Should I Upgrade my Panel?

[Adben22]

Hello all,  I haven't been able to find a post that addresses the issue I have, So I am going to ask.

I bought a used 5th a few years ago. I am the 3rd owner. I was told that they 1st owner was a master electrician. He made a few adjustment to the wiring, which is ok. everything works fine. It just a lot of stuff I have never had on my other trailers

So..... Installed when I bought it is a panel bolted to the roof, a 30 amp controller in the cabin and a 2000 w inverter next to the battery bay in the front of the trailer. All I know of the system is this. push the button by the TV, it turns green, then a few of the plugs in the cabin are able to put out 120v and the TV and DVD player all work.

I replaced the batteries that I had in there since I did not know how old they were and I was not getting more than 24 hour of light use and they would not recharge just on solar. (Everything is fine if I am plugged in). I put in 4 trojan T-105's new, everything is still working good so I am sure I got that part right.

Its just that when I last boondocked, I was very careful not to use any extra power and tried to conserve as much as I could. Even then, in the morning after running the heat all night, I would be at or below 50% if the controller is to be believed. I would turn everything off and let it sit all day and it would just barely get back to 100% by sundown.

So now I am thinking that since I have no idea of how old the panel is and the controller for that matter, maybe I should replace them with a bigger panel. making the assumption that the panel is a 30 w panel. I need to climb up and check.

So I am thinking that 
1) I need a new panel at least 100W, but wanting to stay with 1 panel if I can
2) Do I need a different controller panel? or can I get by with the one I have. Or should I get a new one, but does it have to be the same manufacturer.

Taking the stuff out and putting new seems simple enough for me to do myself. I just don't want to do to little and or waste money.

I guess what I really want is for the batteries to charge quicker so I am not cutting the edge all the time. I have a small generator for when I am in a pinch. So its not like I want to get it to run for a week without plugging in. This time of year here in the Southwest, I only go to places I can plug in so my A/C runs.

Does any of this make sense?

Thank ahead of time

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums Adben22! You really need to get onto your roof to check your panel. I doubt very much that it is only 30 watts because that small of a panel would not charge your batteries to full in one day even if you turned everything off. Most of us that have RVs and use the furnaces do not run them during the night because the blowers are power hogs. Turn it on right before you go to bed to warm everything up, turn it off and sleep under fleece and down, then turn it on before you get out of bed in the morning.

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[highdesertranger]

RV furnaces are notoriously inefficient, huge energy hogs. the problem might not be with the panel but you just don't have enough battery. couple of questions,

How do you know you were below 50%?
how many watts is the panel you have?
what else besides the heater were you running?

give us some answers so we can help you better.

also there is really no way to speed up the charging if you are at 50% it will take hours to fully recharge. like 5-8 hours no matter how you charge the battery bank.

highdesertranger

 

[Adben22]

Thank you both highdesertranger & rvwandering

The unit of measure I am using is the lights on the control panel and the lcd display on it. It reads in volts or amps, since I don't understand amps I leave it on volts. It would be down to around 11.5v in the morning and would try to get to 13.4-5 in the evening.
They only thing running was the heat/blower. I even turned off the water heater and pump when I was not using them. I did have a single led light on for a nightlight, but nothing else. I even turned off the inverter so I would not spend any energy.

I will get on top and look it over some more this weekend. Heading out in the am to get out of town. I will pay more attention to it. 
But your probably right. More batteries. Just not sure yet how to rig more in that space. But were there is a will there is a way, right.

Thanks again

One more thing, the panel in the bathroom that also shows the level in the tanks would tell me the batteries are full a few hours before the controller panel would. If that make a difference.
I will get the name of the manufacture when I get home.
Do panels wear out?

 

[highdesertranger]

couple of things voltage is a poor way to tell state of charge of batteries.
11.5v is for all practical purposes dead
13.4-5 is not high enough you should be driving the voltage up to the mid 14's
what does your battery manufacturer say about volt settings?
can you post some pictures of the charge controller and the meter that shows state of charge?

even though you may think everything is off it might not be the case.
anything with a pilot light that's on is consuming power even if it's turned off.
if your stereo/TV has any type of memory it is consuming power even if it is turned off
newer RV refrigerators consume power even if running on propane
the propane and CO detectors both use power 24/7 some smoke alarms too.

highdesertranger

 

[whitewolf]

Don't be jumping to conclusions too quickly now. More batteries means you'll need more charging and you don't seem to have enough charging now.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

 

[Adben22]

Ok So I got up on top and I don't see anything that tells me squat about the panel other then it is made by the same company as the controller.  I might have to get a mirror to see if it says something on the back of it, we will see.

So here is a pic of the controller in the cab of the trailer. Like I said, I don't know jack about these and don't know what there is that can be done here. Thats why I posted, Maybe I just need to learn to trim down my habits to make it work better.

I thought I was being frugal, but maybe I need to do more. Again, thats why I came to this site.

Normally when I camp, its plugged in. Because I don't have a generator that is big enough to power my A/C. Even when its cold, and I am plugged in I run electric space heater so that I don't use up so much propane.

What I am looking to find out is this. If my set up is OK, then how can I charge faster? I was hoping that a bigger panel might do the job, but thats just guessing.

Thanks again in advance for the help.

And I see your point Whitewolf. I don't need more charging, maybe, but faster charging for sure

 

[1shemp]

Sounds like you have way more battery capacity than you have panel production.With 400 amps of storage,you should have 800 watts of panels.Good luck.

 

[jonyjoe303]

13.8 volts is trickle charging for batteries of your size. Everyday they have to reach 14.4 volts and stay there several hours to be fully charge. For your lead acid battery (450ah batterybank), you shouldn't drain it below 12.1 volts (50 percent) .

With your controller turn the switch to amps and let us know what it reads at noon when the sun is overhead, that will give us an idea of what size panel you have. For instance a 60 watt panel = 3 amps, 100 watt = 5 amps, 120 watt = 6 amps, 160 watts = 8 amps. The amps reading will tell you how much amps you are charging per hour. The zamp controller you have is a pwm model so its limited according to the specs to the smaller 21 volt panels. With a 100 watt panel it will take at least 40 + hours of solar to put 200 amps back into your battery, over 2 weeks, as long as its not cloudy and your not using the battery.

I think you should upgrade your panel and controller. If you have the room on your roof a larger 240 watt or larger panel and mppt controller will get you up to 12 amps of charge power. The more amps you have the quicker your battery will charge, it will still take over a week to charge your battery if its below 50 percent but its still quicker. If you don't use too much power, a 240 watt panel will easily top off your battery every day to 14.4 volts.

I use to have a 75ah agm battery and a 120 watt panel struggles to fully charge everyday while also running other things in my van. With the 240 watt panel I produce more power then I use but always watch the power I use very carefully at night. Large panel makes a big difference but also requires careful use of power. In your situation, even with a generator it might take several hours (all day long) to fully charge you battery to 14.4 volts and then start careful use of power to keep it above 12.1 volts.

battery SOC chart

 

[Adben22]

Thanks for the tips. I will watch it tomorrow as I travel.

Fyi, that pic is plugged in for 4 weeks, but with the inverter left on. So pulling some power.

 

[Adben22]

Ok, I checked it before I setup. When the controller was set to 14.4, it said full charged, showed 00.5a. Switches it to volts it still says 13.2. Swithedbit back to amps and to 14.7 on the controller, then it shows 75%, charging & 05.2 for amps. Went and got setup and by the time I got back to it it show fully charged, not charging & 00.4 amps. But it is in shade now also and plugged in.

Thanks again

 

[1shemp]

You need more panels.

 

[Adben22]

Agreed, I think I have room for maybe 3, but I am pretty sure I need a new controller for sure.
Any recommendations?

 

[1shemp]

I've had good luck with the 5 EPsolar mppt controllers I have.6 years no problems.

 

[Adben22]

Ok I found this panel on Craigslist locally. Looking to see if anyone has any opinion on it. $300

https://www.lg.com/us/business/solar-panels/lg-lg400n2w-v5#

 

[highdesertranger]

if you are anywhere near Arizona you should check SanTan solar,

https://store.santansolar.com/product-category/solar-panels/

shipping a big panel will kill you but if you can pick it up local you would save a ton.

highdesertranger

 

[Adben22]

Thanks HDR, Seems like I might just have to make a road trip this weekend