Poor solar pull...

[Imeirish]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I have a Renogy 200 watt solar suitcase direct connected to my Jackery 1000. Its a 200 watt solar panel, but the Jackery says I'm only pulling 115 or so watts. I know I can expect a 10 percent lower or higher output than what it is sold as, but this is not acceptable.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]The suitcase is two 100 watt panels hinged together. From the back, right panel has a ip65 junction box with a single wire connecting to the IP65 on the left side. Then a single wire comes out of that. that wire used to go to the controller. I unsnapped the connectors for the controller and snapped a cable onto it which plugs directly into the Jackery as it already has its own controller. Which is most likely:[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]1) the Jackery is just plain wrong (its only had 3 uses)[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]2) the solar panel is defunct (its brand new)[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]3) the Jackery will only accept this wattage???[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]4) the cable or something else?[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]The specs for the Jackery are 200 watt max and 30 amps. The panel is 200 watts and 20 amps. [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I've tried every angle that the panel can be positioned in. Its supposed to be 15 degrees plus or minus the latitude of the current location depending on the season. Right?[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]This is not my idea of an ideal setup, but I cant do a more permanent setup on the roof until I get my spare tire holder up there. Gets too costly to keep switching stuff out. And it could be months before my rack comes.[/font]

 

[whitewolf]

Hmmm. Your expectations may be too high. I have 510 on the roof and average about half that. And that's in the desert. They are flat though, no tilt.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

 

[Tom_M]

I would say that for this time of year you are doing pretty good. The low angle of sun cuts back a lot on the amount of energy striking your panels even if they are pointed directly toward the sun.

 

[bullfrog]

There are all sorts of variables involved with determining solar panel output. 200 watts is under perfect conditions. I would give Renogy a call but in winter with all the smoke, haze and ash from fires my panels were needing cleaned daily and moved every few hours to get anywhere near 50% efficiency. One reason most people advise you get twice the panel you think you will need in my opinion.

 

[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 end up less than ideal and bring the performance below peak.

 

[barleyguy]

The 200 watt rating on a 200 watt panel is with perfect sunshine, perfect tilt, and perfect temperature. You'll rarely see that in real life. 115 watts is pretty normal for real world conditions, especially this time of year.

 

[MrAlvinDude]

Hmmm....  I wonder where your bottleneck is?

The Jackery 1000 charge port, has a max limit of 200W input.
And an input voltage range of 12V to 30V.

200W at 30V is 6.6 amp.
So perhaps there is a limit of pushing about 6-7 amp, into the battery, no matter how much power you have from the source of the input.


The Jackery input is fitted with a MPPT charge controller, so it should be able to optimize the input charge, no matter what voltage is pushed into the input port, so long as the input voltage range is 12V to 30V.

However, there is STILL an internal  energy loss associated with MPPT charge controller, if they have to boost the voltage seen at the input, up to what ever voltage the internal battery needs.


The specifics says, charging via solar takes 8 hours.  So perhaps this indicates the losses, associated with charging from solar.

1000W / 8 hours = 125W an hour.  So perhaps there is a limit of 125W when charging via solar panels. Even if you have 2 or 3 pieces of  100Wpanels hooked up?

 

[jonyjoe303]

On my 240 watt panel with mppt I get 12 amps in the summer and about 9 amps in the winter. With your 200 watt panel you should get about 9 amps in the summer and 7 amps in the winter, thats in sunny conditions.
I seen as high as 17 amps on my system but that is only for a few seconds and the controller was showing 244 watts being produce but that was when the battery was low and the sun was coming out from behind a cloud.
In summer with sun overhead and the controller at absorb I have seen 15 amps (219 watts) but it only does it for a few minutes.

 

[user 423]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I have a Renogy 200 watt solar suitcase direct connected to my Jackery 1000. [/font]

So is the end result your Jackery doesn't get charged fully?

 

[Imeirish]

The solar output reading in the original post was on a full sun morning. No clouds. And no smoke out where I am. The wind is welcome to follow suit!!! By the end of the day my Jackery is fully charged. BUT that is with me limiting what I'm using. My fridge comes first. The rest doesn't get charged on a pooey day. I just really though that the panel would have pulled a little more than what it is. Kinda seems like paying for an 8 cylinder and getting a five. LOL I don't currently have a regular deep cycle battery to try it with to see if it does any better. And mostly I appreciate everyone's perspective on this. Not new to life in a car, but am not entirely comfy with my new solar stuff yet. Ill take the adventure over being limited by melting ice tho.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]1) the Jackery is just plain wrong (its only had 3 uses)[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]2) the solar panel is defunct (its brand new)[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]3) the Jackery will only accept this wattage???[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]4) the cable or something else?[/font]
 . . .

1) Have you tested Jackery reporting against a voltmeter & ammeter?  You really should have a multimeter and know how to use it (ideally a clamp on ammeter).
2) Have you checked Voc (open circuit) and Asc (short circuit)?  Multimeter again.
3) This is a question for Jackery.
4) Not enough information, need: cable length and gauge.

200W solar panel output is with 1000W/sq. meter of solar radiation.  There are charts that tell average solar isolation for location and date.  Arizona will get about 500 - 700W in November, so 7A is about right.

Also, just because the atmosphere looks clean doesn't mean it is free from light scattering particles.

 

[Psyckosama]

Angle is important. You need to have the right angle and right facing.

 

[Rabbit]

I'd say 115 watts from a 200 watt panel setup is low, but not ridiculously so. I'd double-check my electrical connections and hope for about 130 this time of year.

(The season matters too. Here in Florida at my 1200-watt array routinely generates 1100 watts in summer near noon under a (rare) cloudless sky, but in winter I'm lucky to see 800 under the same conditions. This may in part be due to the fixed angle of my panels.)

 

[Freelander]

On my 200 watt system the most I ever see is 145 watt.

This reminds of the problem with small motors,

There was a lawsuit years ago accusing the Small Motor manufacters, i.e. Briggs & Staton and the rest, of over rating there motors, you buy a 5HP motor you expect 5HP out of it. But when these Motors tested were in real working environments, it was discovered that the rated HP was less than was on the label. This was largely due OHSA, EPA, and how the motors were being installed. To get the rated HP out these motors they were tested in a cleanroom were the environment was perfect. This is why small motors are now listed as CC instead of HP.


Just because the label has a Rated performance stated, doesn't mean you will get full power out of it.

 

[tx2sturgis]

The power coming in tends to reflect what is needed by the batteries you are trying to charge...and depends on the panels maximum ability.

If you want to see if the panels can do more, unhook the panels, fold them up and place them in the shade...then drain the Jackery down to about 20% remaining. 

THEN open and hook up the panels angled at the full sun around noonish. See what level of wattage you get now. It will probably be a bit higher and then slowly taper down to the levels you have been seeing.