Hi all. I am new to all this and have some questions. I am going to do a cargo trailer conversion and are hoping to do the following: a 206 ah soak battery , a 40 amp solar charger , and a 1500 or 2000w inventor. My question is will a 200 amp solar array work to charge this. Most of my load will be 12v lights and things like phone charger but I will want to run a dorm type fridge and a coffee machine on the 110v side. Any help is appreciated. I might add that I am a 72 year old retiree on a budget.
New to solar
- Thread starter Buk 80
- Start date
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
206Ah * 12.8V = 2637Wh
40A * 12V = 480W, i.e., a 40A charge controller can handle about 480W of panels. The 40A is the maximum CHARGE current the controller can provide.
Might be overkill. Inverters consume power even when they aren't supplying power. A low power 1000W inverter might consume 10W. 10W * 24h = 240Wh; 240Wh/2637Wh = 9% of your battery capacity.
Not likely. See below.
This small energy star fridge:
Uses 201kWh/year or 550Wh/day - about 21% of your battery capacity.
Typical drip coffee maker is 900-1000W. Assuming you only us it for 10 minutes/day and remember to turn it off when it's done brewing, that's 1000W * 10/60 = 167Wh
Now we're up to about 957Wh/day in just those 3 items - about 36% of your battery.
If you want to sustain those daily loads, your panels need to produce that amount of energy every day. Flat panels on a vehicle roof don't perform particularly well.
With GREAT summer sun, 200W of panels could produce that; however, it wouldn't even get close in Winter.
400-600W of panels is likely much more appropriate and would allow you to utilize your 40A controller more effectively.
Lastly, you would want to supplement charging with a DC-DC charger when running the vehicle.
This is probably a good template to get you started:
RV Solar Power Blue Prints
Building a vehicle mounted solar power system? Let me help.
www.mobile-solarpower.com
iamrich
Solar Addict
How big is the trailer (more specifically, how much roof space do you have)? As mentioned above, I would go for more panels. I would try for at least three used 250w panels. Assuming this is at least a 10x6 trailer, there should be room on the roof. Any idea at what equipment you are currently looking at? 12v controllers are limited in most cases.
