Calling all solar geeks and nerds

Gorgegezzer · Since 14 Jan 2007 67 Posts

I bought the same solar panel PKH and Bettyboarder have. I mounted it flat on the roof. I loose about half the power because it is not tilted up towards the sun. I did not want to have to get up on the roof to aim it. Most of the snowbirds that have panels have 4 or 5 and they get up on the roof to tilt them up. Okay, if you are going to stay put for a while. You also need 4-6 batteries to store the power. My trailler only has two. I am thinking of welding up a larger rack in front to hold two more batteries. You are not going to get all this in / on a small trailer. The solar panel keeps things charged during the day and I run the generator while watching TV in the evening. I can also run the TV on an inverter if running the generater would bother other people. Forget the microwave, it uses too much juice. A propane stove works fine. I only use the micro when hooked up to 110v. Trailers don't hold their value real well, so you can get one that is not too old and nice. Look for ones that have aluminum framing. They are lighter for their size and tow nice. I am now in Isla Bella, across from South Padre Island, in a reasonably priced RV park, hooked up to 110v. Looking forward to a month of sailing.

kitezilla · Since 22 Jun 2006 453 Posts gorge Obsessed

Speaking of South Padre: Nice wind...bet you can't wait to get out there on the waaaaaaaaaathe!!!!

It's days like these that get RVers back on the "grid"...ummmm, the nice warm grid.

Of course, they're talking about "rolling blackouts", so...got any other ideas...maybe something like...gather firewood?

Stay warm. By Sunday, it will just seem like a bad dream.

strapless101 · Since 17 Aug 2009 82 Posts gorge

You just got to be realistic about your needs. Most solar sites can give you a good wattage worksheet, which will tell you the size of panels and battery bank you need. My needs are simple so an 80 watt panel and 2 AGM golf cart batteries keep me powered summer or winter: Laptop, musica, lights, water pump, heater fan, and a compressor (yeah, it does inflate kites). Don't ever have to fire up the vehicle or plug in. In 5 weeks in baja, never once plugged in.
While on the subject, anyone who can afford it should grab those agm batteries. They are simply the best choice for solar setups. You can deplete them 80% regularly between charging (which would kill any "deep cycle/cold cranking" battery out there. research your batteries well, or just grab that insane $75 deal.

Gorgegezzer · Since 14 Jan 2007 67 Posts

Safe to say, no one is out kiting today. I just stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. The trailer steps are covered with a layer of ice. What? This is the same latitude as the tip of Baja! It is currently 29 degrees, with a wind of 21 mph. I did not slip on the ice but instead retreated back inside and opened another Full Sail LTD. I could have bought a season pass at Meadows and would have been no colder. It is hard to believe by Monday it will be in the low seventies and breezy. Hopefully, I will be kiting by then. For now I guess I will just watch some more kite videos. Thanks to all for posting the cool links to some ones.

Gorgegezzer · Since 14 Jan 2007 67 Posts

Safe to say, no one is out kiting today. I just stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. The trailer steps are covered with a layer of ice. What? This is the same latitude as the tip of Baja? It is currently 29 degrees, with a wind of 21 mph. I did not slip on the ice but instead retreated back inside and opened another Full Sail LTD. It is hard to believe by Monday it will be in the low seventies and breezy. Hopefully, I will be kiting by then. For now I guess I will just watch some more kite videos. Thanks to all for posting the links to some cool ones.

bobandlaurel · Since 03 Feb 2011 8 Posts Kook

I'm thinking about upgrading from our one deep cycle to a couple bigger six volts if I can find the room in our cabover camper but I'm worried about over-taxing the alternator when they're very discharged.
We pack our camper on a 2001 Powerstroke and the alternator already has two big batts under the hood to deal with. I'd think it'd take many hours or even days for a little alternator to recharge a couple big golf cart batteries.
Anybody have any thoughts on this?

ericvs · Since 05 Jul 2008 133 Posts Stoked

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6549 Posts Couve / Hood Honored Founder

kitezilla · Since 22 Jun 2006 453 Posts gorge Obsessed

bobandlaurel · Since 03 Feb 2011 8 Posts Kook

Ericvs-thanks for the alternator info-I'm gonna check into that next week.

Fully loaded with fuel, water, food, kids and gear I've got about 2800 lbs left on my front axle and 1900 lbs on my rear before I'm up to Fords GAWR.

The batteries will sit behind the passenger side rear wheel well after I build the box on that side of the camper. They'll be safer and more isolated from the camper than Lance's factory location-under the sink (accesed from outside) in a plastic box.

I'm not sure what you mean about a proper isolator. The factory system was switched at the ignition so no charge was carried to the trailer's wiring harness unless the key was on. I wired around this so I can pull some juice off the trucks starting batteries w/out turning the key on and I can choose to not charge the camper battery when I'm driving home. I control this by simply unplugging the camper from the truck. It works great-the starting batteries are never dead and I'm not running the alternator to death when the camper battery's dead.

bob

kitezilla · Since 22 Jun 2006 453 Posts gorge Obsessed

Bob,

It is great that you are putting that kind of thought into your system. It would be great if you did not have to custom make the battery box, but if you do make one, don't make it out of metal (sparking, when the wrench hits the casing)...and make sure you put the vents, and attached hoses to the outside in the right places...one high and one low, for passive air circulation. I had to make one once, and I made it out of plywood and glassed it, inside and out...the top was made to be airtight, and held down with removable straps and tensioners. You will need to get in and out of the battery box, more than you would imagine, so put it in a convenient place...not burried in a wheel wheel, where you have to pull off the camper to work on the batteries, or to disconnect or pull out the batteries in an emergency.

The factory probably installed a real isolator, and not just a relay, but you can check on that easy enough. It sounds like you wired around what ever it is, with your switch that allows you to connect the starter batteries with the camper deep cycle battery. (I hope you used a relay and big wire with your bypass system.) A simple relay (called a continuous switch, and other names) and a isolator are similar in that they both end up connecting the truck batteries to the camper batteries, but a big difference exists in how they do this, with the isolator being much more sophisticated. The isolater connects the batteries in a "smarter" way... the simple relay just connects them instantly, when the key is turned on, and doesn't care if one set of batteries is totally dead and the other ones fully charged, letting all the current from the charged batteries just slam into the dead batteries, without monitoring the the voltage and amperage levels, and gently allowing a safe flow of current. The worry (if you are a worrier) is with things like wire size and connectors handling the current, without heating up, and unhealthy drainage put on the starter batteries. The bottom line is that on that cold morning, after running the heater all night, where your deep cycle batteries and dead, and your 2 diesel starting batteries are marginal...when you turn the key, an isolator won't let the camper batteries pull down the truck batteries, and your truck will start (and there will be peace in the family). The isolator will then open the circuit to the camper batteries and monitor or "smartly" control the charging of the camper batteries.

I won't get into the difference between "starting" batteries (with lots of thin lead plates) and "deep cycle" batteries (with few and thick lead plates)...and the uses that each are designed to be put to...let alone a lecture on why you shouldn't use your starting batteries for deep cycle use. I think you already know, and that is why you want to put in more deep cycle batteries. I also won't get into the golf cart batteries, versus the 12 Volt Marine batteries... but I bet the battery guy has a lot of opinions on that subject.

Don't take my word for any of this...this forum is lucky to have real experts, who can give you advice backed up by credentials like an electrical engineering degree...or sales experience with auto parts, etc.

I just remembered that you said that you drive home with the umbilical unplugged from the camper. What happens with your camper's brake, signal, back up, emergency blinkers, and running lights, when you do that?

Over and out...and Happy Trails...safety first!

TWIN-FIN · Since 24 May 2006 805 Posts Portland, OR Hot Monkey

You might want to check out a sure power isolator/relay
http://www.shoprvparts.com/product.do?no=13503F&WT.mc_id=gb1
These things ROCK!
Don't take my word for it though just at kitzilla implies, consider everybody on the internet as a Pizza Delivery Boy and a SOLOR expert. Its good to get suggestions and then formulate you own decision/opinion.

bobandlaurel · Since 03 Feb 2011 8 Posts Kook

Thanks for even more info!

Our Ford didn't come with a factory tow package-I bought an expensive one from Ford, installed it and didn't like the way it worked. It doesn't have any kind of isolator (now, after reading your post, I'm worried that I need one). Just a relay, a 30amp blade fuze and the harness. I just wired around the ignition relay and ran an 8 gauge wire back to the tow plug-a 75% larger wire than the one that came w/the factory harness.

I own and operate some heavy equipment and have a lot of crap lying about. I built a dump-truck out of an over-the-road truck, replaced the batt. box in the process, and I'm going to cut that box in half length wise and bracket the two bits to the underside of the cabover. The batteries will be accessible from under my couch when the campers on the truck and from outside when it's off. The only lights on the camper are running lights and they don't work when it's unplugged. That'd be easy to remedy but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Like a switch on the charge circuit instead of unplugging the plug.

This all sounds more involved than it really is. Shouldn't take me more than a couple hours to hang and glass the box and reroute some power. I was just worried about how much extra work the alternator will have to do if I've got a couple giant, nearly dead deep-cycles that I want to re-charge with the truck if I'm driving between kite spots. Aside from not letting 'em get to drawn down too much I think the best option is to plug in-which is a great segue back to the original solar panel subject...

Anybody have any thoughts on multi-crystalline panels vs. monocrystalline? Seems to be a big price difference but I haven't found out much in the way of performance.

thanks again
bob

kitezilla · Since 22 Jun 2006 453 Posts gorge Obsessed

What kind of solar panels should you buy?

I would say: "the kind no meth-head with a wrench could unbolt"

............

Sunshine Crimes

New adventures from the 'no good deed goes unpunished' files

By Juliane Poirier Locke

The latest local green crime? Stealing solar panels. In Sonoma, Napa, Marin and beyond, thieves with enough electronics knowledge to disassemble a solar panel without ruining it are trespassing by night and even by day to rip off panels worth tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Solar panels have been stolen from wineries, elementary schools, homes—even from a church and an organic farm. Is nothing sacred? Welcome to the solar portion of our new green economy.
..............

Geezzzzze...there's always something...like Kermit the frog said: "It's not easy being Green"......the above happened to my friend about 5 years ago, in of all places, Yakima (in broad daylight)...he didn't even notice that the 3 50Watt panels were gone, until he got home, and then his first thought was that the panels blew off the top...but alas, the bolts were all gone.

Sol-flyer · Sun Feb 06, 11 8:14 am

I've been meaning to post on here...
First, check out EcoSolarNow.com, there based in southern oregon and are super great guys.

I've been running 2 deep cycle batts (nothing special) on a 3 x 45 watt panels, and run lights, fans, blasting the rasta on the radio...everything with fairly low power draw and it barely drains any power. Its amazing how much you can power with minimal use.
also, you kiters gonna be going to windy places right? Why not get a wind generator?...easy to make if you got an extra car alternator lying around.

I cant stress enough for everyone to look into renewable resources!