Solar Upgrade. April 18, 2017, 11:38:13 am I'm considering a solar upgrade to my 2002 31foot LD.Currently I have the factory single panel system.I would like to upgrade to 3 165 Watt Mono Crystalline High Efficiency Solar Panels for a total of 495 watts.Would I need to upgrade my inverter controller and heavier gage wire.Please advise.Thanks!Mark
Re: Solar Upgrade. Reply #1 – April 18, 2017, 12:54:01 pm So, you're eliminating the factory panel, it seems - probably good unless you match the new panels with the old for open-circuit voltage. With 495W, you'll need to handle about 50 Amps, and the oem solar charge controller isn't very good anyway. Probably look at the Blue Sky controllers with MPPT. You will want to upgrade the wiring from the panels to the controller as well - voltage drop is significant at those currents, and is a bigger factor than simply how much current the wire is rated for. Current output from the controller will exceed that from the panels, so appropriate wiring and fusing must be chosen for the run to the batteries/converter.Steve 1 Likes
Re: Solar Upgrade. Reply #2 – April 18, 2017, 01:38:26 pm I agree with everything Steve said. Also worth considering: is your house battery bank big enough to store all that power?A common rule of thumb when sizing solar power setups is "one amp-hour of batteries per watt of solar panels." The stock Lazy Daze battery setup in 2002 was a pair of Trojan T-105s, for a total of 225 amp-hours when new (and less as they age). Your proposed setup will have more than twice as many watts as amp-hours. If all those watts of solar panels mean your batteries are fully charged by noon, then the solar power generated for the rest of the day will be more or less superfluous. The rule of thumb I quoted isn't written in stone, of course. If you're a night owl, you may want more batteries in order to get you through the wee hours, whereas if you live in an area with cloudy skies (e.g., the Pacific Northwest), you may want more panels to make up for the reduced amount of sun. Perhaps you've already taken this into account. But if not, you might consider either adding more batteries, or scaling back the wattage of your solar array.In any case, as Steve pointed out, you will definitely need heavier-gauge wiring and a modern MPPT solar charging controller that can handle the increased power. The rewards will be worth it, though! 1 Likes
Re: Solar Upgrade. Reply #3 – April 18, 2017, 02:10:00 pm "Probably look at the Blue Sky controllers with MPPT"Is there model Blue Sky controller you would recomend??
Re: Solar Upgrade. Reply #4 – April 18, 2017, 04:36:30 pm I would call Blue Sky and speak with a knowledgeable rep. They know their systems and how to optimize panel, controller, and storage for what you want. Morningstar is another top brand, so check with them as well. Note that you will never actually see 495W from these panels, as the ratings come under lab conditions not duplicated in nature. Most top controllers will limit their output current so as to not exceed their rated current.Steve 1 Likes
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Topic: Solar Upgrade. (Read 229 times)
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