Leaving thin lite weight portable panels out in the rain?

[dreadlocks]

For that money why dont you buy more LFP to go further.. I put 650W of solar on so I didnt need to get a 2nd LFP, cost less than a 2nd battery, and provides 45A charge to get it full in ~2.5h.. but for those folding ones just add more batteries and bigger AC charger so you can go 2x as long with same engine runtime needed..

Solar is not all that cooperating, if you have Engine, Genset, and LFP already I would not be investing that much on solar.

 

[john61ct]

All a bigger bank buys you is buffer, longer time between charges.

But that is a worthy investment if your intent is

to have enough solar so that you

to only **need** use your ICE sources a few times per month (under 10% of days off-grid).

That will pay for itself pretty quickly full-timing.

 

[dreadlocks]

Lithium already pushes the advantage towards the engine, at 0.4C rates you can charge batteries 3x for same ICE runtime as FLA and basically fuel too.. and with the less usable capacity make that 6x as much FLA for equivalent runtime of FLP..

a small rate Solar is super attractive for lead as it spends so much time absorbing so little power, this makes the prospect running an engine obscene.. but if he's built him self into a corner that cant support a large solar setup, and already has two engine charge sources.. meh, if he wants to push off engine frequency so much then I'd just add storage and charging capacity til I reached my needs, especially with solar blanket prices.. those batteries will last longer and you'll never have to worship the sun and chase it down to obtain your energy needs.. even my big solar array is not enough in many conditions, and I'm using my genset.. but it runs so little when I do its NBD really to run it every day for an hour or so.

 

[rruff]

...especially with solar blanket prices..

I linked some cheap folding solar panels in post #10. ~$1/W.

Granted, none of the thin and light panels are likely to be long-lived... but for a lot of us who are going to be camping in the trees it's nice to have panels that can be easily deployed a good distance from the camper.

 

[dreadlocks]

I permanently installed one of those "flexible" solar panels on my last trailer, it had delaminated and died within 2y.. camping in trees you need much more solar than you think you do.. in the summer months the sun is high and you can find a nice break in canopy, but your only gonna get a few hours of direct sunlight so to make the most of it with LFP you wanna dump as many amps in during this short window as possible.. in spring and fall the sun is too low in the sky for anything but diffuse light.. when its coming in at such an angle it dont matter if you got an acre of clearing its not gonna get much direct sunlight.. and with diffuse light coming through leaves/clouds your outputting like 10% or less.

Just did 2 weeks of south west deserts in October, solar shoulda been easy eh? nope, used the generator for the first time all year because getting ANY direct light with any trees nearby turned out to be basically impossible.

So you can fit a 4ft by 2ft flexible panel inside for storage but not a couple rigid ones of the same rough dimensions?

 

[calicamper]

I have left my two small 10watt hard panels out all yr around zero issues. The light weight folding with canvas backing type stuff I wouldn’t given they likely will collect water etc behind the panels and likely won’t do well.

 

[john61ct]

There are decent folding blanket style sold in Oz.

The suitcase style rigid ones are heavier and more awkward.

Both probably last a fair while if you're stowing them between deployments.

Cheap-chinese stuff will always be a roll of the dice.

Best is a nice big slab of top quality House style permanently mounted on a big roof, but not practical for many rig types.

 

[Bayou Boy]

There are decent folding blanket style sold in Oz.

The suitcase style rigid ones are heavier and more awkward.

Both probably last a fair while if you're stowing them between deployments.

Cheap-chinese stuff will always be a roll of the dice.

Best is a nice big slab of top quality House style permanently mounted on a big roof, but not practical for many rig types.

You never said. What is your rig?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jman99]

For that money why dont you buy more LFP to go further.. I put 650W of solar on so I didnt need to get a 2nd LFP, cost less than a 2nd battery, and provides 45A charge to get it full in ~2.5h.. but for those folding ones just add more batteries and bigger AC charger so you can go 2x as long with same engine runtime needed..

Solar is not all that cooperating, if you have Engine, Genset, and LFP already I would not be investing that much on solar.

When ever possible I try to recharge with a generator or while driving, as I hate the thought of setting up panels & I have already stremlined my setup as best I can, the solar is just there for a last resort. Part of my over on the top thinking with setting up...

My overland rig has 160AH of lithium & with 60A sterling AC, 20L of petrol & that is about the max I can go with space, I feel it's a well balanced system & more lithium just means larger charging gear. Solar panels are more easy to store I have found, electrics need to breath.

 

[Jman99]

You never said. What is your rig?


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If your asking me, just a 4wd wagon for remote travel.