diy solar

diy solar

Setting up solar for a camping trailer

Scixxor said:
figured between the propane stove and a portable heater we would get by in the winter.
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That wouldn’t be fun in Vermont
Get a good CO Detector

Price is a little high on this one because it includes a pwm charge controller. The plain 2000W seems to be not listed on Amazon currently.
 
12VoltInstalls said:
That wouldn’t be fun in Vermont
Get a good CO Detector

Price is a little high on this one because it includes a pwm charge controller. The plain 2000W seems to be not listed on Amazon currently.
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Well given the fact I've already gotten a mild case of Carbon monoxide poisoning from a leak in the line under my bed that's good advice. I don't know if I'll end up going with that inverter given the price and the fact the kit I'm buying comes with a 40a 12 or 24v MPPT charge controller. But thank you anyways.
 
HRTKD said:
Yes, those MC4 connectors should work. I have no experience with that brand. Reviews seem good, if you are inclined to believe the reviews on Amazon.

Your list of loads looked like a 1000 watt inverter would work, until you listed the microwave and air conditioner. I've been using a 1000 watt inverter for the past four years to power a coffee maker, laptop, charge phones and even a 500 watt space heater. But I had no expectation that the inverter was going to power the microwave, let alone the air conditioner. I did not connect my inverter into the RV's distribution panel. I ran a dedicated outlet from the inverter (it supports a hard wired connection like that) to the cabinet where I run the coffee pot from.

Victron Energy doesn't make a plain inverter for the U.S. market. Their inverter-only series is all 230 Vac for the European market and you need 120 Vac. Check out Xantrex ProWatt and the GoPower Inverter. Neither of these has a hard wired option, meaning you have to plug into the provided outlets on the inverter.

I have an older version of the Xantrex inverter, but modified sine wave, not pure sine wave. It has been a good inverter for me for what I've asked of it. But I kept my expectations low (no microwave use).
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Alright thank you for the advice, I had a feeling it wouldn't run the AC or the microwave. Do you have any idea about the 65-foot wire I'll need? Also, It can probably be closer to 40 feet because the kit I'm buying comes with 20 feet of 12 gauge wire.
 
The gauge of cable depends on how many amps you'll be pushing and the distance involved. You should aim for a voltage drop of 3% or less. I use this voltage drop calculator to find the right size of wire.

Interactive Wire Size Calculator

Battery Chargers, Inverters, Solar Components, and Wiring Supplies for Boats, RVs, and Off-Grid Applications.
baymarinesupply.com baymarinesupply.com
 
I feel the 2kw Renogy is probably as good as the Giandell but has the benefit of being UL approved, the neutral is bonded to ground internally. It also has a good idle draw of 8ish watts (measured). The Xantrex Prowatt SW is 1 step above and the Go Power 3 steps up.
Renogy has been getting negative reviews for lack of support, whether that is the case you would have to decide. The product itself seems quite well made for the price. I have 4 Renogy charge controllers and 1 inverter and no issues with any of them.
There is nothing wrong with plugging your shore cord into the inverter-just need to make sure your converter is disconnected and the fridge and hot water don't "Auto detect" to 120v, keep them on propane...
For reasonably priced panel wiring that can handle the weather look for low voltage landscape wire at your local big box or Amazon....
 
Whinny said:
The product itself seems quite well made for the price.
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(Renogy)
…and the number of failure complaints is really high to begin with. I’m not impressed. When I bought my initial setup I did a ton of research and talked to real people. In the end I had to use my own judgement on what to buy - but plenty of people named renogy as what not to buy. That seemed significant to me. Glad the equipment has worked for you.
 
Hello again after talking to my dad he said the amount of power we would be getting with the setup I was going to go with just wouldn't be enough. So I now plan on going with 2 12v 200ah gel batteries (plus 1 used 12v 100ah gel battery which hopefully works), 720 watts of panels (this kit: https://hqsolarpower.com/600-watt-2...solar-panel-kit-w-40a-mppt-charge-controller/ and 2 80 watt panels) a 2kw pure sine wave inverter from Renogy (https://www.renogy.com/2000w-12v-pure-sine-wave-inverter/) A pack of 10 mc4 connectors from amazon, this voltmeter, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FGFFHC6/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A3JXNUUKLASGK0&th=1, and about 50ft of 8 gauge wire https://temcoindustrial.com/electrical/wire/solar-cable/?sort=alphaasc&page=3. Here's what I'm looking to power, this is what I expect to have running at once, a computer, a laptop, 2 TVs, a small space heater and 2 phone chargers and most importantly the fridge, I believe its 120v and 1.9 amps. Oh and occasionally a microwave (I would be willing to unplug everything else to get the microwave to work). Will this system power all this and is there anything else I'll need to make this work?
 
Most MC4 connectors will work with 10 gauge PV wire and smaller. The larger 8 gauge PV wire might fit, but I wouldn't count on it. 10 gauge wire at the string voltage of 48.6 volts (2s2p) over 50' at 10.6 amps will have have a voltage drop of 1.13%. In other words, 10 gauge wire is fine. 8 gauge is overkill.

The PV kit comes with Y connectors, so I'm assuming that they expect you to run those four panels in a 2s2p configuration.

The two 80 watt panels are oddballs. I don't know how you're going to use them. They will not mate well with the panels from the kit. A separate charge controller for those panels is what I would do.

Your space heater will need to be really small. Like less than 1000 watts. I use a 500 watt space heater in my RV, but only during the day when I have excess PV output. Otherwise, I use the propane furnace that came with the RV. It cranks out a lot more heat.
 
HRTKD said:
Most MC4 connectors will work with 10 gauge PV wire and smaller. The larger 8 gauge PV wire might fit, but I wouldn't count on it. 10 gauge wire at the string voltage of 48.6 volts (2s2p) over 50' at 10.6 amps will have have a voltage drop of 1.13%. In other words, 10 gauge wire is fine. 8 gauge is overkill.

The PV kit comes with Y connectors, so I'm assuming that they expect you to run those four panels in a 2s2p configuration.

The two 80 watt panels are oddballs. I don't know how you're going to use them. They will not mate well with the panels from the kit. A separate charge controller for those panels is what I would do.

Your space heater will need to be really small. Like less than 1000 watts. I use a 500 watt space heater in my RV, but only during the day when I have excess PV output. Otherwise, I use the propane furnace that came with the RV. It cranks out a lot more heat.
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Thank you very much for your input you have consistently been very helpful and you're making all of this possible. I think I'll just hook up the 6 panels I'm getting for now and then buy another charge controller for the 2 I already have later down the line as you suggested. I'll check how many watts the heater is when I get back home, if I need to I can always buy a smaller one or unplug things when I need to heat the place up. So should I still buy those mc4 connectors since the kit comes with y connectors?
 
I think you'll need the MC4 connectors. You'll have to connect your PV cable to the Y connector somehow. The kit does come with some cable with MC4 connectors on one end, but it won't be long enough for your setup.
 
HRTKD said:
I think you'll need the MC4 connectors. You'll have to connect your PV cable to the Y connector somehow. The kit does come with some cable with MC4 connectors on one end, but it won't be long enough for your setup.
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Alright, that good because if I want to add these other 2 panels I'll need some anyways. I found out the heater was 800watts. Should I buy a smaller one or will I be good for now? Also, that one person said I had to disable a charger thing that comes with the camper. Is this it (check attachments)? And do I need to disable it?
 

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Scixxor said:
Alright, that good because if I want to add these other 2 panels I'll need some anyways. I found out the heater was 800watts. Should I buy a smaller one or will I be good for now? Also, that one person said I had to disable a charger thing that comes with the camper. Is this it (check attachments)? And do I need to disable it?
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Yes, you'll need to disable the converter when the inverter is active. Otherwise, you'll be trying to charge the batteries while drawing a load. That creates a loop and it will drain your batteries.
 
HRTKD said:
Yes, you'll need to disable the converter when the inverter is active. Otherwise, you'll be trying to charge the batteries while drawing a load. That creates a loop and it will drain your batteries.
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Thank you for constantly getting back to me, I don't know if I'd be able to do this without your help. I was going to get gel batteries as you know but while looking at the panels I'm getting I found these lithium batteries for a good price, https://hqsolarpower.com/12-volts-1...or-rv-solar-marine-and-off-grid-applications/ Would this be worth it over the gel batteries? I know you're only supposed to discharge gel batteries to 50% so, in theory, this would be the same amount of power for a better price. Not to mention I believe lithium batteries last way longer than gel. What do you think would be better?
 
For the price, that's not a bad battery. 50 amp charge rate, 100 amp discharge rate. I wouldn't run at those limits for long periods, but those are fairly normal rates.

The AC-DC converter would need to have a LiFePO4 profile, as would any other charger (solar charge controller).
 
HRTKD said:
For the price, that's not a bad battery. 50 amp charge rate, 100 amp discharge rate. I wouldn't run at those limits for long periods, but those are fairly normal rates.

The AC-DC converter would need to have a LiFePO4 profile, as would any other charger (solar charge controller).
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Which one do you recommend I go with then?
 
Check out the PowerMax. There are a couple of recent threads on it. I have one from IOTA Engineering. It isn't bad, but there are concerns that it doesn't charge as quickly as some would like.
 
HRTKD said:
Check out the PowerMax. There are a couple of recent threads on it. I have one from IOTA Engineering. It isn't bad, but there are concerns that it doesn't charge as quickly as some would like.
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Hello again, I'm happy to say I'll be ordering everything tomorrow morning. I did have a question about something though. Will the panels need to be in a 12v configuration? Because that's what my batteries will be outputting and it's what the inverter I'm getting takes. If so how would I do that with the kit/mc4 connectors/charge controller I'm getting? Here's the link to the kit I'm getting in case you need it. https://hqsolarpower.com/600-watt-2...solar-panel-kit-w-40a-mppt-charge-controller/
 
Scixxor said:
Hello again, I'm happy to say I'll be ordering everything tomorrow morning. I did have a question about something though. Will the panels need to be in a 12v configuration? Because that's what my batteries will be outputting and it's what the inverter I'm getting takes. If so how would I do that with the kit/mc4 connectors/charge controller I'm getting? Here's the link to the kit I'm getting in case you need it. https://hqsolarpower.com/600-watt-2...solar-panel-kit-w-40a-mppt-charge-controller/
Click to expand...

As long as you have a true MPPT solar charge controller, the voltage of the solar panels doesn't matter (for the most part). If they are low voltage panels and you wire them in parallel then it may matter. If they are low voltage panels and you wire them in series then you're OK as long as you don't exceed the Maximum PV Input Voltage of the solar charge controller. The solar charge controller will step down the PV voltage to what your batteries need. That's why you always connect the batteries to the solar charge controller first.

Your kit is expecting you to wire the panels as 2s2p and your resulting voltage will be almost 50 volts. That will work fine.
 
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