100+ ambient Temp - ARB 50qt - 100 watt solar panel - Not enough?

[unseenone]

Do you have an Anderson connector tool. I think you can crimp on a connector, and use the crimped sleeve instead of bare wire, or you could tin the wire ends with solder. I can make one up and take a picture if it helps.

If the panel is old, or damaged, partially shaded it is possible to not get full output at all. Do you know someone else who has solar panels so you could do a little testing? My personal experience with 100w / 90w panels is about the best I've seen is 5amps. Your actual mileage may vary, for cheap ones, maybe a lot less.

Bear in mind, the solar power generated here is strongest in the morning, my 1pm here, it's not generating nearly the energy as first thing. Try again earlier maybe?

CA seems to be heavily saturated with Solar stores, perhaps there is a place around you?

 

[dstock]

Do you have an Anderson connector tool. I think you can crimp on a connector, and use the crimped sleeve instead of bare wire, or you could tin the wire ends with solder. I can make one up and take a picture if it helps.

If the panel is old, or damaged, partially shaded it is possible to not get full output at all. Do you know someone else who has solar panels so you could do a little testing? My personal experience with 100w / 90w panels is about the best I've seen is 5amps. Your actual mileage may vary, for cheap ones, maybe a lot less.

CA seems to be heavily saturated with Solar stores, perhaps there is a place around you?

I am going to be ordering up some Anderson connectors, wiring and a crimper tool so I will get some extra sleeves and crimp one on. The panel in question is less than a year old and was in full California sun. I did see between 3-5 amps but it was bouncing all over the place so that is part of the reason I suspect the charge controller.
It seems many use the Morningstar line of charger controllers, so I may give that a go.

I don't know anyone else with a solar setup but I will check around for some local solar providers. My plan is to beef up the wiring making sure I have good connections. At that point if I am still having issues, at least I will have a better harness to hook up to either a new charge controller or a replacement panel.

 

[bat]

Are you concerned about the 14.14 to the battery vs the 17.6 out of the panels

 

[unseenone]

I wish you were closer, I've got all the tools, it adds up. I suggest powerwerx.com for the tools and bits. Before you purchase, maybe we need to do some specifications. I have the Prostar 30 It's very nice, meant to be mounted inside really. Drop me a PM after you look around, perhaps I can steer you in the right direction. I can make you a list of the stuff that's nice to have.

Depending on ability and space for mounting--

Grape Solar make a neat flex 100w panel, but it should be mounted if it bounces around, I suspect it would be damaged. The other popular, due to it being reinforced is the Kyocera KD-140GX-LFBS That's a neat looking panel, I have one sitting in my cart at northern Arizona wind & solar. It's one of the most popular, and I bet it does a decent job. It has a reenforced frame specifically for our purposes. Best prices around on these is 269-279, so don't waste a lot of time shopping around.

Controller wise, I kind of like the Morningstar Prostar, and morningstar in general.

Open Circuit voltage is always higher-- that's ok..

 

[dstock]

Are you concerned about the 14.14 to the battery vs the 17.6 out of the panels

No, I am concerned with the 30 watts average out of a 100 watt panel.

 

[dstock]

I wish you were closer, I've got all the tools, it adds up. I suggest powerwerx.com for the tools and bits. Before you purchase, maybe we need to do some specifications. I have the Prostar 30 It's very nice, meant to be mounted inside really. Drop me a PM after you look around, perhaps I can steer you in the right direction. I can make you a list of the stuff that's nice to have.

Depending on ability and space for mounting--

Grape Solar make a neat flex 100w panel, but it should be mounted if it bounces around, I suspect it would be damaged. The other popular, due to it being reinforced is the Kyocera KD-140GX-LFBS That's a neat looking panel, I have one sitting in my cart at northern Arizona wind & solar. It's one of the most popular, and I bet it does a decent job. It has a reenforced frame specifically for our purposes. Best prices around on these is 269-279, so don't waste a lot of time shopping around.

Controller wise, I kind of like the Morningstar Prostar, and morningstar in general.

Open Circuit voltage is always higher-- that's ok..

Thanks! I've been browsing powerwerx.com figuring out what I'll need. I need to sketch it all out in terms of wiring, where I want the controller, etc. I like having it on the panel for convenience, but of course closer to the battery would be better. I don't really have room for it in the JK, though.

Plan is to start with the wiring, and then go from there. I'll shoot you a PM once I have my layout sorted and see what you think.

 

[bat]

In the first pics to the battery is charging at 1.92 at 14.14v = 27.1 watts the second pic has no load on it. I am no expert but the panel seems to be doing what it is suppose to do and at 19v it is above the range from the spec sheet, try and put a load on the aux port on the controller it to see the what happens. I see no problem with your system at all crimps and all, screw terminals are just fine if it fits the wire gauge.

 

[Crom]

In the first pics to the battery is charging at 1.92 at 14.14v = 27.1 watts the second pic has no load on it. I am no expert but the panel seems to be doing what it is suppose to do and at 19v it is above the range from the spec sheet, try and put a load on the aux port on the controller it to see the what happens. I see no problem with your system at all crimps and all, screw terminals are just fine if it fits the wire gauge.

X2

If the battery is near full capacity the charge to the battery will taper off and look similar to what was posted.
By hooking up a load and pulling current, the solar controller will detect this and increase the voltage or current to the battery depending on which charge cycle its doing.

 

[unseenone]

Yes, I agree, it would be worth running some loads to run the battery down a little, then hooking it up and seeing if it behaves differently good catch. That ultimately doesn't solve the running out of power after a few days. It is possible this was the original ssue, or something else is going on. Doing a load test on the fridge would be useful as well.

 

[wrcsixeight]

If a battery is in nearly fully charged it is not going to accept much current.

if 2.1 amps is all it takes to hold the battery at 14.1v then so be it. Solar controllers are just fancy voltage controllers, the battery dictates what it can accept at the voltage provided and the higher the state of charge, the less it can accept.

You would have to increase the voltage to force more amps into the battery.

 

[dstock]

Thanks guys. I'm going to clean up/improve the wiring regardless, then I will run the aux battery down a ways, and then re-check everything while the fridge is running.

 

[4x4junkie]

Moving the charge controller right next to your batteries will greatly improve things for sure (for one thing, most decent CCs have a built-in temperature sensor... If the unit is exposed to the sun & heat coming from your panels, this will cause a reduction in it's voltage output, leading to undercharging if the batteries are not also at that same temperature). The other issue is of course the voltage drop in the wiring causing the battery to be undercharged (you should never see more than about 0.3 volts difference between the output terminals on your CC and that of your battery with it operating in full sun).

With a 100W panel and a standard PWM-type controller, you should be getting somewhere around 70-80W or so (or whatever your panel's Imp rating is × your battery's voltage) into your battery at midday on a clear day (this provided the battery is at something less than full-charge and the CC is not operating in Absorption mode). A MPPT-type controller can get closer to the full 100W of your panel into your batteries, though their higher cost can negate their advantages in some cases vs. just using a larger panel with your PWM unit.

 

[Colin Hughes]

I found the charge controller was the weakest link in my system. Swapping it out for a Sunsaver duo has made all the difference. Normally I use a Surepower 1314 to connect the 2 batteries but I swapped vehicles in January and haven't had a chance to run wire from the engine bay to the rear cargo area where the deep cell battery is. I'm also toying with the idea of switching batteries to an Optima Yellow Top which will fit under the hood. I bought a 125w kit off Ebay from a company out of Montreal a couple of years ago and the panel is great, the controller was a cheap Chinese unit so having the dual battery setup helped. Right now, I have the panel permanently mounted to the roof of my LR3 with the cables from it running through a window to the Sunsaver. The connection from the Sunsaver to the battery is less than 2'. I fully charged the battery before hooking everything up. Two weeks now and the battery seems to stay in the 12.08-13.70 range and although, we're not at 100 degrees here, the black interior of my LR3 does get very warm. My truck is parked in a garage at night and sometimes for a full day if I take another vehicle and the battery is staying charged with just the panel. I also have the 12v socket for the fridge connected directly to the battery, not to the charge controller.

 

[dstock]

Appreciate the info, certainly getting an education from all of this, time permitting, will be swapping out the wiring this weekend and re-testing. If needed will also move the charge controller closer to the battery.

 

[dstock]

It works!

After a re-wire of the solar panel to battery harness with some nice 10 gauge wire and Anderson connectors, things are working much better. I went with about a 15 ft total lead, bumper to the panel (12 ft.) and the bumper to battery section (3ft.)

I ran the battery into the low 12's running my fridge, and then left it plugged in while the panel did it's thing.

I was averaging just under 5 amps and between 60-70 watts with mid-day sun and battery was almost topped off within a couple hours.

Thanks everyone for the help, it was quite an education. I will still be purchasing the insulated cover for the fridge, but I am certainly headed down the right road.

Thanks again.