Solarflex 200w solar panel-how is this setup?

[Three-redheads]

We have a 2022 Springdale which is solar prepped.

We have a 200w solar panel and two 12v deep cycle batteries.

We are adding a 1200w Aims pure sine inverter with automatic transfer.

As we understand it, we splice the romex loop and hook up to the inverter in and out ports and hook up the battery cables.

Do we need more solar in order to recharge these batteries?

Any suggestions on how to make this setup work better or advice?

[chuckster57]

Welcome to the forum

200 watts of solar may not be enough depending on what your trying to operate on inverter.

[Three-redheads]

Thanks for the welcome!

We are hoping to run the tv, low wattage heaters (500w), keurig, computers, not all at once.

[chuckster57]

I would look into changing the batteries to a pair of GC 6V wired in series and 400 watts of solar. Others will have more information.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Three-redheads

Thanks for the welcome!

We are hoping to run the tv, low wattage heaters (500w), keurig, computers, not all at once.

That load will take down batteries ver rapidly. I know you didn’t say all at the same time but even "some" useful time for each and you will need a generator runninh to keep up.

[Three-redheads]

Originally Posted by flybouy

That load will take down batteries ver rapidly. I know you didn’t say all at the same time but even "some" useful time for each and you will need a generator runninh to keep up.

Thanks, Marshall. We have a generator too, but wanted to get the inverter for smaller things on a short time basis. We are learning that there's a lot more to know owning an RV than just buying it and driving it off the lot.

I appreciate the help.

[GHen]

First you need to redefine small things, a 500w heater is not, because it’s on constantly. A coffee maker may have the same wattage but it’s only on for a few minutes.

Yes, tv is ok, and if used for only a few minutes, a coffee maker or microwave could be defined as small. You will figure it out after the first night when you wake up to dead batteries.

Can you confirm that you have true deep cycle batteries? True deep cycles will NOT say RV/marine on them. 90% of the time that’s what the dealer installs.

We also want to do what you are expected (except no heater). Our system is 300 watts solar, four 6volt deep cycles, and a 3000 watt inverter. We need good sun all day and still start then generator up for a awhile on the 3-4th days. I would like to upgrade to Six 6volt batteries or 3 lithium’s and have 400 watts of solar.

Realistically you have enough for a pot of coffee, tv for 3-4 hours and then hope your heater doesn’t turn on too much overnight. You need to remember that two batteries is really the minimum to keep everything running overnight. Even though the refer is propane it still uses sone 12v, same with hot water heater, lights, water pump, awnings, levelers or jacks, fans and any phone charging you need.

This statement requires a lot more info from you, but here is what should be close to accurate. Your 1200 watt inverter at full capacity will drain your 2 batteries to the minimum in about an hour. Just running the TV will give you about 4-5 hours, but no coffee or microwave.

[Essvar]

Originally Posted by GHen

First you need to redefine small things, a 500w heater is not, because it’s on constantly. A coffee maker may have the same wattage but it’s only on for a few minutes.

Yes, tv is ok, and if used for only a few minutes, a coffee maker or microwave could be defined as small. You will figure it out after the first night when you wake up to dead batteries.

Can you confirm that you have true deep cycle batteries? True deep cycles will NOT say RV/marine on them. 90% of the time that’s what the dealer installs.

We also want to do what you are expected (except no heater). Our system is 300 watts solar, four 6volt deep cycles, and a 3000 watt inverter. We need good sun all day and still start then generator up for a awhile on the 3-4th days. I would like to upgrade to Six 6volt batteries or 3 lithium’s and have 400 watts of solar.

Realistically you have enough for a pot of coffee, tv for 3-4 hours and then hope your heater doesn’t turn on too much overnight. You need to remember that two batteries is really the minimum to keep everything running overnight. Even though the refer is propane it still uses sone 12v, same with hot water heater, lights, water pump, awnings, levelers or jacks, fans and any phone charging you need.

This statement requires a lot more info from you, but here is what should be close to accurate. Your 1200 watt inverter at full capacity will drain your 2 batteries to the minimum in about an hour. Just running the TV will give you about 4-5 hours, but no coffee or microwave.

Spot on... everything said here is correct.



Another thing to think about with your inverter is the surge load, coffee pots, especially Keurig have a very high surge load when you turn them on. You will probably need at least a 3000w inverter with a 2 second surge load of 5000w


If you plan on running a 500w heater solar will not be enough, unless you go BIG... real big. I have a 300W panel with a 2000W inverter and 2 6V batteries. If I run my main fridge off the inverter it pulls about 600w and will drain the batteries in about 5 hours.

[Three-redheads]

Thank you for the detailed information. This is exactly what we need. Seems like we will be using our generator more than we thought.

[Three-redheads]

Originally Posted by Essvar

Spot on... everything said here is correct.



Another thing to think about with your inverter is the surge load, coffee pots, especially Keurig have a very high surge load when you turn them on. You will probably need at least a 3000w inverter with a 2 second surge load of 5000w


If you plan on running a 500w heater solar will not be enough, unless you go BIG... real big. I have a 300W panel with a 2000W inverter and 2 6V batteries. If I run my main fridge off the inverter it pulls about 600w and will drain the batteries in about 5 hours.

What do you run with your setup?

[Essvar]

Originally Posted by Three-redheads

What do you run with your setup?

I have a 300w Jaboni panel on the roof with a 30amp Jaboni mppt charge controller and the zantrex freedom 2000XC inverter.

With my setup I run my outdoor fridge, Outdoor TV, Main TV… that’s pretty much it for AC appliances. I don’t run a coffee pot off the inverter, I’ll fire up the generator for a bit in the morning to charge batteries and make coffee

Here’s a link to my install.

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=48453

[Three-redheads]

Originally Posted by Essvar

I have a 300w Jaboni panel on the roof with a 30amp Jaboni mppt charge controller and the zantrex freedom 2000XC inverter.

With my setup I run my outdoor fridge, Outdoor TV, Main TV… that’s pretty much it for AC appliances. I don’t run a coffee pot off the inverter, I’ll fire up the generator for a bit in the morning to charge batteries and make coffee

Here’s a link to my install.

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=48453

This is really useful information. Thank you!

[Salty25]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

I would look into changing the batteries to a pair of GC 6V wired in series and 400 watts of solar. Others will have more information.

What is the advantage of running two 6V batteries instead of two 12V batteries? Wouldn't you less power or duration of power?

[Essvar]

Originally Posted by Salty25

What is the advantage of running two 6V batteries instead of two 12V batteries? Wouldn't you less power or duration of power?

6V Golf cart batteries are true deep cycle (no CCA) They are wired in a series creating the same 12V but will give you almost 2x the amp hours as two 12V batteries wired in parallel.

[ExtremeRVing]

Many of the comments made where true generally, they do not actually work well in the "real" world. When dealing with power consumption, you need to recognize how much draw you have. Example a 2000W inverter may be able to convert DC to say a 15A AC outlet, but how long it can supply power would be directly related to your battery bank.

So as an example, if you have a GC3 Lithium battery from Battle born, you have 270Ah. If you were to have a 5Ah continuous draw, then you would be able to run for 54 hours before the battery was discharged. On he other hand, if you are using AGM or lead acid, and you have say 100Ah capacity, you actually only have 1/2 of the total capacity or 50Ah at best,andthat depends on the draw.

So if you had a 10Ah draw, that would've you about 5 hours max on AGM/Lead acid 100Ah rated bank.

As to the recharging from the solar (when boon docking), you will need to look at the rating of the panels. Your 200W panel probably has a max of 10A (roughly), and that is "BEST" case during the sunny part of the day. So for single panel, you might only get 10 hours of sun, and only 50% of capacity due to angle of the sun. So you 200W panel might produce 50Ah per day, depending on the sun, and where you are. At a 10Ah draw, that would only not help much. 2 panels obviously would give twice as much, or 100Ah, but if your usage was 10Ah or 240Ah/day, you would only be putting back less than half of what you are consuming.

So the math needs to be done to be able to determine a good rough estimate of your usage vs. capacity vs. recharge.

If your battery back was say 200Ah of Lithium, and your usage was 10Ah *24 = 240Ah/day, you would need a recharge capability that far exceeds a single panel. In fact you would need closer to 5 panels, which would require possibly 3 charge controllers along with the panels.

So to look at simple costs:

2-100Ah lithium batteries = 2*$900 = $1,800.00
5-200 watt solar panels = $500 * 5 = $2,500.00
3-Charge controllers = $200*3 = $600.00

Total $4,900.00 - not counting the inverter, installation, or any of the miscellaneous products needed.

A computer, and your interior LED lights alone could draw 5Amps per hour.

Hope this helps

[nitrohorse]

Originally Posted by ExtremeRVing

Many of the comments made where true generally, they do not actually work well in the "real" world. When dealing with power consumption, you need to recognize how much draw you have. Example a 2000W inverter may be able to convert DC to say a 15A AC outlet, but how long it can supply power would be directly related to your battery bank.

So as an example, if you have a GC3 Lithium battery from Battle born, you have 270Ah. If you were to have a 5Ah continuous draw, then you would be able to run for 54 hours before the battery was discharged. On he other hand, if you are using AGM or lead acid, and you have say 100Ah capacity, you actually only have 1/2 of the total capacity or 50Ah at best,andthat depends on the draw.

So if you had a 10Ah draw, that would've you about 5 hours max on AGM/Lead acid 100Ah rated bank.

As to the recharging from the solar (when boon docking), you will need to look at the rating of the panels. Your 200W panel probably has a max of 10A (roughly), and that is "BEST" case during the sunny part of the day. So for single panel, you might only get 10 hours of sun, and only 50% of capacity due to angle of the sun. So you 200W panel might produce 50Ah per day, depending on the sun, and where you are. At a 10Ah draw, that would only not help much. 2 panels obviously would give twice as much, or 100Ah, but if your usage was 10Ah or 240Ah/day, you would only be putting back less than half of what you are consuming.

So the math needs to be done to be able to determine a good rough estimate of your usage vs. capacity vs. recharge.

If your battery back was say 200Ah of Lithium, and your usage was 10Ah *24 = 240Ah/day, you would need a recharge capability that far exceeds a single panel. In fact you would need closer to 5 panels, which would require possibly 3 charge controllers along with the panels.

So to look at simple costs:

2-100Ah lithium batteries = 2*$900 = $1,800.00
5-200 watt solar panels = $500 * 5 = $2,500.00
3-Charge controllers = $200*3 = $600.00

Total $4,900.00 - not counting the inverter, installation, or any of the miscellaneous products needed.

A computer, and your interior LED lights alone could draw 5Amps per hour.

Hope this helps

This is why I have 200 watts of solar, a 100AH AGM gel battery, and a Honda 2000 inverter with 5 gallons of gas.
Here in the northeast, there's a lot of tree canopies that block or shade the panels. I imagine that in the western part of the country solar is the way to go, but here on the east coast, it's difficult to justify.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by nitrohorse

This is why I have 200 watts of solar, a 100AH AGM gel battery, and a Honda 2000 inverter with 5 gallons of gas.
Here in the northeast, there's a lot of tree canopies that block or shade the panels. I imagine that in the western part of the country solar is the way to go, but here on the east coast, it's difficult to justify.

Same with dry camping around here. Most of the good spaces are under trees, in the shade, which in the summer is the "preferred place to park the trailer to avoid the sun's heat"... Then add cloudy days and rainstorms, and it makes a solar system "difficult to rely on for 100% of needs"... For us, parking the trailer in the shade at our favorite lake, lugging the generator between the boat and the trailer keeps both sets of batteries charged. Even with a sophisticated solar system, a chain saw to cut down the campground trees and an extra long extension cord (to reach the boat) we'd still need to run the generator on cloudy days or in the spring, when fishing is at it's peak, because the sun simply isn't directly overhead due to the earth's rotation.... So, if I've got to pack a generator for the boat, might as well use it for the trailer too..... Saves that $4500 in "high tech solar systems" that work other places, but for here, not so much.....

[Cimriver]

Originally Posted by ExtremeRVing

So to look at simple costs:

2-100Ah lithium batteries = 2*$900 = $1,800.00
5-200 watt solar panels = $500 * 5 = $2,500.00
3-Charge controllers = $200*3 = $600.00

Total $4,900.00 - not counting the inverter, installation, or any of the miscellaneous products needed.

Hope this helps

IMHO your cost quote is inaccurate. If you want Battleborn lithium batteries yes you can pay $900 each but there are less expensive alternatives. My SOK 100Ah batteries cost half of that.

My 180W solar panels cost around $200 nowhere near $500.

Why you think you need 3 charge controllers is beyond me. Buy the right charge controller and you only need one. My MPPT charge controller cost me around $180.

[{tpc}]

Maybe not the right thread but…

@cimriver - could you provide links to your battery’s and controller?

Right now I’m running two 12v marine batteries in parallel. They are cheap ones the dealer installed, and I had them install the second one because my 12v fridge couldn’t last overnight. It still doesn’t but I’ve gone from about 6 hours to 12 hours so that’s about all I’ve needed to make it to the morning while the trailer sits in the street awaiting departure.

So trying to find something that’s a little more robust.

Does switching to lithium require any different type of hookups with regards to the truck? Any concern with leaving the batteries connected while in storage, especially in hot summer months?

I race radio controlled cars, so I use lithium batteries all the time. I’ve seen first hand what happens when something goes wrong.

[Cimriver]

Originally Posted by {tpc}

@cimriver - could you provide links to your battery’s and controller?

Couldn't get the links to work. Probably because I don't know what I am doing.

My batteries are SOK 100Ah 12vdc batteries. SOK also has a 206Ah battery. The 100Ah batteries have increased in price by $90 since I purchased mine last summer.

My solar charger is a Rich Solar 40A.

Folks recommend a DC to DC charger be installed to protect the trucks alternator. I haven't done this and have not had any issues.

I believe the batteries you use with your rc race car are Lithium Polymer batteries. Precautions should be taken with these batteries especially when charging such as a charging bag.

The SOK batteries are Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, a complete different chemistry, and are much more stable.

The SOK batteries have a good battery management system (BMS) that has both high and low temperature protection, so you shouldn't have to worry about leaving them connected in the summer.