Solar Finished

[SLO]

This is the first weekend camping since finishing my solar install on a 2016 Bighorn 3685RL. I am very happy with the results. 6 Renogy mono 100w panels at 5.29A Imp. That should equal a little less than than 32A max in full sun. I am getting 15A on a foggy California coast day. Later in the day, when the sun came out about 3pm, I was getting 34+ amps. There was no problem replacing the 100A I used the nite before. I just like a kid with a new toy. This is great.


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[jbeletti]

Thanks for sharing. Maybe you can add some pics of your install here.

Ken and Kathy Adams (kakampers) also just completed their solar install and did some boondocking in AZ with it. They're loving it.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Glad to hear your solar is performing perfectly. We would like to see pictures of your project.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

So you have all 6 panel, wired in Parallel?

Are you using a MPPT controller?

What is the amp going into your battery?

 

[SLO]

Panels are every two panels in series, then each set of two in three parallel strings. 12v panels, three strings of two in parallel = 24v. Not sure if I said that right, oh well. Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 charge controller. Magnum MS2812 inverter/charger. Renogy RND-100D solar panels. 4 Instate golf cart batteries form Costco. I must say that Brazos's solar install post was a tremendous help. Here are some pics.

 

[jbeletti]

Wow - that install looks nice and clean!

 

[rxbristol]

Beautiful.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Ye really nice work and all of your cables & bus bar's came out nice.

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[Oregon_Camper]

OK...first off...WOW...you're setup is VERY impressive. Care to come to Oregon clean up my system?

How did you wire/configure this solution back to the RV to provide AC power?

Finally, I need help from the members here, who CLEARLY know more than I do. When I do the math on your setup, I get a final result of 17.7 amps, 24 volts and 600 watts.
* 6 100 Watt - 5.9 amp - 12v panels.
* 2 panels wired in Series would produce -- 200 Watt, 24 volts, 5.9amps (total of 3 sets created from 6 panels)
* Wire those 3 sets in Parallel and you would have -- 600 Watts, 24 volts and 17.7 amps.

Question....am I calculating that correctly? So, I'm guessing your MPPT controller is converting the 600w to additional amps, when your batteries need it.

I am in the process of trying to plan my system for AC. I did all the solar last summer and my project this Summer is to install a transfer switch and a GoPower Pure Sine Inverter.

 

[Brazos]

SLO you have a very neat install. You will not regret the solar. I used a Morningstar charge controller on my previous install. They are very good and no problems. Keep harvesting those rays.

 

[Bones]

That looks real good.

 

[Diamondjim]

SLO very nice install. I intensely dislike folks who do such nice work (hate is too strong a word)!

The pictures ARE worth a 1000 words. Don't believe I'll ever venture in the solar direction, but that is a great installation. Enjoy!

 

[BLHFUN]

wow!!! Very nice install SLO!!! Very nice!

And Look - Heartland found a Label Maker for the switches..

 

[Dennyha]

Is that a 2 battery box, or a 4 battery box? Looking for a 4 battery box, but they're hard to find. I will probably have to build one from acrylic sheets.

 

[Bogie]

Very clean installation. Something to be proud of.

 

[SLO]

Thanks for all the nice comments. To answer some of the questions. My 2016 bighorn came with a Progressive Dynamics AC breaker panel, model PD5500. Progressive dynamics makes another panel, PD55K006, that is the same physical size as the PD5500. The PD55K006 has a sub-panel built into it. I ran power to the inverter, Magnum MS2812, from one of the main bus bars. Then back to the sub-panel bus bar. The MS2812 has a transfer switch built in. Biggest advantage was not having to find another place for a sub-panel. The Morningstar mppt controller does convert the 24v down to 12v and increases the amps. You can decrease the wire size from the roof by doing this, but I used 4 awg from roof anyway. The highest amps to the battery over the weekend was about 38 amps. My wife was using the hair dryer, which draws about 41 amps, and the panels were just about keeping up with the hair dryer usage. Battery box is for 4 6v golf cart batteries from Century Plastics, http://www.allbatterysalesandservice.com/browse.cfm/4,5576.html. I had to add the top and bottom vents on the box.

 

[dave10a]

How did you secure them to the roof to withstand the wind forces?

 

[SLO]

Amsolar rocker foot mounts and I got the lilting arms as well. Amsolar combiner box on roof also.

 

[dave10a]

Amsolar rocker foot mounts and I got the lilting arms as well. Amsolar combiner box on roof also.

That's fine, but how did you secure the Amsolar foot mounts to the roof. I had to install unistrut on mine because the roof is 1/8 inch luan on foam with 48 inches between the cross members. Using well nuts is not strong enough to with stand the wind forces that can occur.

 

[SLO]

Double sided tape and screwed to roof. You're right, roof material is not very thick. Mine is 3/16" over foam. I am not too concerned about it, maybe I should be. The air conditioner and roof vent cover get more wind force. The roof vent covers are especially flimsy. Others, that I know of, have not reported panels flying off roof and Amsolar has installed many of these. Time will tell.