Hi, I'm on a steep learning curve with all this Van power stuff. Anyway I purchased a set of panels (200 wts) to support the two on the roof (2x140 wits). When I connect the portable panels via the regulator on the panels I have no readings on the Watts meter but when I bypass the portable panels regulator I get watts reading to the van. I have contacted my supplier about this but have no answer back as yet.
My question, is the charge collected from the portable panels going directly (not thru the regulator on the panels) thru the van anderson plug go via a regulator before the batteries or am I damaging my batteries?
Regards
Greg G
-- Edited by Salus on Saturday 16th of January 2016 08:24:24 AM
yep, the panels supply voltages all over the place based on how much sun they getting, almost certainly more then the 14 odd volts your battery needs to charge on, the regulator smoothes out the panel voltage and supplies the correct voltage based on how charged your battery currently is.
Short answer, high voltages stuff up a battery so running the panels directly will mess up your batteries, you need that regulator between the panels and battery
Greg, what is this "Watts meter" you are talking about? Is it part of your solar controller or an additional piece of equipment?
If the meter you are looking at is part of the regulator then the regulator is probably being over-ridden by the external array. If the external array is charging at a higher voltage than the set voltage of the regulator (the absorption voltage) then the internal regulator will think the battery is fully charged and stop feeding power to the battery. If the battery is fully charged then the additional power being supplied by the external array will not be doing it any favours. Whether any damage is being done to the batteries or not depends on how long you have been doing it. Desist applying the external array when the batteries come up to full charge, you will note this by the drop in current through the internal regulator.
The regulators supplied with portable panels are cheap and nasty devices. I have not noted any of them being multi stage chargers. They are often set for flooded batteries and not the VRLA batteries. They are mounted at the wrong end of the connecting cable and that cable is generally too light. I would always advise purchasing separate components and building your own more effective set up.
If you supply us the details of your internal solar controller then we can assist with advice about connecting your panels through it.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Lm learning on the fly too. So what your saying is that after the solar panel regulator you need another one before the van batteries? Am l right
Lets say 1 panel is 120 watts another panel 120 watts = 240watts so regulator must be more than that say 300 watts ,
-- Edited by adventure before dementia on Tuesday 19th of January 2016 08:34:29 PM
No, you either use the reg on the portable panels, then straight to the battery, or bypass the reg on the portable panels (which are often very cheap devices), and feed the output of the panels into your van's regulator, in parallel with the panels on the roof. If you have 120W of solar on the roof, and another 120W of portable, you will need at least a 15A regulator. So you would get a 20A reg, which would be the next common size up.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
The solar panels are measured in Watts, the regulator is measured in Amps,
The formula to work out amps from watts is:
Amps = Watts / Volts
The voltage can vary a bit up from the panels but is is safe to call it 12 volts, so 120 + 120 panels is 240watts of panels
240/12 = 20 Amps
So you need at least a 20 Amp Regulator, you can be fairly sure the panels will never perform to their full capacity (unless you on a mountain on the equator) so a 20 Amp regulator will be plenty (and cheaper than a 30 Amp)
Then to agree with Troopy, you need one regulator, connect both panels together with no regulator, then run the combination through a singe (20 amp) regulator and into the battery, preferably mount the regulator closer to the batteries.
I removed the regulator from my panels and moved it closer to the batteries myself but as troopy says if you have cheaper panels you may want to buy a better quality regulator and leave the ones on the panels, just not connected, if they are good panels and therefore a good regulator perhaps or you keeping costs down - and they are 20 Amp regulators, you can remove one from the panels and reuse it closer to the batteries to run both panels
The MPPT reg measures the batteries voltage and from that determines the output.
If you have another reg (van inbuilt reg) after the first reg (portable panel reg), then the first reg will stop all its output as it doesn't see any battery.
Hi Just a few facts Regulators have three rating, Max current & Max input Volts ,required output volts [nominally 12V or 24V] No wattage rating! Panels are rated by Watt, BUT it is not as simple as applying Ohms laws and dividing Watts by Volts to get Amps A typical 12V battery charging panel has: [1]Around 21V open circuit
[2] Around17V @ rated output meaning Watts / 17 so in the case of say a 100W panel the best you can expect in panel output is 5.88 A& that only in bright sun with panel facing DIRECTLY into the sun
3]The Type & quality of the regulator will determine the actual battery charging current
PWM regulators can never give a charge current higher than the panel output current
GOOD QUALITY MPPT regs can give higher Battery charging currents than solar panel output current In the case of a 100W panel & rated light conditions possibly up to 7A battery charging current
In all cases the Amp rating of the regulator should be no less than the possible battery charging current.
100wpanel:"
With a Pwm reg 6A
with a MPPT reg 7A
-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Thursday 18th of February 2016 01:18:48 PM
