calicamper
Expedition Leader
This is SFBayArea the farther north you move the bigger the seasonal swing.
Solar Charging questions
- Thread starter SoCal Tom
- Start date
LivinDaDream
Member
You're quite welcome. I did the same thing until I bought my second one...monitored the load first to see what I was typically using and then switched it over to the input to the battery.
Keep in mind that if you move it over to the output of your controller, you won't show much power flow (Amps and Watts) unless it has somewhere to go...as in charging the battery and/or powering a load in excess of what the panels can put out.
I'll be curious to hear what sort of output you get from your panels on a typical day.
Keep in mind that if you move it over to the output of your controller, you won't show much power flow (Amps and Watts) unless it has somewhere to go...as in charging the battery and/or powering a load in excess of what the panels can put out.
I'll be curious to hear what sort of output you get from your panels on a typical day.
freedomrider
Ordinary average guy
My Amazon cart sure is getting full as I complete my solar shopping list. (Where's the cash-burning emoji?)
SoCal Tom
Explorer
It will be pretty easy to swap around with my setup. I might start with it on the charging circuit from my Tow rig. There seems to be a lot of debate about how many amps actually get to the battery.
Tom
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SoCal Tom
Explorer
Walmart.com had the best prices on solar panels I found, and they can get them to you local store at a discount.
Tom
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SoCal Tom
Explorer
Ok, the first night we used 169 watt hours between 4:30 pm and about 6:30 am. Peak charge amperage, that I saw was 5.2 amps, upped the charge voltage to 14.8 and it got there about noon. When the sun went down 214 amps had gone to the battery. Once voltage got to 14.8 amperage dropped off significantly. Battery read 12.7+ volts, next night we used 245 amps overnight, voltage was still above 12.3.
Tom
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LivinDaDream
Member
Ahhh, real data...a powerful decision making tool! 
I'm assuming that where you state "214 amps" and "245 amps" you mean watt hours? Do you know why you had a 30% increase in power usage the 2nd night?
From the sounds of it, unless you increase your power usage considerably or you get a very cloudy weekend, you should be good to go with what you have.
Cheers,
Tom (also)
I'm assuming that where you state "214 amps" and "245 amps" you mean watt hours? Do you know why you had a 30% increase in power usage the 2nd night?
From the sounds of it, unless you increase your power usage considerably or you get a very cloudy weekend, you should be good to go with what you have.
Cheers,
Tom (also)
SoCal Tom
Explorer
Ahhh, real data...a powerful decision making tool!
I'm assuming that where you state "214 amps" and "245 amps" you mean watt hours? Do you know why you had a 30% increase in power usage the 2nd night?
From the sounds of it, unless you increase your power usage considerably or you get a very cloudy weekend, you should be good to go with what you have.
Cheers,
Tom (also)
Yes, watt hours, ( brain fart). For the power increase there were 2 main contributors, I ran a small fan (pc case fan) for circulation while we slept, and my son watched about 4 hours of movies on a small pogoplug movie server I have. We also ran the lights longer than the previous night playing cards inside instead of turning off all the lights to stargaze like the previous night. The first night is pretty much a best case night, and the second comes close to a worst case. The only thing worse would be higher temps causing the fridge to cycle more over night.
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LivinDaDream
Member
Yes, surprising how much power some of our electronics can suck up if used a lot and mostly used/recharged at night.