Learner set up

[12VoltInstalls]

caravan a oldy style classic 1978 and has aluminum can grade roof,when its hot, it's hot,when cold it's cold,next to no insulation

FWIW I do a ‘stationary’ RV. Saved me enough over a few years to buy a small piece of property.
I’m ‘stationary’ so I have a tiny yet substantial solar power system completely offgrid. I change stuff around for fun but need to finish employing all my solar. Currently just getting by on around 2kW of panels but the 2000W inverter is ample. Just pulled wire through my underground conduit today and hope to have another 1000W of panels online in the next week or so.

My RV is a 1976-ish Dutch Craft 25 that was built with a 4-season option, insulated floors, etc. so not “terrible” to heat. But I remodeled over time and added a lot of additional insulation- 1-1/2” foam to the ceilings, 1-1/2” to the walls, interior plexiglass ‘storm’ panels instead of window screens for winter. It’s comfortable and not expensive to heat.
But anyways, 1/4” plywood is ‘moderately priced’ and paints nicely. You can insulate yourself and improve your comfort and drop heating expenses tremendously, and use the plywood over that to create a clean, bright interior.
While 1.5” of foam doesn’t sound like much, the improvements cut my heating gallons by 1/3 last year, and this past summer’s work appears to be a substantial improvement as well but it’s hard to say how much at this point.

classic 1978 and has aluminum can grade roof,when its hot, it's hot,when cold it's cold,next to no insulation

I’m in Vermont. Winters are cold, my living space is warm.
Do a little at a time: at the prices of propane these days the winter fuel cost savings will be enough in just one season to be noticeable and “pay you back.” And my drains don’t even freeze anymore. 1976’s “4-season” camper was nothing like the insulation of a 2024 home, and now it is. I actually procured and need to install an air-to-air exchanger because it’s so ‘tight’ now- humidity is high and if I cook in the oven over 50-60 minutes the CO detector goes off this winter.

Just some encouragement but mostly food for thoughts.

 

[Whats_per_question]

Hi @NZ12VOLT , your system is looking fantastic.
You have a well optimised layout with tidy wiring. The ASNZ code says that cabling has to be supported at least every 300mm (ie secured to the wall, in conduit, in cable trays, or some other method that prevents something pulling on the wires which might cause a terminal to come loose) and your system ticks that box.

One thing that probably won't matter to you, but is important for other forum readers to note; the single pole DC breaker that sits between the Epever solar controller and the battery, and another single pole between the battery and the inverter, is not to ASNZ code. The code requires that both the positive and negative are broken by the breaker (ie a 2-pole breaker or isolator).
One way to achieve this with the breakers you have is to put in a pair of busbars. This means the breakers you have can go on the positive and negative and will disconnect the battery. The single pole breakers you have don't appear to be "ganged" (linked together so that both operate at the same time), which a proper 2-pole breaker would be.
You don't need a dedicated breaker for the inverter, and in a busbar layout the battery breaker does this job - ie it still cuts battery power to the inverter, plus you would usually have either a breaker or an isolator on the solar cabling, so that way you have a way to disconnect the inverter from all power sources, or to disconnect all power to the controller (ie for a 'reboot').

I've rattled up a diagram (its the same diagram, but in two formats; pdf and as an image ) to show this suggestion vs what the current layout is.
Cable weights are what would suit a 4-panel system with a 2000w inverter. Critique of the diagram is welcome;

 

[Whats_per_question]

Also ... great to see he has used a label kit. This could save somebody a lot of head scratching, because although its all sooooooo obvious to everybody here, to somebody new to solar every box looks the same, and every wire looks the same gauge.
Its also a huge help when a user is at the other end of a phone and you are trying to talk them through rebooting the system, or putting a volt meter on various points to troubleshoot.
Well done NZ12Volt

 

[NZ12VOLT]

Hi @NZ12VOLT , your system is looking fantastic.
You have a well optimised layout with tidy wiring. The ASNZ code says that cabling has to be supported at least every 300mm (ie secured to the wall, in conduit, in cable trays, or some other method that prevents something pulling on the wires which might cause a terminal to come loose) and your system ticks that box.

One thing that probably won't matter to you, but is important for other forum readers to note; the single pole DC breaker that sits between the Epever solar controller and the battery, and another single pole between the battery and the inverter, is not to ASNZ code. The code requires that both the positive and negative are broken by the breaker (ie a 2-pole breaker or isolator).
One way to achieve this with the breakers you have is to put in a pair of busbars. This means the breakers you have can go on the positive and negative and will disconnect the battery. The single pole breakers you have don't appear to be "ganged" (linked together so that both operate at the same time), which a proper 2-pole breaker would be.
You don't need a dedicated breaker for the inverter, and in a busbar layout the battery breaker does this job - ie it still cuts battery power to the inverter, plus you would usually have either a breaker or an isolator on the solar cabling, so that way you have a way to disconnect the inverter from all power sources, or to disconnect all power to the controller (ie for a 'reboot').

I've rattled up a diagram (its the same diagram, but in two formats; pdf and as an image ) to show this suggestion vs what the current layout is.
Cable weights are what would suit a 4-panel system with a 2000w inverter. Critique of the diagram is welcome;

View attachment 190362

Also ... great to see he has used a label kit. This could save somebody a lot of head scratching, because although its all sooooooo obvious to everybody here, to somebody new to solar every box looks the same, and every wire looks the same gauge.
Its also a huge help when a user is at the other end of a phone and you are trying to talk them through rebooting the system, or putting a volt meter on various points to troubleshoot.
Well done NZ12Volt

Sorry for late reply,have been reading here but not my own thread ha,
Yip basic label kit ,just handy for myself or if the old ticker stops someone knows what's going on with set up,
Excellent info on the charts for me thank you,as I reading I buy a twin pole breaker,Now its not spec but this brand
Ravelo is in me price range ,same as other single pole ones I using,,others get up in price a bit and looking at busbars which probably get next week,they priced pretty high unless I get couple Burnsco cheap ones ,I could make some nice ones which I might do yet .
Everything has been working good, low cloudy days I just go main power ,not sure how to or if that can be overcome ,maybe another panel to increase amp input ,not sure yet on that
Appreciate the diagrams and will set up like that,Its clean and easy and safe,thanks
Best regards
Ian

Just add ok this one above I buy only 1 pole not 2 ,,oh another rookie error ,oh well in the spares box and get other

 

[12VoltInstalls]

others get up in price a bit

Cheapo breakers might not work per industry standards. Don’t buy stuff on price, buy on function and value.

If a safety device is poorly made or designed and you burn everything down how much did you save?! Nothing. You lost everything.

 

[NZ12VOLT]

Cheapo breakers might not work per industry standards. Don’t buy stuff on price, buy on function and value.

If a safety device is poorly made or designed and you burn everything down how much did you save?! Nothing. You lost everything.

Thanks ,did buy more stuff but no good, funny thing that sigle pole breaker above was $40.20 ,,10 times more than AS/NZS standed single breakers cost that I just buy,,,but my breakers are just wrong so whole system is now off ,,cant afford good stuff ,,its just a hole to put money into ,
Hey I tryed but just not going to work for me ,probably disassemble and try get some coin back
Thanks for helping and info ,I just cant play this game ,yip prices in NZ are a joke ,,,
Enjoyed the experience, thanks again

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Hey I tryed but just not going to work for me

Of course it will work for you.

Once it’s running it costs nothing for many years to come.

 

[Whats_per_question]

@NZ12VOLT What's your cell number?

 

[NZ12VOLT]

Well I gave up,had a break,cost me $$$$ everytime I come here but spent bit more
2 pole DC breaker switches from oz because they were bit cheaper, battery,mppt,inverter have own switch now,even though inverter and mppt only using 1 side of the 2 pole breaker it's fine to do , just means free pole for later after investigating that before doin,been fine tuning my settings in mppt and all is good, on occasion when cloud let's sun out suddenly I've had couple of HVAs( high voltage alert) at 14.1 which is my over voltage disconnect and max charge at 13.5 ,solar stops charging and restarts as it should but duno how to stop that, looked at surge protection but that's for lightning ,
not alot to read on why the mppt goes past preset limit but searching still on that,,that's what blew up the first cheap inverter ,cant afford no bms or expensive scc if those even stop the spikes or manage them better,duno ,anyway pic below shows my new old set up
Sun gone as to low incoming volts but more than I need during the day,,

Thanks again I'm gone again
So look ok ?,not like my switches? Can run 2 mppt and inverter on a single DC breakers so dont see what wrong here and that's here on this forum,
full of advice before ,buy this,buy that,well buying from NZ sucks full stop,rip off,I dont buy hardly nothing from here as to why I get elsewhere at half the price and that's not putting any more risk than if I brought from NZ
And does anyone know why the EPEVER goes past preset voltage or is that this tracking issue I've heard of or is it rubbish mppt or what,,is that what all mppt controllers do ,really like to know the answer to this because searching goes round in circles without a definitive result....

And just add also changed my 20amp ac breaker which I had to shut solar panel off with a DC breaker so DC only now,I could have left it ,it work just fine ,but some here really like to over comment and recommend you need this and that ,,so much for all heavy wire I buy since only needed 2 bits for inverter, big wire dont fit nothing else ,glad I didn't listen and buy another inverter because not needed,didnt even need the new one that blew up,,I just needed to learn how to program the MT50,, dont need 200amp fuses for my set up ,that's concrete overkill and cook my system before breaker pops,,
When new cheap inverter blew up I only had a 10amp fuse on the battery which blew after the inverter cooked and I feel if I had higher rated breaker it would have melted wire before blowing the breaker at the battery so big tough fuse or breaker not always the best way for a baby system

 

[Norwasian]

And does anyone know why the EPEVER goes past preset voltage or is that this tracking issue I've heard of or is it rubbish mppt or what,,is that what all mppt controllers do ,really like to know the answer to this because searching goes round in circles without a definitive result....

I sure hope it isn't rubbish--I just ordered two of them for a new install I've been designing. I guess I'll learn the truth soon enough. I'm less worried about tracking efficiency and more worried about the units' longevity and ability to cooperate with a LiFePO4 battery. I'm still trying to figure out if I need an MT50 just to program them.

 

[NZ12VOLT]

Myself I dont think they rubbish but I'm a rookie at this , the price sure ain't rubbish so much be ok, lots have $$$ to play with and get top brands which seem to do the same thing, My set up us basic and doesn't work hard so I expect my money's worth out of it
From my learning of using it works good, still goes past the preset though but I think it's just SLOW to react ,My max charging is set 13.5v and over charge disconnect at 14.1v which is does its thing ,,,,some stock values are to high for 12v and surged from sun cooked the inverter, well that's what I think happened, HVA ( high voltage alert),it was a cheap inverter but still
I brought the mt 50 so programming the EPEVER was lit easier to do,especially when it dont program as manual says,,can also get a wifi module that allows you to use your phone to program it but the MPPT but the MT50 was pretty easy to work out
I just mention though it does state if using lithium you need to select that because it wont like it can detect other battery types
Far from the one to offer advice on this but just my personal experience with it, and it's still working away good