diy solar

diy solar

Very low RV solar panel output under clear skies?!?!

Quick update: Cleaned up connectors, replaced one that seemed a bit sketchy and am now seeing 110Watts at 4 Amps at noon. Better and considering battery is 90% full I need to do a test with 50% full or under load next. Figured I'd say thanks on connector check suggestions above.

I have gone through this challenge in the past of trying to use 2S2P panels with a rated Vmp ~ 36 volts through an MPPT controller - into 24 volt battery pack in the past.

There are a couple of challenges, one of the bigger ones is that many MPPT controllers don't turn on until until the Vpanel hits at least Vbat + 5 volts.

This might work in sunny areas, but in the San Francisco area, especially in the winter - it just doesn't.

I swapped the controller out for a Bogart PWM and it all works, and it fires up much earlier in the day and under really terrible lighting conditions.

Under perfect lighting conditions, the MPPT would be better but we don' t get that here. The other option is to wire the panels 4S.
 
You have run into the winter blues when it comes to solar mounted flat on a RV. Many people head for BLM land in AZ or other states for the winter and found that flat mounted panels in winter just will not produce enough output. Part of the reason I made half of my RV array tilt, at least I can tilt those enough to garner some output in winter. If you go on Youtube for people who went to Quartzsite in winter with flat mounted panels on their RV, they learned they needed to tilt panels or have some ground deployed panels tilted perpendicular to the sun which is low on the horizon.

For my house, I spent the extra money on a MT Solar tilting mount with the ability to tilt to 65 degrees in winter. The mount was costly to say the least with current materials' price increases. However, if one runs the numbers thru a calculator that determines solar output on azimuth and tilt at various latitudes, you will find that tilt in the winter months is very important and the return on cost might be worthwhile. What good is a solar array in winter if it doesn't produce? Adding size to arrays might help but still, if fixed angle, at some point you will lose productivity. If tilted to 60 degrees for winter output, then in summer, the output will decline. Maybe the answer for fixed tilt is to make the angle more conducive to winter output as there are more daylight hours during summer. The best solution really is adjustable tilt, although many will argue to simply add more PV but with limited space such as an RV, you can't do that.
I just added power tilt panel mounts to my RV this winter. i got almost 50% more amps at the beginnig of January. I have 200 watt panels.
 
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