Help me set up a solar system for this battery

[Mikaykay]

Hello everyone. I need to know what parts can go with this specific battery I have in my camper. The battery is, by itself, running the camper. I need to recharge the battery manually. I’m wondering how can I create a solar system with this battery in my camper? A way where the solar panels are consistently charging the battery with every glimpse and exposure to the sun. Please recommend specific parts. Thank you ?

Here is the battery I’m using.

 

[gnubie]

Is that a 12V battery?

When it comes to charging the battery you need to start by working out how much you plan on taking out of it on a daily basis. With a working solar installation you can run your loads, at least partially, from solar during the day so that will lower your battery draw but working out the demand is where you need to start.

Cue @snoobler and his 5 step plan. ... waiting ... waiting ..

 

[Mikaykay]

Is that a 12V battery?

When it comes to charging the battery you need to start by working out how much you plan on taking out of it on a daily basis. With a working solar installation you can run your loads, at least partially, from solar during the day so that will lower your battery draw but working out the demand is where you need to start.

Cue @snoobler and his 5 step plan. ... waiting ... waiting ..

Yes

 

[Mikaykay]

 

[Mikaykay]

The main things I want to use daily is a mini refrigerator, charge my phone and laptop, and a speaker. There’s a water pump and a few lights. Rarely I’d like to use a small kitchen appliance like small blender.

 

[Mikaykay]

Renogy 100W 12V Monocrystalline Solar Starter Kit with 20A Rover MPPT Charge Controller https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WGW485F/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vUaJFbBAKB1M7

Will this work

 

[gnubie]

Can you post a link to a web site for your fridge or the make / model?

The phone if charged once a day is probably 20Wh.

The laptop might use 40W when it's turned on, although if you run it when not plugged in it will make that up when you do by recharging the battery so time you run the laptop on power and on battery will give a rough idea of the watt hour use there.

The speakers, call it 10W average when they are in use, so post the hours you expect to use them.

Water pump could be your undoing, but post the ratings for it and how long it might be running a day.

Lights, wattage and expected on time for them too.

Blender, depends on the motor wattage and run time too, so post the wattage and expected use time too.

I may not get back to you after this for some time, things to do tonight, but I'm sure someone else will pipe up and offer more advice.

 

[Mikaykay]

The battery is the easy part, the loads irrelevant for now. People ALWAYS say " I just want to run this and that" and then end up running a whole lot more! :0) The thing is look at how much you can generate so the first question I would ask is do you want to put the panels on the roof of the camper or are you happy to have them or some of them where you can sit them on the ground and face them to the sun as need be?

The thing I'm getting at is rather than initially worry about your loads, look at the area available for panels and see what you can do from the start.
Your generation capacity determines what your loads can be not what you want/ have. Also, what is the situation with the camper? Do you tow it or is it stationary? Can you hook it to a vehicle on occasion if need be and charge the camper battery from the ( running) vehicle?

You always want as many panels as you can get to account for bad weather and sounds like in this case, shading may be an issue as well.
If that's the case and you are good with some panels on a lead you can move around like in the sun if the camper is shaded, that opens up possibilities as well.

The charging is easy, plenty of controllers you can put between the battery and the panels. The first thing to work out is whether you need the panels on the roof of the camper and if so, how much area you have available for this, and second, if remote panels would work for your situation.
Fill us in on the details and we can work from there.

The camper is about 15x8 with only 2 square skylights. I’m looking to travel in this and even charge it while driving. I will most likely mount the solar panel(s) on the roof. Ideal I want as much power as this battery can hold and use because I know in the future I might have some add on appliances. I’d like to spend under 500 for as much power as possible that is battery can hold. The more panels and watts the faster the battery charges right ? I’m down to carry around the extra, say I’m only using it a little bit of energy one week then the next week in using way more. The only thing I may want to run consistently would be a mini fridge which is not yet installed. I currently have an ice box. I basically want a grand solar power system for this battery in which is not too complex or expensive. I’ll be on some land that has no utilities and in the middle of no where. If I have the solar set up I’d probably get a few extension cords and have some electricity running around for my little things as I am building a permanent campsite.
Thanks

 

[Mikaykay]

Can you post a link to a web site for your fridge or the make / model?

The phone if charged once a day is probably 20Wh.

The laptop might use 40W when it's turned on, although if you run it when not plugged in it will make that up when you do by recharging the battery so time you run the laptop on power and on battery will give a rough idea of the watt hour use there.

The speakers, call it 10W average when they are in use, so post the hours you expect to use them.

Water pump could be your undoing, but post the ratings for it and how long it might be running a day.

Lights, wattage and expected on time for them too.

Blender, depends on the motor wattage and run time too, so post the wattage and expected use time too.

I may not get back to you after this for some time, things to do tonight, but I'm sure someone else will pipe up and offer more advice.

I could get these numbers together soon.

 

[Hedges]

210 reserve power is probably 210 minutes at 20A, so 3.5 hours at 20A for 70 Ah. (check their definition of "Reserve Power" and correct as needed)
Battery is a wet cell lead acid, probably wants 0.2C charge rate to stir electrolyte, so 14 A charge rate. At 12V, about 150W. Read the manual.

Approximately 200W (STC) of solar panels tilted/oriented to face the sun should do that.
Less panel would fail to achieve such charge current. More panel could charge more and might be higher rate than is good for battery, although a charge controller that limits to 15A could handle excess panel and regulate its output.
Two, 150W panels connected in parallel, one aimed at 10:00 AM sun and the other at 4:00 PM would have similar peak output as 200W but would deliver flatter curve throughout the day.

Perhaps you can find an all-in-one that lets you over-panel, limits charge current to 14A or whatever setting it is told, and makes use of the extra PV available when loads are active.

These "Marine and RV" "Deep Cycle" batteries aren't expected to have as good a cycle life as true deep cycle batteries intended for motive power or off-grid applications. They can crank over a boat motor, then power the ignition system without being recharged during use.

For the mini fridge, best to use a timer or light sensor (e.g. 12V relay closed by PV voltage) to connect fridge only while sun shines. Keep a bottle of water or brine frozen in the freezer compartment to help it coast through the night without using electricity. H2O is cheaper than Pb and doesn't wear out.

 

[Mikaykay]

Okay everyone thank you so much for your assistance and criticism. Change of plans. The battery that is hooked up doesn’t power the outlets, only the water pump and lights. Everything gets powered switching to the converter when I plug the camper into the wall. The original dc has been changed to ac plug so I can plug into a house. Now I would like a solar system to plug the whole camper into. Do you recommend 500/1000w jackery system or building my own system~ an exterior system with an inverter to plug in the camper or other things outside. Of course I will store the components properly but now I’d like to be able to plug the whole camper into a solar panel system.

 

[Mikaykay]

Thats pretty much what everyone was describing in the first place. I presumed you already had an inverter and was using the solar to charge the battery to run the inverter which would power the camper.

I have little knowledge on this and I didn’t have all the information about whole system already in place. A simple question I have is would It be too much to run the camper off one plug coming from the inverter for the solar ? If there’s enough power it should be okay and not burn it out?

 

[gnubie]

You'd have to be careful to not exceed the current rating of the plug. IIRC USA 2 prong plugs are rated at a max of 15A. That's well above the AC amp rating of the 1000W Jackery you mentioned, about 1800W at 120VAC. Assuming the sockets on the Jackery aren't rubbish technically it should be impossible to damage them with the power the Jackery can supply.

I don't like the idea of using a standard plug to supply an entire setup for various reasons but if you must do it it will work. If your vehicle has a neutral / earth bond that may cause you problems with the Jackery. I'm not familiar enough with them to say for sure. Someone else on the forum might be able to talk more about that, and proper grounding setups too.