Recent content by CantStopTommy

Thank you Sandals! that makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the response.

Good point Sunshine! Bracing the backside of the panel is a very smart idea. I'm definitely going to be driving on corrugations quite a bit while crossing the outback. Have you seen any good examples of how to do it? My initial thoughts are to run a beam up the middle with foam pads mounted...

Yeah I'm not too versed in electrical terminology, so I often find myself using the wrong words for things. apologies for that. Regarding the actual mechanism of "clipping" the current, I assume that the charge controller does this by increasing the voltage the panel sees, which in theory will...

Thanks guys, that was my suspicion but didn't want to risk it without asking. We're about 10deg south of the tropic of capricorn here in Sydney, so during summer I might get pretty close to full sun at noon, but still unlikely to get full power because it gets quite hot here too! So that begs...

Hi all, some advice please. I've just sourced a monster 500w Risen panel for my camper trailer build and am looking to pair it with a charge controller. I ran the sizing on the Victron MPPT calculator and was recommended a 150v/35a. See specs here...

Look like fun builds! and really well documented too! (imo) Yeah I like that idea re tilting, ideal fixed angle for Sydney is ~33deg which if I could tilt the panels to (and get the right azimuth) would get me a nice bump indeed. Thinking hat engaged... thx!

Thanks Rocketman! Yeah, I'm planning on having nothing else up there at all. (more space + no chance of shading cells with my gear) Space available on rack will be about 6ft x 6ft square, so should be able to fit plenty of PV. Yeah I definitely have some battery envy looking at those Fortune...

Yeah, they do look like strong terminals, but I still cringed a bit (lot when I saw Will using an impact driver on them!

Thanks Chris! Great input. yeah i was being too optimistic regarding the real world output of the panels. Even a small amount of shading can kill our output, especially if you've wired the panels in series. One thing I omitted from my original post is my plan to mount the solar panels. Idea is...

Thanks Joey, I had a look at those BBs, great batter but very expensive for us down under ($3,600 AUD for 200Ah landed in Australia) Do you have any thoughts on those Fortune cells that Will reviewed They look properly tough and I'd feel confident wiring them up. Getting them to Australia is...

Hello, Newbie here looking for feedback on my idea for powering an off-road camper trailer. We're building this trailer for a planned ~6 month lap of Australia with our family of 4. Guiding principles - Be self-sufficient on PV alone - most similar setups seem under powered on PV and constantly...