100 Watt Solar

[Glenn Baglo]

My battery ( group 27 ) is on the back bumper.
Cord from solar panel goes to controller. Cord with alligator clips goes from controller to battery terminals. That's it.
If using two panels, cords go to a hub. From hub to controller. Controller to battery terminals ( using alligator clips ).

[drengfer]

Happy to try to help! I, too, like stuff that "just works" with minimal fiddling.

I really like having the panels separate from the trailer, connected by cable. That way I can park the trailer in the shade, and place the panels in the sun. I can also pivot them, as appropriate, to maximize production (though I rarely find that I need to do so, since the panels top up the battery quickly each morning).

I'm not familiar with your panels, but will tell you about how mine work. They have a charge controller built into them (I'm sure your panels do, too), so that I can just connect them to the battery and all is good. My setup uses SAE connectors (2-wire connectors) to connect the panels to the battery. I have an SAE connector on the side of my trailer (see attached pictures). That connector is wired to a connector block inside the battery compartment (again, see pictures), from which my battery quick-connect cabling runs (SB50 connectors, I believe). I got all of these bits from Little House Customs in Texas when we bought our trailer (2017).

The other option would be to connect directly to the battery terminals, but that is tricky given lack of clearance in the battery compartment. My panels came with two adaptors: the SAE connector adaptor and a battery terminal (clamp) adaptor, both of which are compatible with the quick-connect cabling connectors. (See pictures). Depending upon how fiddly your current battery connections are, you could use that battery-terminal clamp adaptor (assuming your panels came with one) and leave it attached to the battery, and simply connect the panels to that adaptor using the SB50 connectors. (Again, all of this assumes your kit came with bits similar to mine.)

The last thing I'll note now, for the record, is that if you end up with a power pack (like our Jackery), you will need to get separate solar panels for it. Best I can tell, my trailer-charging panels' charge controller would conflict with the charge controller built into the Jackery. So, need panels with no charge controller built in for that application. Not a big deal, but did cause me some frustration early on.

Hope that's helpful!!!

[MJo]

Thank you SO much !!! That’s the information I needed, I can do that. Now, once I hook it up, I may be back to ask you what the information on the controller means. I have a Wanderer controller from Renogy. I’m hoping the information on the controller will tell me, in some sort of numbers I can interpret to know how the battery is doing. Without having to buy another expensive thing that I don’t have the technical knowledge to understand. But if the 100 solar will carry my l.e.d.’s, and whatever the Scamp does that I don’t know about, that’s really all I would use it for (and maybe to charge my iPhone). I can run the frig. on my 2-20 lb. propane tanks. thanks again, MJo. (by the way, if I’m nosey, forgive me, did you figure out how to run your cpap machine with your solar?).

[MJo]

Originally Posted by drengfer

Happy to try to help! I, too, like stuff that "just works" with minimal fiddling.

I really like having the panels separate from the trailer, connected by cable. That way I can park the trailer in the shade, and place the panels in the sun. I can also pivot them, as appropriate, to maximize production (though I rarely find that I need to do so, since the panels top up the battery quickly each morning).

I'm not familiar with your panels, but will tell you about how mine work. They have a charge controller built into them (I'm sure your panels do, too), so that I can just connect them to the battery and all is good. My setup uses SAE connectors (2-wire connectors) to connect the panels to the battery. I have an SAE connector on the side of my trailer (see attached pictures). That connector is wired to a connector block inside the battery compartment (again, see pictures), from which my battery quick-connect cabling runs (SB50 connectors, I believe). I got all of these bits from Little House Customs in Texas when we bought our trailer (2017).

The other option would be to connect directly to the battery terminals, but that is tricky given lack of clearance in the battery compartment. My panels came with two adaptors: the SAE connector adaptor and a battery terminal (clamp) adaptor, both of which are compatible with the quick-connect cabling connectors. (See pictures). Depending upon how fiddly your current battery connections are, you could use that battery-terminal clamp adaptor (assuming your panels came with one) and leave it attached to the battery, and simply connect the panels to that adaptor using the SB50 connectors. (Again, all of this assumes your kit came with bits similar to mine.)

The last thing I'll note now, for the record, is that if you end up with a power pack (like our Jackery), you will need to get separate solar panels for it. Best I can tell, my trailer-charging panels' charge controller would conflict with the charge controller built into the Jackery. So, need panels with no charge controller built in for that application. Not a big deal, but did cause me some frustration early on.

Hope that's helpful!!!

thank you for taking the time to lay that out for me. My panel is just a Renogy 100 watt panel (I think altho it’s still in the box it came in). so I have a separate controller and wires to hook up. just battery > controller > solar panels. MJo

[John in Santa Cruz]

On my Casita, the battery (a group 27M) was in a 'cave' near the back of the streetside of the trailer. I made a pig tail with some marine 12/2 wire (AWG 12, 2 conductor) about a foot long, one end had ring terminals that went directly on the battery leads, the other end had a Anderson "PP30" PowerPole connector.



this PP30 connector could be slipped through the air vent of the Casita battery cave so the door could remain closed.

my Solar panel was a Renogy 100W Solar Suitcase, I removed the original power output cable and replaced it with 20 or so feet of the same marine 12/2 wiring, with a PP30 at the far end. The Renogy has the solar controller built in.

so, get to camp site and....
1) park and level trailer and unhitch.
2) open battery cave, snake PP30 out the vent, close battery cave.
3) pull Renogy suitcase out of truck, set up behind trailer in a sunny spot
4) plug PP30 from Solar panel into PP30 on trailer.
5) crack beer, kick back.

solar panel behind Casita....


before going to bed, I aim solar panel in the general direction of the mid morning sun (southeast) and hte battery is mostly charged by the time I'm awake.

[AlanKilian]

Originally Posted by MJo

Would you be willing to tell me the basics? something like, “I stop my car, take the solar out, hook up the cables from the battery to the controller and then the solar, and then figure out where I’ll put the panel so it gets the most sun.”

Something like that? That’s the stage of the process where I am. MJo

I had a Renogy Wanderer 10A solar controller and 100 Watt panel I got from amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I ruined it the first week I had it and had to return it.

The instructions says clearly to hook up like this when you are ready to START camping:
1) Hook the battery to the controller.
2) Hook the controller to the solar panel.

The instructions says clearly to disassemble like this when you are ready to STOP camping:
1) Disconnect the controller from the solar panel.
2) Disconnect the battery from the controller.

While I was fooling around testing things (because I'm a nosy engineer) I accidentally left the solar panel connected to the Wanderer controller and disconnected the battery.

The Wanderer never worked after that. It displayed something looking like an alien language and then displayed Error 10.

Renogy tried to help at first, and then they stopped responding to my messages (I think they were waiting for my Amazon return period to close) so I returned it. SURPRISE! A week after my return period closed, they contacted me and wanted to help again. Too late Renogy. Even if it was my fault (or a supremely poorly designed piece of electronics) they shouldn't have acted that way.

So, connect and disconnect in the order I listed and I think you'll be fine.

[John in Santa Cruz]

oh, I also made a 'pig tail' with battery clamps and a PP30 so I could use the same solar panel to charge a battery that doesn't have ring terminals, like the one in my truck.


fyi, that solar suitcase, there was no convenient way to disconnect the panels from the controller, and the supplied controller said you didn't have to with the supplied 100W panel. This setup produces typically 6 amps of charging current with typical good sunshine.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by MJo

(by the way, if I’m nosey, forgive me, did you figure out how to run your cpap machine with your solar?).

Me?
I think I'm condemned to RV parks with full service since I also have an oxygen concentrator. Must use a lot of power, because it generates a lot of heat. Probably have to figure out how to drag it behind the trailer, given the size of it.

[John in Santa Cruz]

if the CPAP is well under 100 watts at 120 VAC, you can probably run it on a small 'inverter' plugged into a cigar lighter outlet. 100 watts at 12 volts DC is about 8 amps, so 10 hours will be 80 amp*hours, which is about all a single RV battery can possibly output, hence my 'well under'.

ok, found this, https://cpapsupplies.com/blog/power-cpap-rv (at the bottom, 'boondocking with CPAP')...

Most CPAP machines are between 30-60 Watts. Watts is a unit of power and a function of current (amps) and volts (Watts= amps x volts). If you’re running your CPAP off a battery, you need to know the power demand in ampere-hours...
...

• 30 Watts/12 Volts = 2.75 amps from the battery.
• 60 Watts/12 Volts =5.5 amp draw.

...
5.5 amps for 8 hours of sleep = 44 amp*hours from the battery
5.5 amps for 10 hours of sleep = 55 amp*hours from the battery

and of course, the 30 watt CPAP would be half those numbers. Thats within range of a good quality deep cycle RV battery as long as it can get fully charged the next day.


oh, typical small inverter suitable for this:
https://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-Invert.../dp/B07DVXNSDH

[CarlD]

The CPAP my son has connects directly to 12 volts and uses about 15-18 Ah per night.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by CarlD

The CPAP my son has connects directly to 12 volts and uses about 15-18 Ah per night.

ah, thats even better. I poked around and tried to find DC ones, and but I didn't deep dive, as it was just casual interest at this point.

Might be useful to post what brand/model it is for those who need them

[Glenn Baglo]

I have 12V power supply for CPAP.
You're not addressing the 5 litre oxygen concentrator.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I have 12V power supply for CPAP.
You're not addressing the 5 litre oxygen concentrator.

yeah, thats a whole different can of worms. I was actually addressing MJo's question where they asked about basic CPAP operation with solar...

I wonder if the travel-with-oxygen issue might be addressed via portable compressed O2 bottles, but I suppose that can get expensive.

[MJo]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

On my Casita, the battery (a group 27M) was in a 'cave' near the back of the streetside of the trailer. I made a pig tail with some marine 12/2 wire (AWG 12, 2 conductor) about a foot long, one end had ring terminals that went directly on the battery leads, the other end had a Anderson "PP30" PowerPole connector.



this PP30 connector could be slipped through the air vent of the Casita battery cave so the door could remain closed.

my Solar panel was a Renogy 100W Solar Suitcase, I removed the original power output cable and replaced it with 20 or so feet of the same marine 12/2 wiring, with a PP30 at the far end. The Renogy has the solar controller built in.

so, get to camp site and....
1) park and level trailer and unhitch.
2) open battery cave, snake PP30 out the vent, close battery cave.
3) pull Renogy suitcase out of truck, set up behind trailer in a sunny spot
4) plug PP30 from Solar panel into PP30 on trailer.
5) crack beer, kick back.

solar panel behind Casita....


before going to bed, I aim solar panel in the general direction of the mid morning sun (southeast) and hte battery is mostly charged by the time I'm awake.

Hi! thanks for replying. Maybe my Renogy solar panel doesn’t have a controller (but how do I know, I haven’t taken it out of the box!!!). If I look and it does, I won’t need the controller I bought. should have looked. Thanks for the wiring information, as far as I know, my electric brakes are going to work, haven’t used the Scamp yet. My battery is on the frame with the hitch. CA is a good place to look at the stars, I still can find Orion after my 7th grade science class, in Long Beach. I can never remember the way to find the north star tho Luckily, Orion seems to follow me wherever I go. Thanks for the pictures.

[MJo]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I have 12V power supply for CPAP.
You're not addressing the 5 litre oxygen concentrator.

Another subject I know nothing about. And thank you again for your pictures and easy to understand directions. I may get the Renogy panel out of the box and set it up in the back yard and connect to my battery. Is a requirement that I draw a certain amount from the battery? what does the “controller” do? Does it know what my battery needs to keep it healthy? What if I connect it all up and there isn’t a demand on the battery, will that cause some sort of damage? There!! you’ve answered my 1st set of ???’s, now on to the next. thanks, MJo

[AlanKilian]

Originally Posted by MJo

Another subject I know nothing about. And thank you again for your pictures and easy to understand directions. I may get the Renogy panel out of the box and set it up in the back yard and connect to my battery. Is a requirement that I draw a certain amount from the battery? what does the “controller” do? Does it know what my battery needs to keep it healthy? What if I connect it all up and there isn’t a demand on the battery, will that cause some sort of damage? There!! you’ve answered my 1st set of ???’s, now on to the next. thanks, MJo

You can set everything up in your backyard without any load on your battery and see that the solar panel->to->controller->to->battery charges your battery.

It will probably stop charging when the battery gets to 13.2 Volts (shown on the controller)

[MJo]

Originally Posted by AlanKilian

You can set everything up in your backyard without any load on your battery and see that the solar panel->to->controller->to->battery charges your battery.

It will probably stop charging when the battery gets to 13.2 Volts (shown on the controller)

thanks, there has ben mention in some of the posts of “over charging” and I don’t know if I could do that somehow. This is all new to me.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by MJo

Another subject I know nothing about. And thank you again for your pictures and easy to understand directions. I may get the Renogy panel out of the box and set it up in the back yard and connect to my battery. Is a requirement that I draw a certain amount from the battery? what does the “controller” do? Does it know what my battery needs to keep it healthy? What if I connect it all up and there isn’t a demand on the battery, will that cause some sort of damage? There!! you’ve answered my 1st set of ???’s, now on to the next. thanks, MJo

the solar controller is a form of charge regulator... the solar panels themselves output like 18 to 24 volts in direct sun, the controller steps that down to a suitable charging voltage, and monitors the charging process.

you can hook it up to a fully charged battery, and the controller will show battery current of close to zero amps, since its already mostly charged. The display cycles between PV (solar voltage), battery voltage, battery current (amps), and maybe battery state of charge in %. some just cycle automatically, others you use the buttons to step through the various values.

[chrisblessing]

Originally Posted by MJo

Would you be willing to tell me the basics? something like, “I stop my car, take the solar out, hook up the cables from the battery to the controller and then the solar, and then figure out where I’ll put the panel so it gets the most sun.”



Something like that? That’s the stage of the process where I am. MJo



all the rest of the verbiage is like that cartoon of the master talking to his dog and a bubble over the dog’s head, “blah, blah, blah”.



not your “verbiage” but the other technical stuff.

You described the process nearly flawlessly. [emoji3]

[MJo]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

the solar controller is a form of charge regulator... the solar panels themselves output like 18 to 24 volts in direct sun, the controller steps that down to a suitable charging voltage, and monitors the charging process.

you can hook it up to a fully charged battery, and the controller will show battery current of close to zero amps, since its already mostly charged. The display cycles between PV (solar voltage), battery voltage, battery current (amps), and maybe battery state of charge in %. some just cycle automatically, others you use the buttons to step through the various values.

thanks again. Maybe I can go without hookups. Scusset, a state park in MA, the hookups can be 25 ft or more away and I haven't installed my surge protecter yet. due to space, I would have to cut and reconnect the power cord and I haven’t worked up the courage.