Yes Bryan, I am very happy with my PVSolar... enough that I want some at home for when I get old.
for a good install... to recap the thread
use higher voltage panels... ie, 22V
mount them for air circulation all around them
use a MPPT controller
proper size wiring
shortest distance possible between the PVPanels and the controller...
AGM batteries
attention to detail
...................................
something to think about...
1) mounted permanantly on your roof they are secure and ready for use all of the time. Just flip a switch or like me, just let them do their job 24/7... they will be working while you are sleeping.
I do not recommend the following.
2)If you choose to set them up detached along side your TC as needed:
They will be easily stolen... and probably untraceable.
You won't bother to use them most of the time, TC people boondock and need to use them to 100% of their potential... 24/7
You won't set them up at 6am
You can't leave them connected when you leave your TC for the day... theft problems again
For efficiency... the wiring is substantial... you can't use small size/light weight wiring without a bad voltage drop.
And of course you'd have to store them... 100W PVPanels are big.
Thanks for asking... I took the liberity of moving it around a bit!
I looked into it... while I think that 6 months out of a year might make it a home I'm not comfortable claiming 3 months. I got conflicting answers from different sources.
If I had added more than 2 panels it might be worth it.... legal bills even if I won would still be more than the value of the tax credit.
Another consideration... a tax credit is an offset based on taxes paid on "earned income" As a 65 year old plus retiree my income was from SSA, pension, (and 401Ks and IRAs were on hold)... we enjoy a very good living but we had nothing earned in the year that we installed the PVSolar. (Now that I'm past 70.5 years old I have to take a "Required Minimum Distribution" from my IRA... which is earned money from my work years... that I now have to pay income tax on... if I were to add PVSolar or any other energy system now I'd give it a try... and I think that I'd get it.
An interesting obsevation:A couple of weeks ago I reset my Trimetric meter (per instructions in the manual that came with it).
My solar panels charged the batteries to 100% at 14.8 VDC (remember the optimas can be charged at 14.8 VDC)
Last weekend we visited a fellow TC owner on the north side of Pensacola, Fl and I continued to use my batteries to operate my campers systems and used about 20% of my batteries capacity.... after dark I plugged in to his shore power... and checked the trimetric before day light... it was only showing the batteries at 98% capacity at peak(my campers battery charger will only put out 14.4 VDC)
After the sun was shinning it only took a few minutes of the solar panels 14.8VDC to raise the indicator on the Trimetric to 100%
Hi Sleepy,
What values have you selected for the P1 (charged voltage set point) and P2 (charged set point amps) for your Trimetric? Do you have a value set for P14? Do you know the temperature of your batteries when you made your observation?
Like you, I have choices for charging.... an inverter/charger and/or a solar controller (both have all the goodies: 3-stage, programmable, temp comp, blah, blah). To make things even more interesting, I have 2 charge profiles programmed into the solar controller (one does bulk/absorption/float and the other only does float).
I am trying to understand the "best" settings for the Trimetric to give me useful estimate of battery SOC, regardless of the charge profile I have selected, within reason, of course. And all this without it having any information about battery temperature.
Both charge sources are set to absorption charge at 14.7 and float at 13.6. Both have a temp compensation of 24mV/ºC. I'm currently using 14.40V for P1, and 6A for P2 (capacity = 300Ah). My P14 is still at the default value (0.0hrs).
With rising fuel prices and dropping solar panel costs the break even on solar vs generator use is quite a short time frame. Solar does make economic sense if you boondock.
With rising fuel prices and dropping solar panel costs the break even on solar vs generator use is quite a short time frame. Solar does make economic sense if you boondock.
This is true if you figure the generator at the expensive end of the spectrum, i.e. Honda/Yammy, not quite so true for the majority who tend to buy the cheaper "noiser" generators.
Follow me as I full-time the Redneck Way at The Journey of the Redneck Express CBChannel 17Redneck Express '1992Dodge W-250 "Dually" Power Wagon - Club Cab Long Bed 4x4 V8 5.9L gashog w/4.10 Geared axles '1974KIT Kamper 1106 - 11' Slide-in
msiminoff wrote: Hi Sleepy,
What values have you selected for the P1 (charged voltage set point) and P2 (charged set point amps) for your Trimetric? Do you have a value set for P14? Do you know the temperature of your batteries when you made your observation?
Like you, I have choices for charging.... an inverter/charger and/or a solar controller (both have all the goodies: 3-stage, programmable, temp comp, blah, blah). To make things even more interesting, I have 2 charge profiles programmed into the solar controller (one does bulk/absorption/float and the other only does float).
I am trying to understand the "best" settings for the Trimetric to give me useful estimate of battery SOC, regardless of the charge profile I have selected, within reason, of course. And all this without it having any information about battery temperature.
Both charge sources are set to absorption charge at 14.7 and float at 13.6. Both have a temp compensation of 24mV/ºC. I'm currently using 14.40V for P1, and 6A for P2 (capacity = 300Ah). My P14 is still at the default value (0.0hrs).
Any insight would be helpful.
Cheers
-Mark
I maintain my batteries at the near optimum 77ºF/25ºC (my batteries core temperatures were 74º and 72.6º during the day on monday... I let them be... if they'd dropped below 70º I'd have warmed them. We are having a cool snap here at the beach and I'll be even more vigilant.
I set the charge at 14.8V for 150AH....
We would never use 50% (75AH) before charging... being set up with Leds, etc and the platcat we seldom use even 30%.
As far as the other comments... and the other similar comments made earlier in the thread often by the same people...
Looking at the value of solar power or any thing about owning RV's...
PVsolar only has value if you use it... but then truck campers only have value if you use them many, many nights.
Tonight is out 981st traveling in this truck camper. ( I wouldn't own one to use only a few weeks/year average.)
Our batteries are at 100% charged by noon about everyday... thats awsume
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