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Post Info TOPIC: Portable Solar Panels


Veteran Member

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Posts: 27
Date:
Portable Solar Panels


Gday fellow vaners, Iām sure these questions have been asked before but Iām really after a current indication of what is available in the way of portable panels. Like the rest of you Iām after the most bang for the least amount of buck but will make adjustments where prudent to do so. Iām running 2 panels on the roof of the van that give me 160 watts total through a standard Jayco PWM controller into 2 135 ah Gel batteries. We donāt run a genie and really not interested in doing so. We run the usual, TV Led lights, pump, gas, fridge and hot water. Not big users, and yes we charge a couple of phones. Iām thinking of adding a 200 watt portable panel and Iād like to know if any of you have bought recently and got a good deal. Also would like to know if I should buy with a controller if itās own or upgrade the van unit to a MPPT and put the new portable panel through that as well? Iām going to enjoy your replyās and thanks for the help.

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Member

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Date:

From my experience, I had 350w of panels on the roof with the Jayco PMW controller.
When I attached the 160w portable fold out panel, anderson plug direct to batteries, with it's own PMW controler, the Jayco PMW controller reduced it's charging by about 2/3 amps, mid winter, therefor negating adding the extra watts.
Upon returning home I dismantled the folding panel and installed the 2 80w panels on the roof runnning thru the Jayco controller but when parking the van with the door facing southish I get shading from the A/C on the first row of cells killing most of the power out of the extra panels.
I have replaced the 30amp Jayco PMW controller with a 40amp MPPT controller and that has increased the charging amps by 3.
In future I will be parking the van with the door facing north were possible. If I get sick of that I will move the 2 80w panels so their not shaded by the A/C.
I have a mixture of 12v panels but the voltage outputs are virtually the same which is OK to do when hooked up in parallel.
I'm also toying with going 24v with a mixture of series and parallel which will put less current load on the wiring to the controller.

I tried it a couple of days ago the 24 volt string in full sun flat on the roof 200w gave me 11 amps.
But the string that's slightly shaded started at 40voc dropped to 15v completely negating the shaded panels. If I want to go 24v I'll have to move the 2 shaded panels, I have the room but don't have the will at this stage.

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Guru

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Date:

Hi JoeJansmile

I am a bit busy so a quick reply. There is a search function in the blue bar above under the adds labeled SEARCH. Your friendbiggrin

Also go to the sub Forum SOLAR POWER  at the top of this one. There is a lot of discussion on this topic and others too. Buying one or two smaller ordinary panels is usually cheaper than the portables, and the fitted regulators are a crap setup on them as they are in the wrong place as well as the undersize wires.  

To Nurzo, your experience shows that you must avoid shading of the panels as much as you can. Slight shading will kill the output of a panel not just reduce it a bit. Always be aware of that.  

Jaahn 

 

 



-- Edited by Jaahn on Sunday 25th of March 2018 09:44:14 AM

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Guru

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You can run 2 PWM controllers on the same battery and as long as the battery can absorb the additional charging amps the two controllers will add their inputs together and increase the charging current. If the battery is already at the point it can't absorb any more current without the voltage going over the 14.4v or so the control should be set at, then there is no value in adding panels or changing the type of controller because the battery is the bottle neck, not the controller. If the controller you have doesn't get the batteries to 14.4v or better before it starts to cut back the charge current, adjust it till it does or replace it with one that can be adjusted.
As far as using an MPPT controller and adding portable panels into the one controller, unless all the panels are in parallel then it just won't work. If they are in parallel, then the open circuit voltages should be very close to the same and also need to be at least 5v higher than the max voltage you are looking for at the end of the boost/bulk cycle, 14.4v for AGM or Gel, 14.8v for flooded cell and 15.1v for calcium. If you don't have that additional 5v it is quite likely the MPPT controller will not start up at all.

T1 Terry

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Senior Member

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Posts: 175
Date:

I recently sold my 120 watt foldable panels, as they were too heavy.
I replaced them with these from bit_deals on Ebay, and they work a treat!!
www.ebay.com.au/itm/160W-FLEXIBLE-FOLDING-SOLAR-PANEL-KIT-MONO-CARAVAN-BOAT-CAMPING-POWER-BATTERY/273029966185%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648


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2016 Holden Colorado 7 & 2016 Atlantic Endeavour

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