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Solar panels

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Ok, so I didn't go down the path of calculating the power draw of my setup and the input voltage from the panel. Just spent 30 minutes doing a trial. Its mostly cloudy here in Indiana today, I went to the roof top parking garage, turned off the truck and to really tax the battery I turned on my Ham Radio, Scanner, CB Radio, FM Radio and charged an iPad. It took 25 min to go from 12.4v to 11.5v and that was with basically no direct sun exposure. I will do the test again on a full sunny day. Once I turned everything off it went from 11.5v to 12.9v in 5 minutes. In the long run I'll get a genesis dual batter setup and then with the solar panel you should be good for a long time with no sunlight using devices internally.

you can see from the video of the voltmeter the few times the sun popped out the voltage jumped even with everything on. for the price of the solar setup its worth

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The previous owner of our camper had two of the Renogy 100w panels on top. He said he had good luck with them aside from the lack of sun in western Canada.

I plan to do the same setup and the last week have actually been looking at not jus tthe panels, but the rack setup I'll need, and whether I'll be plumbing it directly to the main battery or if I will get a second battery. In time I will for sure, just not sure I want to drop the coin on it just yet.
 
Wow this is great info! Anyone have any experience with Goal Zero foldable panels? I'm not looking for anything too gnarly, just enough to power up camping stuff and not drain my battery doing it while the truck is off. Their stuff seems good but just curious if anyone has their products in their build?
 
onwrrds said:
Wow this is great info! Anyone have any experience with Goal Zero foldable panels? I'm not looking for anything too gnarly, just enough to power up camping stuff and not drain my battery doing it while the truck is off. Their stuff seems good but just curious if anyone has their products in their build?
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I have some buddies that have a goal zero foldable panel and a battery system. It works well, but the main problem I saw with it was that in only came out when parked at camp. Meaning early morning, or late afternoon sun, so not the best times to charge. If you spend days at one spot it could work better, but moving every day it didn't seem to work out as well as they planned as it was only out for a few hours of poor sunlight and was a chore to constantly top off the battery.
 
Curious if anybody is using lithium batteries? More expensive but way lighter and supposedly 1 battery will do the same work as 2 or 3 equivalent sized AGMs due to the ability to cycle to around 90 percent of their rated amp hours?

Sorry not trying to hijack the thread :)
 
Mr. Nobody said:
I have some buddies that have a goal zero foldable panel and a battery system. It works well, but the main problem I saw with it was that in only came out when parked at camp. Meaning early morning, or late afternoon sun, so not the best times to charge. If you spend days at one spot it could work better, but moving every day it didn't seem to work out as well as they planned as it was only out for a few hours of poor sunlight and was a chore to constantly top off the battery.
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Got it, yeah that makes total sense. I tend to stay at a spot for a couple days and could potentially leave it out all day some days, so it might be the right setup. I'm more concerned about build quality to the panels. I've heard a few people say they are kinda cheesy and break while carting them around places.
 
onwrrds said:
Got it, yeah that makes total sense. I tend to stay at a spot for a couple days and could potentially leave it out all day some days, so it might be the right setup. I'm more concerned about build quality to the panels. I've heard a few people say they are kinda cheesy and break while carting them around places.
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I didn't see any issues with the build quality. They still have the setup in fact. No issues so far.
 
Check out the Dometic PLB40. Have been using it for over a year with outstanding results. It charges via 12volt outlet while driving and while in camp it will power my fridge and recharge devices for three or four days. Thought a solar panel would be needed, but have not needed one.
 
Where are you guys mounting your charge controllers? I'm in the process of setting up my dual battery system and was thinking of mounting the controller on top of the fuse box.
 
I use an Bugout 2.0 solar panel from Overland Solar. It folds up into a nice compact package and offers a very effective charge. It charges a secondary 200ah battery in my camper through an MPPT controller. I really like the fact that I can place the solar panel up to about 50 feet away from my truck so I can have the truck parked in the shade and still have the solar panel working to full capacity.
 
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