How many watts of solar are you running and what kind of batteries?

[Trekking]

How many watts of solar panels are you running and how many batteries are you running ampere-hours? Also do you wish you were running more watts of solar and more batteries?

 

[BigT]

I'm not sure this question applies to me because I'm not living in my van (yet). I just use it to get away on weekend kayaking/hiking trips.
A single 190 Watt solar panel and a single, 12V, 75Ah AGM under the hood in place of the OEM battery.

Do I wish I had more? Not yet. What I have seems to be plenty to run my CPAP for a few days with no issues, but eventually I plan to install another AGM in the back.

 

[jimindenver]

750w of solar and 675 AH of the battery. We have a 230w portable if we need it.

 

[akrvbob]

580 watts of solar in three totally separate systems.

190 watts feeding 2 Full River AGM golf carts ~220 ah Blue Sky controller
140 watts feeding 2 Crown flooded golf carts ~220 ah BZ500 controller
240 watts feeding 2 Trojan T105 flooded golf carts ~220 ah Blue Sky controller

Because they are separate systems, I can choose which system has the most power to draw from so they all stay nearly full all the time.

I'm extremely pleased with it!
Bob

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

200W solar (2 x 100W Renogy rigid panels in parallel)
208 AH batteries (2 x GC2 in series)

I always want more, but so far this has been very adequate for my needs.

-- Spiff

 

[highdesertranger]

I have 195watts solar feeding 2 el cheapo Costco marine batteries. when I go full time I will have at least 600watts soar feeding 4 GC batteries.. highdesertranger

 

[MikeRuth]

Jim and Bob have the juice LOL,
I have two Trojan T-105's being fed by two 10 year old Kyocera 120W 12V-nom panels thrugh a Tri-Star TS-45 PWM Charge controller.
So far this has been good for me.

I plan on running my 6.5hp Shop vac from this through a 1500 Watt Inverter this weekend cleaning up my storage locker. Tested and works well.

Mike R

 

[NickTheoBennett]

Bob - what's the purpose of having separate systems? Did you just buy them piecemeal and that's how it worked out, or is there an advantage?

 

[K1ngN0thing]

100w Renogy panel feeding a 125ah VMax Tank AGM. If money weren't an object, I'd have 300w solar and at least double the battery bank.

 

[akrvbob]

Bob - what's the purpose of having separate systems?  Did you just buy them piecemeal and that's how it worked out, or is there an advantage?

BOTH!

I did buy them piecemeal, my first system was a Kyocera 55 watt panel that probably cost me $300 in 2009. Three years later I added a second 135 Kyocera to it. That system in on my 6x10 cargo trailer now and easily meets all my needs.

I found a great deal on a 140 watt panel and bought it and put it on the van with a complete system so when I took trips in it and left the trailer in storage, I would have power. 

Two years later I found another great deal on the 240 and it was high voltage and the 140 is low voltage so they couldn't be together so another complete system.

Today I'm really glad I did it just that way for three reasons:

1) Redundancy, if a component fails in any system I still have power.
2) Flexibility,  I can leave the trailer in storage and travel all summer in just the van and have a solar system in both. I've done exactly that the last two summers.
3) Batteries last longer, I can shift power around as I need it. If one system is getting too low, I can draw my power from another system and let it recharge.

One summer I was in Flagstaff with a bunch of friends and the monsoons were terrible. We went 3 weeks without seeing the sun. Everyone but me ran totally out of power and were running generators or idling their engines to keep going. I just shuffled power around and kept going just fine. 

I'll say it again, plan your system for the worst conditions, not the best. And, buy all the solar you can afford.
Bob

 

[Willy]

248W (2x64W Unisolar and 2x60W polycrystalline) w. 2x120Ah flooded deep cycle batts. ..Willy.

 

[rvwandering]

We have three 80 watt Kyocera panels. Two of the panels are over 20 years old. We had them tested last year at Quartzsite and they're still working perfectly - no drop in output so we're very happy. We have four flooded Interstate golf cart batteries that we abuse. We usually get four years from the batteries so figuring around $400.00 for replacing them, our total cost is for electricity is $100.00 a year plus the initial expense of $1,000 - 1,500 for the panels. This system is just about perfect for us. We use two lap tops for hours daily, about an hour of Wii exercise games, a hour or so of TV, fans, water pump, battery chargers, and LED lights. We do run a bit short in the winter if we stay put for a week or more but a short drive will put enough charge on the batteries so that we can sit awhile longer.

 

[mockturtle]

Two 100W panels, two 6V Lifeline AGM batteries and a Blue Sky MPPT controller. Even though my 4.3 cu ft NovaKool fridge runs off the batteries the solar output is usually plenty, as I have all LED lighting and use a catalytic heater rather than the furnace. Plenty of charge for my electronics, too. As I recently posted, the heavy smoke in the NW late this summer really hindered the effectiveness of my solar panels [the sun didn't even feel warm and was barely visible even on a cloudless day] but I usually drive enough to compensate for it.

 

[jimindenver]

The smoke is thicker there than what we were dealing with. Mid day we were down 4 amps. When I really noticed it was early and late when the sun was low.

 

[LFM]

Only a part timer. I have 400 watts, with one 12 volt 210 AH AGM. Wish I had two batteries.

 

[66788]

580 watts of solar in three totally separate systems.

190 watts feeding 2 Full River AGM golf carts ~220 ah Blue Sky controller
140 watts feeding 2 Crown flooded golf carts ~220 ah BZ500 controller
240 watts feeding 2 Trojan T105 flooded golf carts ~220 ah Blue Sky controller

Because they are separate systems, I can choose which system has the most power to draw from so they all stay nearly full all the time.

I'm extremely pleased with it!
Bob

Redundancy is the key to success.

 

[66788]

Jim and Bob have the juice LOL,
I have two Trojan T-105's being fed by two 10 year old Kyocera 120W 12V-nom panels thrugh a Tri-Star TS-45 PWM Charge controller.
So far this has been good for me.

I plan on running my 6.5hp Shop vac from this through a 1500 Watt Inverter this weekend cleaning up my storage locker. Tested and works well.

Mike R

Mike, you have good dependable components and a very sound system.

 

[66788]

Two 100W panels, two 6V Lifeline AGM batteries and a Blue Sky MPPT controller.  Even though my 4.3 cu ft NovaKool fridge runs off the batteries the solar output is usually plenty, as I have all LED lighting and use a catalytic heater rather than the furnace.  Plenty of charge for my electronics, too.  As I recently posted, the heavy smoke in the NW late this summer really hindered the effectiveness of my solar panels [the sun didn't even feel warm and was barely visible even on a cloudless day] but I usually drive enough to compensate for it.

Another system that is balanced and made from good components.

Can't argue with what works!

 

[Canine]

2400 watts of solar charging 12 Deka GC batteries for the house.400 watts of solar charging 2 wally world deep cycle batteries for the camper.

 

[ZoNiE]

400W.

3X Kyocera KC130GT panels running nominal 18V in parallel making 390W and a Midnight Kid MPPT charge controller feeding two elderly Interstate GC2's from Costco. I have a fourth that will go on eventually when I decide to remove the unused crank-up TV antenna on my TT. I will then run them 2 series-parallel strings and add two more GC2's when I replace the two I have. That will give me 520W feeding 400 AH of battery.

The extra 10W is a little solar panel for the LED rope lights I put under the trailer for night lighting. It doesn't really count, but hey, 400W sounds better!

I'm really fighting the urge to go 24V for less Vdrop and better inverter choices and safer, lower current wiring. I have done some rudimentary testing with 24-12V DC-DC converters which I can use for the lighting, furnace and HVAC controls, and replace the water pump with a 24V. I may do this when I go to a DC compressor fridge... I'd get a 24VDC charge controller at the same time.

Sucks being an engineer sometimes. :dodgy: