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Solar/Inverter Wiring


DuNe~Rydher
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Thinking about putting a small to medium size solar set up on my new TH..Will be doing most of the work and wiring myself, the only thing i'm not feeling very comfortable with even with all the research i've done is hard wiring an inverter to my CB panel with a transfer switch, so my inverter will run my trailer and my converter will be disabled (not trying to charge creating an endless loop thus draining my batteries)

Anyone know a guy? or reputable shop? I won't trust just anyone for this...Thanks

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I can help with that.

I did 400 watt (100x4) with a sh*tty controller, and a Xantrex 3012 inverter.

what trailer do you have? I see 2007 warrior... I have a 2007 SLC3705.

TO be honest, i'm not sure if would do all the inverter and solar again. I think I would just do a 3k small gen with a remote.

I do have my solar working right now, just need the right controller to complete it.

Edited by Adam @ GTP Off Road
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Adam look into the Morningstar Tristar, its a great controller. You can pick em up on Amazon.

I just picked up a 2007 Fleetwood Gearbox, 39ft, 18.5ft to first cabinet. lots of room on top for panels...i'm not trying to go to big, 300w maybe. I just want my daughter to be able to watch movies at night if she wants and have all lights on without having to run the gen for such a small load. I may just get a portable solar set up..a lot easier. a small gen isn't a bad idea, i'm sure it would be great on gas but still defeats the purpose of not wanting to run the gen at all unless I need the AC.

we'll see, more research to do. Thanks Pete ill give him a call for a quote and i'll be sure to hit you up to Adam when I decide on the route i'm going to go.

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I had 300 watt at first. I only got about 40-50 amp hours a day. Which wasn't enough over the winter months at Dumont. The TV, inverter itself, DVD, takes 4-7. For a few hours that ads up.

I have 4x 6 volts (cheap sams Club) and that would be a minimum.

Now with the 4 panels, and summer, I can make over 100 amp hours. But without running the heater at night I don't use much power. I have all LED lights inside also.

It's all about amp hour use, and storage. Just leaving my Inverter on, no real load is 3a. For 10 hours that's 30 amp hour. So you have to generate enough real power. The good inverters have huge battery chargers that charge fast to help. The 3000 I have is overkill, but it did run the AC for over an hour in an emergency before. The 2k is enough and you just power half of the AC panel in the RV. This works well for me now. I had my inverter freak out and not run my AC properly so I had to bypass the inverter in that AC feed.

I am going to get this controller with the readout part and Shunt, http://www.solar-electric.com/inverters-controllers-accessories/chco/blskyenmpsoc/blue-sky-energy-solar-charge-controller-sb2512ix-hv.html This MPPT controller should help in the winter when you can't generate quite as much power. The Readout will tell me what's going on. Morningstar is great stuff, but I like all the functions that Bluesky offers.

I got all my stuff from WindyNation.com. Everything was good pricing. The controller is a cheap POS, but it works so it guess it's not that bad.

I have had this solar since Thanksgiving and have been messing with it, and looking at numbers, and volts, and amp hours, and dealing with the inverter.

All the wire is EXPENSIVE!!. I have 4/0 power for inverter, and had to run 20+ feet of 6 gauge 4 wire to the inverter.

The system works very well now, and on a full weekend I run the generator for only Microwave use, or some A/C. I always try to keep the Inverter off, and the load minimal though also. I have 3 Volt readouts in my trailer now, Inverter Solar, and one I added by the stereo before I had the others. They all say different, but the crap the provide with the trailer is terrible and not really functional.

I got info.. .and opinions and my experience if you want to talk about the stuff hit me up. I like talking about it. We can most likely do install/ wiring at our shop also.

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I'm using four 120w 12v panels with two series strings in parallel to give me 24v to the controller (Victron 75/50 mppt controller) via 4ga copper feeds. Im pretty happy with it...

Inverter is a xantrex prosine 1800w via 4/0 cables.

I may just add two more 120w panels to just take up the real estate on the roof that is left, but it will be pretty much plug-n-play whether it just leave it at two strings with 36v, or just do a third string @ 24v.

I think ramping up the voltage from the panels is much more efficient then staying at 12v to the controller.

I do have a brand new morningstar 25a sunsaver duo if anyone is interested.

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yep ill most likely be going the similar route as you both. 4x100 watt panels wires series/series/parallel to a converter box, to a Trimetric SC-2030 controller and Trimetric 2030rv battery monitor/shunt. Haven't decided on the inverter yet and when I do i'll def be hitting you up on the wiring Adam! Did you wire in a manual or automatic transfer switch so when your inverter is on, your converter is off? I'll also be doing the same batteries, already priced em at Sams club...4x 6v golf cart batties making over 400ah. I love talkin this stuff.

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yep ill most likely be going the similar route as you both. 4x100 watt panels wires series/series/parallel to a converter box, to a Trimetric SC-2030 controller and Trimetric 2030rv battery monitor/shunt. Haven't decided on the inverter yet and when I do i'll def be hitting you up on the wiring Adam! Did you wire in a manual or automatic transfer switch so when your inverter is on, your converter is off? I'll also be doing the same batteries, already priced em at Sams club...4x 6v golf cart batties making over 400ah. I love talkin this stuff.

Be aware that controller will not allow you to run 24v of panels in series with a 12v system, nor will it allow you to reap more then 30amp (400w/12v-33amps)

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Be aware that controller will not allow you to run 24v of panels in series with a 12v system, nor will it allow you to reap more then 30amp (400w/12v-33amps)

You're right, had to go back and read the manuel online for that controller, it says it supports 24v of panels but has to be matched to 24v battery system. Back to the drawing board lol.

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I'm just doing 12v, with cheap controller. most I have seen is 19 amps, at coral pink a few weeks ago. 400w at full power is almost impossible without sun tracking, you never get full sun on the panels for make full power.

12v system with mppt is what I am planning on doing.

The inverter should have a switch built in to auto transfer for inverter use. I installed an Auto switch to transfer only from Gen power and Shore power. The autoswitch is $100 and it's not hard to put in overall. They need some space and the wire to make it work. Most Newer RV come with the transfer switch for Shore/ Gen. Since the Inverter would have the transfer you would be good. You have to buy a Grid tie inverter, you can't just by any inverter. there is a difference in ground tie to Neutral and not. Take a look at the Xantrex and Magnum inverters. I got the Xantrex 3012 Pure Sine. Pure sine is best for all the electronics today.

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You're right, had to go back and read the manuel online for that controller, it says it supports 24v of panels but has to be matched to 24v battery system. Back to the drawing board lol.

If you want a full engineered drawing with calcs let me know.... 24v with MPPT is really going to be much more efficient than 12v

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Put your inverter close to your batteries, starting with 12.8 it doesn't take much distance to drop voltage to 12.25 which is 50% state of charge and the wire size for low voltage DC is expensive (welding cable) but you can run 120 AC a much longer distance with 12-14 GA wire with lower loss. I have 4 x 100 watt + 4 x 80 watt, 1 Blue Sky Solar Boost 3000i 30 A MPPT and 1 Blue Sky 2000 25 A MPPT controllers, 8 x 6V Costco 220 AH golf cart batteries and an inexpensive 2300W cont/4500W peak inverter through Costco. I went the easiest wiring route without extension cords everywhere, 8 batteries behind front bumper with a 4ft max 12v run to inverter that sits where original tv was in the dash with a powerstrip that runs Satellite, TV, Computer, printer, etc and ran 1 120V feed to Galley wall with 2-3 way 30A switches for Micro and electric water heater option when controllers go to float charge (excess solar power) and can switch power source between Shore/Generator or Solar. That feed continues to the rear of motorhome so I can plug into inverter power for the enclosed trailer. The only time I have to string an extension cord is to run the air compressor or a battery charger for quad, Seadoo etc. Only use the generator after 1 1/2 days of total overcast and no driving. I have an RV evaporative cooler and Olympian Wave 6 catalytic heater (no power usage). Havasu heat is no problem unless a fall monsoon then the sun comes out above 100 deg, then a little uncomfortable but that's what a generator and AC is for. Started with 2 of the original Siemens monocrystalline silicon panels and 25A MPPT then added 2 polycrystalline silicon panels in 2001 and added the 4x100 W poly panels (Costco) and 30A MPPT controller about 4 years ago. With all the panels, 2 AC units, evap cooler, satellite dome, bathroom roof vent and sky light walking is like a sobriety test but shades the roof too. Prices have come down and efficiency up in 15 years.

Edited by RUn2it
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Thanks for all the info, sounds like an amazing set up. There's a lot to learn about this stuff and one would want to make sure it's done right the first time. At this point I'm just trying to figure out my budget for this lol. The cool thing is if wired correctly, its easy to add more panels and batteries later. Thanks for your write up.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

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There's 2 costs, the initial cost of the equipment and the recurring cost of the batteries. For batteries (lead acid traction type) to live a long time the trick is not to discharge more than 50% state of charge. How much is that? 12.25 volts and every time they are discharged more than that you shorten their lifespan. Actually there's a curve based on 12.8 volts and the deeper the discharge cycle the shorter the life. It's not practical to use 12.50 for the recharge point, as the batteries age the charge resting voltage may be around 12.65 so not much useful power to get through the night and most knowledgeable sources recommend 12.25. The best battery type for cost and amp hour life is "traction" batteries, forklift & golf cart lead acid. Realistically if cost wasn't a consideration there's gel batteries that may have a longer life (but more critical charging levels and rates) but if money wasn't a factor one would just run the generator and not bother with solar. I got over 8 years out of the last group of batteries and they still had some usable life left, I doubled the number of batteries and not good to have different aged in a bank.

Costco sells GRAPE SOLAR panels, 100W are $149 shipped currently and the MC4 cable/connectors can be found online for considerably less than the normally advertised retailers offer. Batteries have gone up in price, last I saw at Costco were $89 with a $15 core refundable. The golf cart type have thick lead plates and weigh about 65lbs each so a sturdy mounting place is recommended. Keep line losses to a minimum, larger diameter wire is more expensive but to use smaller is to lose power that could result in using more than your system can replace so either have to change your lifestyle or add panels/controllers/batteries so a little more expense for wire/cables can actually save $. If anyone has questions about this or other RV questions I've full timed in this RV since the year 2000/175,000 miles and have plenty of 1st hand experience and verified the saying "if you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it again". Lee

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