Debunking Solar Myths?

[akrvbob]

I've been boondocking for 8 years and every one of those years over half it was in the forest, either the Sierras, Rockies or Arizona. For 7 of those years I've had solar AND a Honda generator.

I got tired of dragging the Honda around so I sold it this year. I haven't run it for my use in a year or two. The only time it ran I loaned it out to friends so it gets run periodically .

I've never read Bob, but the quotes I've seen posted here were mostly wrong, and sometimes really stupid, so I don't have a good impression.

It doesn't matter, everything has changed with the huge drop in prices and companies like Renogy offering cheap but quality kits. Today you can buy solar so cheap that (unless you live in the very few places in the country where it doesn't work well) you don't need a generator.

More important, you don't have to even understand it. Just buy a Renogy kit, install it properly, and you're done. If you're batteries aren't getting 100% charged every day, either conserve and use less power or buy another kit, repeat until you are swimming in power.

You don't need a solar guru, just get help with the choice of system and install here, call Renogy and buy the most solar you can afford, and you're good to go.

If you want a better, high end system, call Northern Arizona Wind and Sun and buy the most you can afford and you're good to go.
Bob

 

[lterry]

The entire issue with living off lead acid batteries is they must be fully charged regularly, as often as possible, and stay as close to fully charged as possible, for as long as possible, whenever possible, and 99% of people can't be bothered to do anything more than look for a green light to determine if the battery is actually fully charged.

Achieving a full charge takes time, at absorption voltage.  There is no way around this.  ALL charging sources do not hold absorption voltage for long enough, unless they can be programmed to do so, or are manual chargers which must be monitored. 

 Ideal absorption voltage and duration at which it is held is a moving target, depending on the specific battery, its temperature, and the depth of its discharge, and how long it has been since the last equalization charge or an actual true 100% recharge.

Getting to absorption voltage earlier in daylight hours via solar has a much better chance of allowing absorption voltage to be held long enough to actually fully charge the battery, before the next discharge cycle begins.

Any process/method/technique/product which allows the batteries to reach ( the correct) absorption voltage earlier in the day is going to make for happier batteries, which perform better for longer.

A battery as it ages is like a gas tank which keeps getting smaller.  Eventually that gas tank is going to get too small to meet the user's needs.

When the gas tank is still big enough, the user declares everything 'just fine'.  It is 'just fine' until the day it is not, and for most this happen unexpectedly.  One day it is just fine, then next day it is not.  This can be a big deal, or an event barely worth a shrug, depending on the user.

If/ when the batteries fail to meet longevity expectations, then the user either blames the battery, or very Unhuman like, they realize their charging regimen/equipment/ knowledge was lacking in the first place, and perhaps try and remedy it.

I've not read Handybob's rant in a long while, What I took away from it years ago was to use a higher absorption voltage, use fatter wire for less voltage drop, and move the charge controller closer to the batteries, again for less voltage drop.  All very logical and does not break any laws of Physics.

All of these take aways effectively recharge the batteries better, allowing them to perform better for longer and yield a better $/Cycle ratio.

Not having a solar charge controller which allows one to change absorption voltage......unideal.
A plug in charging source which prematurely drops from absorption voltage, is a 5 fingered prostate exam.
Thinking 95% charged is good enough, has one's gas tank shrink much faster than one who gets to 100%

What gets 12v lead acid battery newbies into trouble is the belief in blinking green lights, that when a voltage regulator/charge controller/ automatic charging source drops from absorption voltage to float voltage, that this means the battery is fully charged.

It does not mean the battery is fully charged, it only means absorption voltage was held as long as it was programmed to do so.
  The blinking green light mocks any human who believes it.  Faith in the green light is supremely ignorant, unless one can actually test it and verify.

With a hydrometer on a flooded battery, or with an AGM battery, when amperage required to maintain absorption voltage decreases to 0.5% of battery capacity. or .5a amps per 100Ah of capacity.

This is the only way to actually know when the battery is full.  

Thank you! I understand a little bit better now. I'm getting there.

 

[ccbreder]

Greetings, Bob. you should at least read otherBob, before you condemn based on a few out of context quotes. I find every blog has incorrect information. The other Bob qualifies his by stating the advice is how it worked for him, not how you should do things period. He also talks about the poor workmanship he finds from other experts. Those details are well worth noting as problems can be universal.

 

[akrvbob]

I'm not contemning him in any way, just saying what little I have read of his didn't leave a good first impression. He may be superb and I've only read the few things that aren't. But I still don't have a good first impression.
Bob

 

[accrete]

: )
I've enjoyed _both_ Bob's posts.

And have followed the _other_ Bob's blog on solar for some time. I think he has lots of usable info. As others have noted, I too think his style can be a bit over the edge, but once I got past his style I was able to glean usable data.

There is no solar in any of our current rigs as I've not really found the ideal setup that would allow for timely payback on solar for our use in the thick woods of the PNW. We like our shade! So far our small 110ah AGM bank filled our modest needs. In a typical 5-day-between-charges adventure (we go into town for laundry and food) we usually use about 25 to 35 ish ah. Easy on the bank.

YMMV, but shade is shade.
Thom