New solar install....

[honda03842]

Andy B,

I thought you might find the begining of this article interesting.

What Are the Best Solar Panels for Low Light? | eHow.com

Of course, if you're a shade person, an alternative is to mount your panel on a moveable surface.

Today I was working on the installation of Solar in my Son's trailer. I had two lights on, 4 bulbs, 8 amps and the voltage drop was significant. He has about 20 amps worth of bulbs in his trailer if all lamps are on.

I think anyone who's doing solar panels has to consider the entire rig. One of the most important steps to being a successful solar camper is to switch to LED bulbs.

In a sense we are spoiled by the amount of energy available and it's price. For the cost of an installed solar panel ( say $400) we could buy enough energy (2,000 to 4,000 kw-hrs at $0.10-$0.20 per kw-hr). If you're careful at 4,000 kw-hrs that's enough to run a small trailer for 7 years since when on AC I use about 1-2 kw hrs per day.

Hope the article provides some insight since most people think amorphous is better in low light.

[François P.]

Norm,

How did you connect the two panels? In series or in parallel?

TIA

François

[honda03842]

I connected them in Parallel. If I were doing it over I would buy one panel.

I first bought a 40 watter as a test liked it and bought a second. When I put one on my son's Scamp 13 we bought a single panel.

My panels have now been on for one year, The VHB tape has worked well.

From wonderful Route 93 in Idaho.....

[Kerry227]

Norm,
after a year of use, what are your thoughts about controllers and monitors?

[Stretcher]

Originally Posted by peterh

Our Scamp 5er runs on solar and have also converted all our interior lights to LEDs. The key to making solar work, I think, is using LEDs instead of traditional bulbs. One regular, incandescent bulb uses as much power as ten LEDs; two of them burn as more battery power than the furnace does.

We originally had one 50w panel permanently mounted to our roof, and that worked really, really well. When we went to Yellowstone, however, we had a furnace problem that made the furnace run all night, running the battery way, way down. We've since added a second fixed 55w panel and installed an Olympian Wave 3 catalytic heater in addition to the furnace. The second solar panel and Wave3 are overkill -- one 50w panel really was enough to meet all our needs -- but we never have to worry about running out of power. Lynne is looking forward to our buying a 12v electric blanket to warm the bed sheets before we climb in to bed.

I also built a portable 40w solar panel setup made of two Ramsond 20w panels for our Surfside trailer. I'm pleased with Ramsond. Their panels seem to be a pretty solid product at a good price.

Peter,

What is your fuel source for the Olympian Wave 3 catalytic heater? If it's your 20# tanks, how did you tie into the propane line?

Thanks

[Stretcher]

Originally Posted by honda03842

I connected them in Parallel. If I were doing it over I would buy one panel.

I first bought a 40 watter as a test liked it and bought a second. When I put one on my son's Scamp 13 we bought a single panel.

My panels have now been on for one year, The VHB tape has worked well.

From wonderful Route 93 in Idaho.....

Norm,

Did you remove the clear plastic (shrink-wrap) from your 40-watt flexible solar panels? It looks like it should be removed, but the grommets were installed after the plastic. The plastic on mine is very wrinkled and looks like it might cause some shading.

Thanks and Happy Holidays,

David

[honda03842]

Merry Christmas David,

Yes I did remove the protective shrink wrap.

[Jon Vermilye]

Just an update on the 95 Watt Go Power system installed on my Escape 17B (I have an earlier post from last year in this thread).

This summer I camped in the Leadville, CO area (at 10,000') for two weeks without hookups. Some shade, and some cloudy days with night time temperatures in the low 30°F. The solar system managed to keep up with my usage with no problems.

I have all LED lighting, a 1.8 Amp furnace, run a router & cell phone amp that draws 2 amps (although it was shut down for the last week since there was no cell service at the Camp Hale campground) various camera & phone chargers, powered an 85 watt laptop for a couple of hours per day, and used a 1000W inverter to make a pot of coffee each morning (the inverter draws 60 amps @ 12V for 6 minutes). I have a pair of 6V, 235 amp/hr Interstate batteries.

All in all, I like the combination & it certainly provides enough electricity to outlast my various water tanks...

[BAMA & Pachyderm Posse]

best by I have found so far Complete Kit 100 w Watt 100W 100WATTS Photovoltaic PV Solar Panel 12V RV Boat | eBay

[honda03842]

Jon,

It's truly amazing how little power is really required to have a very satisfactory life style.

Like you we used to run our coffee pot off the inverter, a short duration high power draw. Now we just boil the water and pour it into the filter.

[Stretcher]

Thanks Norm,

I installed two 40-watt panels straddling the hatch on the front of our Scamp 19. We're leaving MA in the morning for the TX coast and hope they'll power the furnace on the way. All interior lights are now LED. Your postings have been a big help in getting us this far. We just finished a folding table similar to yours.

Thanks again,

David

[honda03842]

Save travels David

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by honda03842

John,

Here's a link to the solar controller

30A 12V/24V Solar Controller Regulator Charge Battery Safe Protection CE Certify | eBay

Norm, do I understand correctly that this controller did not have a place to plug in a remote temp sensor cable? Just a sensor built into the case?

You wrote that you intended to run the entire load through the controller. Please explain what you mean. Did you rewire so the battery power must run through the controller before it reaches the trailer's existing 12v system? Was that very complicated to do? I assume this controller won't tell anything about usage unless this is done.

Normally the trailer battery will recharge somewhat from the tow vehicle while driving. If a solar panel is mounted on the roof and supplies power at the same time as the tow vehicle, I'm wondering if there are any issues/conflicts with the dual sources?

What gauge wire did you end up using?

I'm considering buying this controller off ebay, and a 60 or so watt solar panel from solar blvd. Thanks for all the info you've shared.