controllers that will do either, but not sure if any of them will step down. I only ask because I have a very good 24V panel but obviously can't do much with it without running two batteries in series then stepping the voltage down between the batteries and the load...

with a regulated controller you "could" just plug the 24 volt panel into the controller as if it was a 12 volt panel, the controller should cut the voltage going to the battery if the battery voltage reaches its max setting on the controller so there shouldnt be any danger of over charging the battery

My 12 volt panels will reach 22 volts if the battery is fully charged and no power is going into the battery/s, just not sure what voltage a 24 volt panel would reach under no load and if this would affect the controller or not, look up the specs and see if there is a max voltage input for the controller maybe....

 

Thanks ITSA! So I just need to find a 12V controller with an open cct voltage and wattage greater than what my panel can provide. Cheers

Edit: and Ed C, just saw your post, I'll check them out, cheers. No sense wasting a 235W panel!

 

You will note that the specified Max. PV input for the SSMPPT is 200W for a 12V system...

Fact is, that the controller is capable of handling 400W...

The limitation is in the output (15A)

The only time this might be an issue, is if you're running multiple 'fridges in a stinkin' hot day (drawing more than 15A), but in these circumstances (hot day), the panel's output will more than likely be reduced anyway...

IMO, for 99% of the time, this controller will be more than adequate for your 235W panel.

Of course there are cheaper (and more expensive) higher rated options, and you may wish to check them out...


:cheers:

 

You will note that the specified Max. PV input for the SSMPPT is 200W for a 12V system...

Fact is, that the controller is capable of handling 400W...

The limitation is in the output (15A)

The only time this might be an issue, is if you're running multiple 'fridges in a stinkin' hot day (drawing more than 15A), but in these circumstances (hot day), the panel's output will more than likely be reduced anyway...

IMO, for 99% of the time, this controller will be more than adequate for your 235W panel.

Of course there are cheaper (and more expensive) higher rated options, and you may wish to check them out...


:cheers:

X2 ....It is not the wattage but the amp capacity that you need to look for

 

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

 

I want one of these setups

http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sites/default/files/PowerShade Sales Sheet.pdf

 

I'm considering adding a third panel to the two I got on my roof already, would I be right in thinking that I can just add it onto the existing ones by removing the pos and neg cables coming from the second panel that goto the controller and putting them into the third one then going back to the controller from there? Providing of course that the controller can handle the load from all three. Or is it more complex than that?

 

Yes you can just join the new panel to one of the others .I didn't disconect the existing wires i just stripped back the insulation and soldered the wires from the new panel to the existing one. I did it upon the roof to save running more wires

Sent from my phone so spelling doesn't matter

 

Yep,

Provided (as you say) that the controller can handle the combined input,
What you propose (3 panels in parallel) will be perfectly fine...


:cheers:

 

Beat me

Sent from my phone so spelling doesn't matter

 

Cheers guys.
So it doesn't matter if the panels are a different wattage?

 

No mate dont matter

Sent from my phone so spelling doesn't matter