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Topic ClosedSolar Panel - Event Date: 12 Feb 2020
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KB7LAK View Drop Down
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Joined: 12 Mar 2020
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Posts: 10 		Direct Link To This Post Calendar Event: Solar Panel
    Posted: 14 Mar 2020 at 10:50am
That was a thorough answer!
I bought some smart batteries that will take a regular charger.
Valence batteries. Yes, 40 amp hours. 2 40 amp hour batteries.
100 watt panels, I just got at harbor freight, and it has a charge controller.
Do I have an inverter or do I need one? I think if I don't need A/C, I can dry camp for a few days with batteries, propane, and solar panels.
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2020 at 11:18am
Originally posted by KB7LAK

That was a thorough answer!
I bought some smart batteries that will take a regular charger.
Valence batteries. Yes, 40 amp hours. 2 40 amp hour batteries.
100 watt panels, I just got at harbor freight, and it has a charge controller.
Do I have an inverter or do I need one? I think if I don't need A/C, I can dry camp for a few days with batteries, propane, and solar panels.

Are the two 40AH batteries you got 12V or 6V?  If they are 12V then you will be connecting them in parallel and will have 80AH capacity. if 6V then they need to be connected in series so you will have 40AH capacity. 

40AH is small for most folks, even though you can use most of that capacity with Li batteries. You should still not use more than than about 80-85% if you want to get long life out of them. So that's about 35AH in practice. 

All Li batteries are "smart" in that they need a battery management system (BMS) to be operated safely. So, be careful to really understand what protections the BMS your batteries have provides. If you overcharge Li batteries they can catch fire. The WFCO charger in your rPod left to its own can overcharge them. WFCO and others make different chargers meant for use with Li batteries. 

The other consideration besides overcharging is excessive discharging. Lead acid batteries can run as high as 14.4 V charging and as low as 11-11.5 V discharging. Li batteries have a much narrower voltage range, so if you have a Li battery that charges up to 14V it will be fully discharged around 12.5-13V. In other words, you don't want to discharge a Li battery to as low a voltage as you would a lead acid one. A battery monitor will help you to track your battery state of charge. They are available pretty inexpensively these days. 

Re inverters, no you don't really need one. You can't run your a/c on battery anyway, it takes waaay to much energy. That leaves your microwave and TV as the ac loads in the trailer as it comes from the factory. You can get a dual voltage TV pretty inexpensively, so that can be run efficiently on 12V. The microwave can in theory be run for short periods (a few minutes at most) from an inverter, but you'd need at least a 2kw inverter for that and a 40AH battery probably can't produce enough current to run it. So if you do without your microwave while boondocking you won't need an inverter unless you add some other ac loads to the trailer.     
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KB7LAK View Drop Down
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Posts: 10 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2020 at 12:40pm
12v batteries. I will connect them in parallel and have 80 amp hours.
I'll use the charge controller that came with the panels.
There's USB ports around, so the kids are ok. The TV may run off the batteries, not sure yet.
80 a may run the microwave. I don't have both batteries installed right now to test it.
I just wish there was better documentation with these things. Who has something?
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2020 at 2:05pm
The standard TV in rPods is 120vac only, you will need to swap out for a dual voltage TV or get an inverter. Here is a dual voltage one as an example but you should get one the same size as your existing one so it fits. 


80 amp hours of LI battery is good for most folks.  It should provide enough current to run the microwave but you would need to buy a 2KW or larger sine wave inverter. Like this for example:


It will draw something like 150 amps from the battery running the micro so you will want to locate the inverter as close to the battery as possible and run at least 1/0 gauge wire to it from the battery, which is big stuff. 

If the charge controller that came with your solar modules is not set up for Li battery charging you should consider very carefully before you use it. Again, lithium batteries can catch fire if overcharged. Proper wire sizing and fuse protection for all the system components is also critical for safety. 

Documentation? There are numerous online resources. For lithium batteries and batteries in general I would take a look at batteryuniversity.com.  That's probably a good place to start. 
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Posts: 24 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 May 2020 at 2:51pm
Anyone tried the 100 watt 20 amp portable suitcase to keep the battery charged? So far seems to be working well, don’t use much other than a few lights, fan, and water pump.
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Posts: 2595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 May 2020 at 3:40pm
We have a 100W panel and it does just fine if you keep your energy use moderate and aren't parked in the shade.
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Posts: 24 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 May 2020 at 5:28pm
Thanks
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 May 2020 at 8:50pm
Welcome from another Virginia based rpoddder. I’m a retired solar engineer and project manager. If you can keep your 100 watt solar module out from under the trees (even partial shade kills performance) and you don’t need to run your vent fan too much during the summer then you should be fine. Where you might run into issues is in the late fall when there’s less sun and you need to run the furnace fan. You can always get a second module if that becomes a problem for you. Have fun!
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Pod People View Drop Down
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Posts: 1088 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 May 2020 at 9:21pm
We also use a 100w Renogy suitcase set and love it.  We have about 35" of wiring that lets us pu th the panels in the sun.  It keeps our 2 6v GC batteries usable for days on end. We are frugal power users that mostly boondock. We don't use the water heater or the AC. We use solar lights (Luci brand) and heat water on the stove, refrig is always on propane. We do have a 750w inverter for charging electronics.

The Renogy system is easy, seems to be well built and is in a very durable storage case. We have used it for 3 years and are happy.
Vann

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Posts: 6417 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2020 at 8:29am
Originally posted by Pod People

We also use a 100w Renogy suitcase set and love it.  We have about 35" of wiring that lets us pu th the panels in the sun.
                                                                                                              ^^^^^
I think you meant 35' (feet) not "(inches) Big smile
The Renogy system is easy, seems to be well built and is in a very durable storage case. We have used it for 3 years and are happy.
Vann
+1 We have not used ours much outside of testing as our camping plans got changed by the current situation. However, it looks like camping in NC is opening back up so I hope we can do so soon. Instead of 2 6V batteries, I now have a single 100A LiFePO4 battery. In my testing, the panel worked quite well. If we do not have shore power, we use propane for those things that need it, to include hot water. I installed a couple of 12V outlets and a couple of USB outlets in our 2016 RP179. I use one of them for my CPAP machine. One USB outlet is used to charge our phones at night. The other 12V and USB outlets (actually, a triple-outlet with two 12V and one USB outlet) gets used for a 12V fan to help circulate air, especially if we don't have shore power and are not running the AC and other miscellaneous uses. I do have a small 100w inverter that is used periodically to run the television (cheaper than buying a 12V TV) and a 350w that rarely gets used. Most often, that is used in the truck to charge laptops while we are driving.

I also installed a Renogy RNG-DCC1212-20 DC to DC charger for the LiFePO4 battery that is able to supply much more power than the Frontier could through the stock 12V supply. I will be able to use that if sunlight is inadequate to charge the battery if shore power is not available also. In addition, if I want to be able to run the AC or the microwave, I do have a generator, but we don't need to use the microwave and if the weather is moderate, can skip the AC also which means we can leave the generator home and save the weight.
StephenH
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