Poly + Mono

[Pettibone]

I started off with a 50 watt solar panel then added on a hundred watts to it which gives me 150 Polly Watts. Somebody was offering to sell me flexible mono panels and was wondering if they were interchangeable and if anybody has any guidelines. I am a carpenter and this is all new to me. I am retiring to living in my RV trying to do some traveling but to save on expenses I am looking to upgrade on solar.

[ButchDeal]

Do you currently have your 50w and 100w on the same charge controller or two charge controllers?

[JSchnee21]

Hi Pettibone,

Welcome! Depending on what you are hoping to accomplish, solar is unlikely to save you any money. Planning a sufficiently sized off-grid PV / Storage solution is pretty large, expensive, heavy, and the batteries only last at most 6 to 8 years if cared for diligently.

Are you planning to live off grid? Or just travel around from campground / state park / etc.? If shore power (aka grid power) is available in the locations in which you will be camping, this will be your cheapest, most reliable, and headache free solution.

Most of the "RV style" solar panels are so small (50W, 100W, etc.) and most RV'ers camp in the shade, and pack up an move frequently, that solar really isn't very useful for much more than trickle charging a cell phone or truck battery from time to time.

If you are going to be living off grid, in a fixed location, then a ground mount solar PV system may be necessary. But it will be several thousand dollars (at least) if you are hoping to use it to supply all of your electrical needs.

-Jonathan

[Pettibone]

I am pretty much staying in one place, I am disabled and living in an RV in Southern California. I have 250 watt where's the panels that have a 40 amp controller and I have three batteries now. I only have the two batteries connected cuz I don't know how to do a connect all three because when I tried to parallel it something wasn't working right

[Pettibone]

You say your name is solar fanatic but then you tell me that I'm not going to be able to save much money with solar. If you know anything about solar than you know that they are charging my batteries during the day so I don't have to run my generator to do that. Width 250 watch worth it panels than three Interstate Batteries I'm able to watch my 32 inch TV all night long with my tablet phone and two fans plugged in. That's saved me tons of money of not having to turn on my generator every day. I have the panels at the end of my RV so that way I can park half in shade and back half in Sun. I just close both doors between room and kitchen to keep cool air in the shade. Saved me tons and tons of gas money. Not to mention now I'm able to turn on my refrigerator for 3 hours a day through the solar and turn it on in the evening I have to use as much propane for my refrigerator, again shaving me more money on propane. Maybe you are unaware of my panel system. It's not a Harbor Freight hundred W foldable panel it is 3 individual panels 2 100w and 1 50w panel from Grape Solar through Home Depot. They are properly framed panels. Thank you for your reply but you seem a bit condescending without asking any follow-up questions but thanks anyways.

[Pettibone]

Sorry I didn't realize your name wasn't solar fanatic but that's something else.