I hve a 120 watt solar panel on the roof of the van with its own controler / regulator. I have purchased a folding 120 panel which has it own regulator on the panel. Which will be the best way to conect the foldig panel using it regulator and on to the batery terminals OR bypass its regulator and feed through the contrller in the van ?
Its better to have any voltage drop in your cables between the panel and the controller than between the controller and the battery. If the lead from the portable panel was supplied with it then it may be a little on the light side. Replace it with heavier cable, remove the controller and route it through the internal controller.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
I think there's probably two schools of thought here as you've no doubt found out .. Its possible that your 'fixed' controller/regulator that is handling your fixed solar panels is quite capable of also handling the increased amps that would be supplied from the new portable solar-panels if you do connect directly to it also .. That Regulator capacity has to be determined first,of course.
As the portable solar-panels already have their own regulator (which has been chosen to suit them), I see no reason why you couldn't connect it directly to the battery as well. You may need to make a 'quick-connect' arrangement so that it keeps it simple to handle.
Think about the ease of using your portable panels .. this may dictate which way you decide to go ..
I'm sure there are more learned folk on here will soon happily give you support too ..
If your present controller is a superior one (I.e. MPPT) and can handle the additional current of the extra panel, then best to use it. The controller that came supplied with panels I bought was very basic and I have replaced it. I have a single 100W portable panel.
I hve a 120 watt solar panel on the roof of the van with its own controler / regulator. I have purchased a folding 120 panel which has it own regulator on the panel. Which will be the best way to conect the foldig panel using it regulator and on to the batery terminals OR bypass its regulator and feed through the contrller in the van ?
regards
terry
You cannot connect two seperate regulated units , the second will only read the volts of the onboard system, in a working mode & there fore will not deleiver a full charge due to a false battery voltage reading. A voltage reading determins the charge rate.
I do what you are trying to do & works well. This is how to do it.
Chech the max amps of the onboard reg, you will need a 20amp to do the job. With good wiring & regs I have seen mine doing 8.75 amps per 120 watt panel.
On your onboard system, fit a length of 6mm twin core wire to the panel terminals, along with the existing wires. Fit a matching plug to the other end. 6/8 mtrs is good to enable you to position portable unit.
On your portable unit , fit a pair of matching plugs [ eg, anderson plugs] to the wires between the panel & the regulator, you still have a fully portable unit.[ dont let these two wires touch when doing this ]
To combine it with your onboard system, disconnect the plugs on the portable & connect the long lead that you connected to the onboard unit to the panel side plug.
This gives you one voltage reading with doubble amps, which is what you need. Now you have a very versatile system, One fixed system, one combined system & one portable system to use on other devices . like car battery,
Cheers;
JC.
-- Edited by justcruisin01 on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 09:53:39 PM
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Be your self; there's no body better qualified ! "I came into this world with nothing , I still have most of it"
Its better to have any voltage drop in your cables between the panel and the controller than between the controller and the battery. If the lead from the portable panel was supplied with it then it may be a little on the light side. Replace it with heavier cable, remove the controller and route it through the internal controller.
Your correct Peter, you'd think that by now the people that put together these portable units would have learnt something.
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Be your self; there's no body better qualified ! "I came into this world with nothing , I still have most of it"
Its better to have any voltage drop in your cables between the panel and the controller than between the controller and the battery. If the lead from the portable panel was supplied with it then it may be a little on the light side. Replace it with heavier cable, remove the controller and route it through the internal controller.
Your correct Peter, you'd think that by now the people that put together these portable units would have learnt something.
They have learned something, how to get away with cheap and nasty and charge a fortune for it.
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If I don't get there today, I'll get there tomorrow or the day after.
John & Irona..........Rockingham Western Australia
Its better to have any voltage drop in your cables between the panel and the controller than between the controller and the battery. If the lead from the portable panel was supplied with it then it may be a little on the light side. Replace it with heavier cable, remove the controller and route it through the internal controller.
Your correct Peter, you'd think that by now the people that put together these portable units would have learnt something.
They have learned something, how to get away with cheap and nasty and charge a fortune for it.
I'll second that.
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Be your self; there's no body better qualified ! "I came into this world with nothing , I still have most of it"
The folding panel we bought was listed as a 120 Watt job, I read the brochure that came with it and it turned out that it would deliver 6 Amps at 19 volts, the regulator dropped this to 6 Amps at 12 volts and thus was a 72 Watt panel.
I put a 20 amp regulator near the battery bay in the van, bypassed thr original regulator, and now get closer to 120Watts. Left the original regulator on the panel and that is handy for charging the battery I use for the motor on my kayak.
Its just a matter of hooking up which lead you need at the time.
-- Edited by Blue Orchid on Monday 23rd of January 2012 10:50:55 PM
-- Edited by Blue Orchid on Monday 23rd of January 2012 10:52:38 PM
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Ford Ranger (with kayak on top) towing a 21ft Jurgens toilet and shower with room for a kitchen, dining and bedroom
If you read my post you will note that I didn't claim to be getting more than the rated 6.75 Amps, the best reading I have had when testing in full sunlight was 6.15.
And yes, my meter has been calibrated recently...
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Ford Ranger (with kayak on top) towing a 21ft Jurgens toilet and shower with room for a kitchen, dining and bedroom
If you read my post you will note that I didn't claim to be getting more than the rated 6.75 Amps, the best reading I have had when testing in full sunlight was 6.15.
And yes, my meter has been calibrated recently...
Hi Blue Orchid
Perhaps I misunderstood your post
I took it as meaning you got near to the 120W output
But I do note you did not give an actual figure as a comparison
If you read my post you will note that I didn't claim to be getting more than the rated 6.75 Amps, the best reading I have had when testing in full sunlight was 6.15.
And yes, my meter has been calibrated recently...
Hi Blue orchid
Perhaps I misread your post as saying you now get NEAR full rated
But I note you while you give 72W as the original you did not post another figure for comparision of output
My 120 watt units were rated at 7.5 amps, the reg & wiring were hopless, threw them away & fitted 6mm with a very good reg beside the batteries & have seen a peak of 8.75amps.
JC.
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Be your self; there's no body better qualified ! "I came into this world with nothing , I still have most of it"
My 120 watt units were rated at 7.5 amps, the reg & wiring were hopless, threw them away & fitted 6mm with a very good reg beside the batteries & have seen a peak of 8.75amps.
Some panels may do a little better than their nominal rated output in ideal conditions. I suspect that these suppliers use the "CYA" principle to ensure their product at least matches up to their claim. I recently purchased an 80 watt fold-up job and my preliminary tests indicate that this may be the case, also the supplier's blurb alluded to this.
