new guy having fun

[benjamin j]

i got a schneider SAU2200RM2U rated 1980 watts @48volts my primary use for this is in a motor home i just made. I pulled the old battery bank out of the schneider and made a bank of four deep cycles. I test ran this set up with a small window AC unit. the schneider is pure sine wave and everything went well I think?voltage drop was minimal over a two hour period. The test was in my shop and the ac ran continuous without cycling the compressor like it would have in the motor home. i have not done the research yet on solar panels to put on top of the truck. what size panels and what charger for 48 volt system. also are panels durable on top of a motor home? I am having fun learning about panels now it never cam

 

[cass3825]

Cool rig!!!

 

[Ampster]

That is some cowcatcher of a front bumper.

 

[DASH]

Best thing to do, is to use a kill-a-watt meter or some other instrument to find out how many watts that small window A/C is using. If it's like most others it's probably a little under 500 watts when compressor is running. Startup watts on the A/C is substantially more, but it looks like your inverter and battery set up can handle it. So, You'll need 500 watts an hour to run the A/C. Don't know what the storage capacity of the batteries are, but we know it's at least 1000 watts (500 X 2 hours). You'll need to generate enough solar power to run the A/C and charge up the batteries. A general rule of thumb is that a solar panel on average can generate 3-5 times it's rated wattage a day. So, 4- 330 watt panels can generate 1320 X4 = 5,280 watts a day. Assuming that You can store any excess energy in your existing batteries, the A/C will have enough power to run approx. 10.5 hours a day. Of course, it wouldn't run as long on cloudy days, or could run longer on an exceptionally bright summer day. Also, the orientation of the solar panels need to be correct to generate that much power.

Allot of people have installed solar panels on their van roofs with success. It it was me, I would fit as many panels as I could. I would go for the higher output solar panels (300 watts+). You'll need a controller and panels that that will suit your battery situation. Someone with an existing 48 volt system, might be able to give You some good advise concerning that. Good Luck

 

[benjamin j]

thanks all

 

[tictag]

It seems to me that you are space limited and would require at least 60V in order to charge your battery so you might as well just buy however many 100W panels (smallest size to better fit together) you can fit up there and connect them all in series. No need to work anything out. It is what it is and you won't get any more. Everything else 'falls of that' e.g. SCC required, cabling specs etc.

 

[NoSmokeYet]

i got a schneider SAU2200RM2U rated 1980 watts @48volts my primary use for this is in a motor home i just made. I pulled the old battery bank out of the schneider and made a bank of four deep cycles. I test ran this set up with a small window AC unit. the schneider is pure sine wave and everything went well I think?voltage drop was minimal over a two hour period. The test was in my shop and the ac ran continuous without cycling the compressor like it would have in the motor home. i have not done the research yet on solar panels to put on top of the truck. what size panels and what charger for 48 volt system. also are panels durable on top of a motor home? I am having fun learning about panels now it never cam View attachment 16847

Please post some more pictures(side, back, inside,etc...?

 

[JoeHam]

I would rarely disagree with TicTag but I would suggest some 375-400 watt panels.

Two to start. Less mounting issues etc.

Put those in series, get a Victron SmartSolar 100/20 48v for $167 and you are on your way.

Of course a rig that nice deserves LiFe PO4 batteries. ?

 

[tictag]

I would suggest some 375-400 watt panels.

The thing is with a 400W panel is that it is quite physically big and only outputs circa 49.4V ... so to maintain similar panel specs you would need at least two of them in order to get a voltage above the charging voltage required for a 48V(nominal) battery .... would 2 x 400W panels physically fit on this roof? I don't know, but your options become limited.

With 100W panels you have more flexibility in terms of connectivity and physically fitting them together on a limited roof space.