Recent content by picopat

I agree with whitewolf, doesn't seem too far off for a 200W panel. Solar panel wattage rating is declared using Standard Test Conditions (STC) which is basically optimal real world conditions. It's better to think of that as the panel rating it's peak rating. There are many factors that usually...

a year may be a fair estimate but it's hard to say because I started and stopped the build as other parts of life interrupted. We were also downsizing and doing major repairs on the house while the camper build was happening.  The van was first to build and harder to do because of all the curved...

Hello fellow vandwellers! After a year and a half delay We finally completed our build and hit the road about 3 months ago. I was inspired by and got a lot of ideas from van build and tour videos. Hope this does the same for someone else! Van Tour - DIY Stealth van and trailer

Why don't you trust the specification? My experience is any reputable company meets their published spec. Is this for a grid tie system? If you're connecting to the power grid or an appliance that is sensitive to a fraction of a Hz (uncommon) I'd recommend looking at the output with an...

Hi Panda -  I have a 2016 Transit 250 High Roof and I did connect the house electrical system to the CCP. I connected it through manual switches because I only normally only use it to trickle charge the starter battery with the solar system when the van is not going to move for a while. I sized...

I'm not using it but this one is rated 150A peak: https://www.amazon.com/WirthCo-20092-Battery-Doctor-Isolator/dp/B0058SGDFK Your batteries won't accept current that quickly anyway - their max charging current is probably around 30A each. So if you only have a fan and fridge running, and some...

Since your goal is to maximize battery life I think you would be better off looking for a way change the voltage or state of charge your MPPT controller charges the batteries up to. You may be able to set this in configuration options on the controller. I'd read through the manual or reach out...

Hi gwave, As long as you have at least one appropriately sized fuse (probably 10A or less) you're protected from fire risk. In an ideal system you would normally only have one fuse between the power source and the load, refrigerator in this case. Makes troubleshooting easier. But as we piece...

It's ok to connect them in parallel but it is likely that one battery will do most of the work and wear out faster than the other. Before you connect them make sure they are charged to the same voltage to avoid large currents that could occur when the higher voltage battery sends charge to the...

Hi Gr8ful, We're missing two important bits of info to help, what solar panels and charge controller do you have? Determine your panel array max voltage by taking the Voc rating, adjusting for the coldest expected temp, and multiplying by 4. That number must be lower than the solar charger...

It's compact so it only has room for a little, high RPM fan (loud) to get the volume of air it needs. A physically larger inverter of the same power rating and efficiency could use a big slow RPM fan (quieter) to move the same volume of air. Or a really big one with a big heat sink and lots of...

I measured 70% duty cycle on a 12V Whynter fridge operating in my house (consistent room temperature environment). It's dual zone and duty cycle wasn't affected much if I was running both sides as a fridge or one as fridge and the other as freezer. It's probably safe to assume the same duty...

John61CT - is this flooded lead acid? The cheapest AGM I've found so far is about $150 per 100Ah. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Cells and batteries are not the same thing but the terms are commonly interchanged (I'm guilty). LiFePO4 cells are 3.2V and you use 4 in series to get 12.8V. Building it from scratch like this is the cheapest way to implement but you need to know what you're doing. Sounds like you may be...

Hi Anhedonic, When I designed my system a year and a half ago I had my heart set on using lithium batteries but ended up going with AGM after I did the cost analysis. Assuming you're up for the added complexity of safely implementing a lithium system, which I was, it comes down to cost...