Solar Power

[Goldenwingers]

Well we ended up with four 130 watt panels with two Solar Pro CC 20 controllers (one for each pair of panels) with a Xantrex 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter with 100 amp charger and four 220 amp six volt batteries. Butch at RV'S For Less said he had discovered that the new digital
televisions also require a pure sine wave inverter. More expensive but everything seems to like it. Haven't had the opportunity to try it yet but it should get us by as long as we can do without the A/C.

Don

 

[timk]

Smoking system, now I'm jealous. Your going to love the quiet power, and its going to make you nuts first time someone pulls up alongside with a generator. You should be able to sell power to the neighbors.

 

[Pulltab]

Fantastic setup! Once you are using it like timk said, your gonna love it! It will keep paying you back for YEARS to come!

You have a nice solar array now so in the future consider adding 2 more 6 volt 220 amp batteries.

 

[Jim_1899]

Solar Battery Charger

I want to purchase a solar battery charger and wanted to get some suggestions. I need it to keep my battery charged while in storage. Also how to install it.
Thanks, Jim

 

[Jim_1899]

Solar battery charger

Has anyone used a solar battery charger?

 

[jpmorgan37]

Jim, I have one on my Landmark and had one on my Sea Breeze before.

 

[quandee]

Solar

I am thinking of just one panel to keep batterys charged when just setting in storage. Can I install it to charge thru a roof vent power line?

 

[SmokeyBare]

Quandee,

I'd suggest you run the wires all the way down to the battery you want to keep charged.

You should have a charge controller in the line between the battery and the solar panel. The charge congroller will protect the battery from over charging. One more thing would be good is to have a fuse in the line as well... to protect everything.

Some have used the Plumbing vent as a conduit to bring the wire to the basement from the roof area where they attached the solar panel.

By running the wire through the vent... then drilling a hole in the side of the vent pipe in the basement... and fishing the wire through the hole and seal the hole with silicon where the wire coming through the pipe wall. Then you only need to bring the wire to the battery area....

I used the Refrigerator vent to bring the wires down on our BigHorn.

 

[quandee]

Solar

My refr is in the slide so no roof vent, it is side vented. I will do a survey for plumbing vents, see where they end up. The Panel kit i bought has controller with it. It is just a 15 watt panel so i don't think that can overcharge my three batteries ! None

 

[grizzlygiant]

I am thinking of just one panel to keep batterys charged when just setting in storage. Can I install it to charge thru a roof vent power line?

I installed a single 15 watt panel in November and put my coach in outdoor storage for the LONG winter. I checked the batteries (2 x 6V) today (April) after the 160" of snow melted and found them at 100%. Needless to say, I am overjoyed.

Installation was easy since the sewer vent runs through the cabinet at the door where the electrical fuse box is located. I ran the wires from the panel along-side the vent pipe and connected the output of the panel first to the contrtoller then to an empty fuse slot. For long-term storage I pulled the fuses with the parasidic draw components (detectors, micro and TV).