Solar Panel Install On My Hybrid Almost Complete.....

[chasd60]

Well I have one of my two 80W solar panels installed on the roof of my hybrid. I may get the second one installed tonight.

I still have to run the wires down thru the refrigerator roof vent and tie them into my charge controller (as soon as I figure out where to mount it).
From the charge controller I have to wire to the battery or to the battery input that is inside the converter.

These panels put out 4.6A each at 17.3VDC under optimum conditions. The charge controller will drop that down closer to the 12V range and take care of battery charging.
I purchased a MPPT charge controller that coverts the voltage drop to current therfore allowing 15-30% more usable power from my panels. Some of the other type merely regulate the voltage lower and dissipate the rest as heat. Solar panel output decreases with heat that is why these have such high output, I believe this is at 77F for a panel temperature.

I am changing the Group 24 that came with the camper for two Group 27 Deep Cycle batteries for 230A/H of capacity.

Hopefully my dry camping after adding 160W worth of panels will be smooth and full of electrons.
 

[garym053]

Where did you find the best buy on the panels? This is something I want to pursue once I move to a hybrid. May also look into it for some alternative power at home as well!
Haven't looked into it too far yet as I am still looking at all the 23b's out there!

[chasd60]

Solar Power Kits For RV And Bus Conversions
  RV Solar Power Up Kits
  Alternative Energy Store
 
 I bought my panels from the top link and bought my MPPT controller from the bottom link. I did a ton of research before buying but you never get find the best deals until after you spend your own money.
 
 Her is a link from someone that fulltimes with a lot of explanations
  Where RV Now? Solar Power
 
 Charlie

[garym053]

Thanks Charlie!

[topcat7736]

You can also try Northern Arizona Wind & Sun. There is one site for purchasing items and another for descriptions. (They have panels for all climates).

[chasd60]

Well they are both installed as well as the charge controller. Right now they are hooked to my Group 24 battery. I need to cut the battery box brackets and add two sets of brackets for the pair of Group 27's I have.
 
 I have the panels wired in parallel and to the charge controller with the "float" voltage set to about 13.5-13.9VDC.
 
 The controller has 3 LED's that are Green, Yellow and Red.
 All 3 lit= 13.8+VDC
 Yellow and Red=12.2-13.7VDC
 Red Only=11.1-12.1
 None lit= You are in deep doo-doo
 
 The only problem with this setup is that you don't know your are at 50% until you have just gone by it (12.2VDC)
 I may add a small DVM to measure the actual voltage so I can track the progression down as well as up when discharging and charging.
 
 The panels are wired in parallel on the roof and a wire is run down thru the refirigerator vent. I cut a hole on the side of the paneling above the refrigerator to install the charge controller. From there I ran a pair of wires down to the bottom of the refrigerator and they came out inside the camper in a storage cabinet under the refrigerator.
 I crimped single wires to each of these inside the cabinet and ran those out thru an existing hole under the camper.  I attached the ground wire to an existing ground lug on the trailer frame. I ran the positive wire thru an existing wire loom the length of the camper to the positive battery terminal with a 20A inline fuse about 4 inches from the positive terminal.
 All wires were 10AWG multi-strand.
 
 The worst part of the install was getting the wire from the top of the refrigerator to the bottom inside of the wall. My arm barely fit thru the hole I cut and I left plenty of skin on the edges. I ended up using a small metal rod with a single wire taped to it and I pushed it up from the outside of the refrigerator access cover then taped the larger wires to this and pulled them down thru.
 
 My Group 24 battery is pretty well spent and in need of either some serious desulfation or replacement. I charged it with my Deep Cycle charger and it was 25% discharged after 5 days with nothing hooked to it. It does get a full charge sitting in the driveway with the solar panels on it but I am looking forward to installing the pair of Group 27's.
 
 I am planning on trying a weekend of dry camping probably around the 17th-18th. Hopefully it will be a sunny weekend as I plan to really load the system by running the bunkend fans, furnace, radio and not being too conservative with the lights.

[Fishin BC]

DH is thinking about putting a solar system together for our PU, as we dry camp more than RV park.  Any suggestions on something we might be able to make portable for our popper tent?  When going for a week to ten days we are pushing the limit on our single deep cycle and that's just for lights and the water pump.

[chasd60]

DH is thinking about putting a solar system together for our PU, as we dry camp more than RV park. Any suggestions on something we might be able to make portable for our popper tent? When going for a week to ten days we are pushing the limit on our single deep cycle and that's just for lights and the water pump.

One of the members that used to be on this board has an Aliner and made a setup with 3-15Watt panels attached together with hinges. They also made it self supporting so they could tilt it toward the sun and had about a 25' cord in case they were located in the shade.
 
 If you post on http://www.popupexplorer.com
 Title the post "A Question For forestcreature"
 I am sure she can help you with the details