Donlumber
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2021
- Messages
- 32
I have a camper that I spend many weekends at my property in northern Michigan. I wanted solar so I could be mostly energy independent if necessary.
After estimating my power needs (which I will admit that I underestimated now that I have a couple weeks of use) to be approximately 2000 watt hours per night I was then shopping for a portable solar generator to meet my needs. I wanted portable since there is only a shed there when we aren't there and there is a possibility of theft; we bring our camper home with us when we leave. I chose the Titan solar generator from Point Zero Energy as it seemed the best on the market and was within my budget. I didn't want anything to be mounted in the camper since I might sell it to build a cabin there someday. And I can use it to power the cabin later if I do build.
Northern Michigan can be pretty cloudy and since one of the desirable possibilities of the Titan is the ability to over panel that's just what I did. I wound up buying 12 panels from Santan solar, REC 315w panels with 45v open circuit voltage and just under 9 ramps short circuit current. I configured them in 2 strings of 3s2p and used a DIY ground mount rack.
For wiring and connections I have 2 Aims pv array dc isolator going into a midnight solar mnpv12 combiner with 4 midnight solar 15amp breakers and 2 midnight solar 300v surge protectors.
From there current flows 100 ft through #8ga THWN wire encased in 1-1/4" pvc conduit buried 18" deep to a junction box housing a DIN rail mounted terminal block.
This is where I transition from the #8ga THWN to 12/4 SOOW wire capped with Anderson powerpole connectors.
This junction box is about 20 feet away from the camper and the Titan sits in the basement storage area.
And this is a view of the camp area with the camper behind the trees on the right.
I think it's too early for regrets or identifying any shortcomings except that I need more battery storage. I bought the Titan with two of the 2kw batteries and I'm discharged to 30% in the morning. It's charged back to full in less than two hours but I need more for cloudy days during hunting season in the fall and I don't want to shorten the life of the batteries either. I don't have enough height in the storage area to put another Titan modular batteries under it so I'm going to build a 24v battery bank this winter that will plug into the Titan's external battery port.
The rack has the ability to pivot for seasonal changes but I'm not sure I'm going to do that. I borrowed the design of the rack from a YouTube video.
A lot of stuff came from Amazon but not all of it. And of course the lumber was sourced from a local retailer.
After estimating my power needs (which I will admit that I underestimated now that I have a couple weeks of use) to be approximately 2000 watt hours per night I was then shopping for a portable solar generator to meet my needs. I wanted portable since there is only a shed there when we aren't there and there is a possibility of theft; we bring our camper home with us when we leave. I chose the Titan solar generator from Point Zero Energy as it seemed the best on the market and was within my budget. I didn't want anything to be mounted in the camper since I might sell it to build a cabin there someday. And I can use it to power the cabin later if I do build.
Northern Michigan can be pretty cloudy and since one of the desirable possibilities of the Titan is the ability to over panel that's just what I did. I wound up buying 12 panels from Santan solar, REC 315w panels with 45v open circuit voltage and just under 9 ramps short circuit current. I configured them in 2 strings of 3s2p and used a DIY ground mount rack.
For wiring and connections I have 2 Aims pv array dc isolator going into a midnight solar mnpv12 combiner with 4 midnight solar 15amp breakers and 2 midnight solar 300v surge protectors.
From there current flows 100 ft through #8ga THWN wire encased in 1-1/4" pvc conduit buried 18" deep to a junction box housing a DIN rail mounted terminal block.
This is where I transition from the #8ga THWN to 12/4 SOOW wire capped with Anderson powerpole connectors.
This junction box is about 20 feet away from the camper and the Titan sits in the basement storage area.
And this is a view of the camp area with the camper behind the trees on the right.
I think it's too early for regrets or identifying any shortcomings except that I need more battery storage. I bought the Titan with two of the 2kw batteries and I'm discharged to 30% in the morning. It's charged back to full in less than two hours but I need more for cloudy days during hunting season in the fall and I don't want to shorten the life of the batteries either. I don't have enough height in the storage area to put another Titan modular batteries under it so I'm going to build a 24v battery bank this winter that will plug into the Titan's external battery port.
The rack has the ability to pivot for seasonal changes but I'm not sure I'm going to do that. I borrowed the design of the rack from a YouTube video.
A lot of stuff came from Amazon but not all of it. And of course the lumber was sourced from a local retailer.
