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  • Solar System for camping trailer

    Hi All,

    Looking for a bit of advise on my solar system for my camping trailer.

    I will be adding a rack to fit ontop of my trailer and intend to add the panel to the rack and the following in trailer.

    1x250w 24V Solar Panel
    1x Isolation Swith
    1x 20AMP 24V Controller
    1 x 20AMP Breaker
    2x 12v 100AMP (24V System)
    1 x 40AMP breaker
    1x 500W-1000W Inverter
    1 x 20AMP Breaker
    1x 24v stepdown to 12V (For any 12v items)

    Do the fuses seem right?

    Any input would be helpful!

  • #2
    Don't buy ANY of this until you know how much power you intend to use, and for how long each day. In addition, you'll want to know the solar-insolation hours of the places you visit to help ensure you will get an adequate recharge for the battery. These hours are far different than just sunrise-to-sunset hours, and can be found in online charts. Using the lean winter month values is the safest bet, even if you are visiting in the summer - gives you headroom for poor summer days ....

    One vital tool to find this out is a P3 International Kill-A-Watt meter for ac driven stuff. A clamp-on dc ammeter is handy for the dc stuff obviously.

    If you don't do this, then all of the above is very likely to be wasted in either total overkill or total underkill, blowing the solar budget, or limiting you to just throwing stuff at the wall to see if it sticks. Very expensive working a solar project backwards like this.

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    • #3
      No nothing is right. There are no fuses required between the panel and charge controller. A 1000 watt Inverter @ 24 volts requires a 50 amp fuse. As PN stated DO NOT BUY ANYTHING. You have no clue what you are doing or how much power you will need. Example there is no such thing as 2x 12v 100AMP (24V System) That is baby talk jibber jabber. With a 250 watt panel can only support a 250 watt Inverter. There is so much wrong in your design, there is no need to discuss any of it as it would be a waste of our time. One thing you do not even list which is a MUST HAVE is a Generator. Any why on earth are you running 24 volts on a 12 volt RV system. Like eI said so much is wrong, it is laughable.
      MSEE, PE

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      • #4
        Sunking, the fellow is here for advice, not to get his neck chopped off. You and i know there is an expensive learning curve with solar, And now poor Mr GT2016 feels like he stepped in front of a locomotive. All of what you said is true, and I know you are trying to save him from making an expensive mistake.

        It's best to measure and calculate in Watt Hours.
        Batteries can hold so many watt hours, (12V x 100ah= 1200wh, 6v x 200ah = 1200wh)
        Appliances consume watts over time, so a 20 watt halogen light for 3 hours = 60watt hours
        Panels produce 80% of their rated power, for the number of hours they are properly aligned with the sun, Alignment off = much less power harvest
        Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
        || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
        || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

        solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
        gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Mike90250 View Post
          Sunking, the fellow is here for advice, not to get his neck chopped off. You and i know there is an expensive learning curve with solar,
          Point taken and that is what I am trying to prevent. As you can see none of his equipment list makes any sense. To start with he needs a 12 volt system for a Camper or RV. Adding a 24/12 converter is just plain wasting money and power. Isolation Switch I have no idea what he is talking about as no Isolation switch is needed. To his question about fuses is completely wrong; None are needed between panels and controller.

          My bet is if he takes the power audit, the very first step that has to be taken, he will quickly discover he grossly undersized everything and will fail wasting his money. That is what we see 90% of the time here. You canno tjust throw somethingg together and expect it to work. It is very clear he just threw a part list together and hope it works. It will not work.

          I do not care he he likes what I say or how I say it, but in the end if he takes our warning will be very thankful we saved his money. I could careless about the rest. To be PC, if he does not heed our warning, does it anyway, he is Intellectually Challenged and deserves what he gets.
          MSEE, PE

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