hdemetrious
Adventurer
Looking good. Why did you use two different types of solar panels? And you never answered the question about the 8 volts reading.
out with the old in with the new
- Thread starter westyss
- Start date
Does your battery monitor individually monitor things or you just mean as you individually initiate things you can see the results on the monitor? If the former remind me what you're using again?
I got concerned for a second thinking about how hot those unisolar's might get on your composite roof but then recalled you have an air gap between. I was tempted to grab some of those for my build when they went on closeout but I held off as I was worried about heat/delamination of my roof. I'm just going to use a standard panel with ~1" air gap under.
I got concerned for a second thinking about how hot those unisolar's might get on your composite roof but then recalled you have an air gap between. I was tempted to grab some of those for my build when they went on closeout but I held off as I was worried about heat/delamination of my roof. I'm just going to use a standard panel with ~1" air gap under.
westyss
Explorer
I think I posted earlier about not asking about the two types of panels
But since you asked and there is nowhere for me to hide: I had bought the stick on panels quite a while back and since purchasing them Unisolar went bankrupt. needing more wattage I decided to go the conventional route and thats what I did, it is not an ideal way of doing things or even remotely economical as I needed to use two controllers but that is what happened. I was going to give you my BS answer of having a redundant system, redundency is a good thing in a rig.:ylsmoke:
westyss
Explorer
Yup, I just power up individual items and note the draw, obviously making sure that the monitor reads "0" before powering up and you must not have power going in either so no chargers or solar working.
I am using this http://www.xantrex.com/power-products/power-accessories/linklite-battery-monitor.aspx
The Unisolar panels are very nice panels! Well made and produce power in low light well but it is a risk using them if they fail, for the price it was worth a try. Solar has really come down in price, I recieve emails from several companies and price per watt is down around .64 cents!! That is very low except the controllers are still costly and in my opinion the most important part of the system. I wouldn't hesitate to stick them directly onto the roof as that is what ATW has done for many years and appear to have no problems and they would still be doing so but as a company cannot continue to use an item with no after sale servicing.
westyss
Explorer
Thanks Hdemetrious for reminding me about this I forgot.
The wiring diagram was meant for four 12 volt batteries and I am using four six volt batteries, so the way it was wired up was indicating the voltage of four very well charged six volt batteries. There is only one way that I know of to wire up four six volt and that is series and parallel with equal length wire runs.
Right on, I've got an inline doc wattson meter with powerpole ends that I was planning to use/move around to monitor things as desired. Just wanted to know if you want something cool that monitored individual circuits as part of a distribution panel or such.
Did you pick up your unisolars when they were on closeout? They were something like $90-100 for the 68watt at that point which is what tempted me. ATW? My concern about right on my camper is the black solar panel I would suspect would get hot and as you've learned yourself too much heat on composites can cause delamination. Thus I just picked up a standard 100watt panel when they were priced at $135. I plan to use a morningstar gen 3 sunsaver. Its PWM so not as efficent at MPPT but its way more affordable and the gen 3 does have stage charging verse other PWM controllers.
$.64/watt is for larger panels usually 24V. The 12V rv sized stuff is down as well but its more like $1.4/watt range for something like a 100watt panel.
Did you pick up your unisolars when they were on closeout? They were something like $90-100 for the 68watt at that point which is what tempted me. ATW? My concern about right on my camper is the black solar panel I would suspect would get hot and as you've learned yourself too much heat on composites can cause delamination. Thus I just picked up a standard 100watt panel when they were priced at $135. I plan to use a morningstar gen 3 sunsaver. Its PWM so not as efficent at MPPT but its way more affordable and the gen 3 does have stage charging verse other PWM controllers.
$.64/watt is for larger panels usually 24V. The 12V rv sized stuff is down as well but its more like $1.4/watt range for something like a 100watt panel.
Series the 2 6V and parrell those two banks as mentioned. Then use the diagonal approach for the main +/- connections so the draw/charge has to go the longest route through the banks. That will create the best cell equalization.
westyss
Explorer
The unisolar panels were a good deal when I bought them, delivered ended up around $130 each, to be able to use those you need an MPPT controller. You can still use a 24 volt panel as long as you use an MPPT controller, they are just so big. ATW = All Terraine Warriors from Oz and I believe the Earth Cruiser also used those as they were originally built by ATW initially, the way I see it the unisolar panels put out a pretty low voltage and with voltage drop may not produce enough to work so wiring them in series and using a morningstar MPPT controller which can handle somewhere close to 70 volts in is the best way, that way the MPPT can act more efficiently for the panels. So a 24 volt panel can be used in the same way but will require an MPPT controller.
Are you going to use another means of monitoring battery consumption? The little monitor I linked tells you the actual amp draw occurring, total amp/hour drawn for a time period and will give you simply the amount of life left in the batteries like a fuel level indicator, volts too but that is not an accurate way of measuring battery life.
If you're going for high wattage amounts then yeah MPPT is the ticket since you can run higher voltages as mentioned to minimize the voltage drop (and also still squeak out usable voltage in poor light) w/o having to run large gauge wiring. I'm just doing a basic 100watt 12V panel and PWM controller, as most small RV systems are, as a cost effective power addition (panel and controller for under $200), 17V @5.6amps on full sun supposedly, at those amps I'm not going to see large voltage drops with any reasonable wiring selection. I realize the PWM is going to chop my wattage down. But if I get 60-70% (after the various efficiency losses) for 6hrs or so it will generally keep up with my compressor fridge which will be my main draw and really lower the cycling of my batteries for weekend warrior stuff. If I get more sun it may even keep up with full daily usage, if I get less I just cycle my batteries down a bit further. Some is better than none which is where I was at before, if I was serious long term boondocking or higher power needs I'd be going for more wattage/MPPT.
Doc wattson meter: http://www.powerwerx.com/digital-meters/doc-wattson-meter-dc-inline.html It lists voltage, current amp draw and overall amp hours used from the time it booted up (ie when you plug it in). I got it with powerpole connectors on the ends and I plan to wire my system with connection points so I can pop it inline on the out feed of my battery bank, input of the solar, etc. as I feel like.
Arguably if you have the actual voltage charts for your specific battery then voltage is a better indicator than amp hours since your battery capacity will lower as they age which would be reflected in the dropping voltage rather than the % of the original listed battery capacity (granted you are looking at the voltage under no load which isn't as convent all the time).
Doc wattson meter: http://www.powerwerx.com/digital-meters/doc-wattson-meter-dc-inline.html It lists voltage, current amp draw and overall amp hours used from the time it booted up (ie when you plug it in). I got it with powerpole connectors on the ends and I plan to wire my system with connection points so I can pop it inline on the out feed of my battery bank, input of the solar, etc. as I feel like.
Arguably if you have the actual voltage charts for your specific battery then voltage is a better indicator than amp hours since your battery capacity will lower as they age which would be reflected in the dropping voltage rather than the % of the original listed battery capacity (granted you are looking at the voltage under no load which isn't as convent all the time).
westyss
Explorer
Put the truck back on the road and took it out for a boot, everything seemed to function properly for a while.
My wife thinks that the roof rack makes the camper look very different, less boxey and some nicer lines to it......
here's a phone pic to see for yourself.
After driving around all weekend with it I backed up into my steep driveway, jumped out while it was running to check something...................and it stopped running?? Would not start? Fuel guage indicated 1/4 tank? But it was showing 1/4 tank all weekend? Checked it out and looked in the tank,..... empty!
Put in some fuel and tried to prime it with the pump.......no go! The pump wouldn't pick up the fuel so I had to suck some fuel up into the primer to get it started, that worked and away it went.
And the fuel guage appears to be functoning normally now, guess it didn't like sitting for a few months!
Now I need to get out for a weekend or more!
My wife thinks that the roof rack makes the camper look very different, less boxey and some nicer lines to it......
here's a phone pic to see for yourself.
After driving around all weekend with it I backed up into my steep driveway, jumped out while it was running to check something...................and it stopped running?? Would not start? Fuel guage indicated 1/4 tank? But it was showing 1/4 tank all weekend? Checked it out and looked in the tank,..... empty!
Put in some fuel and tried to prime it with the pump.......no go! The pump wouldn't pick up the fuel so I had to suck some fuel up into the primer to get it started, that worked and away it went.
And the fuel guage appears to be functoning normally now, guess it didn't like sitting for a few months!
Now I need to get out for a weekend or more!
Attachments
westyss
Explorer
lol
Does that mean it looks better? I personnaly dont care what it look like outside, it never was going to be a thing of beauty and I succeeded in that
but would like a bit of input on this. I thought my westy looked nice:ylsmoke:obviously I have no taste!
Overland Hadley
on a journey
I really like the new look with the added roof rack. I say keep it.