17' Series Fitting a plug for an external solar panel

[Luke.sleeman]

External solar panels seem to be a popular choice. You can park your van in the shade but still charge your batteries.

Where are people mounting the plug on the exterior of their van? And what kind of plug are people using? How do you go about running the cables to the battery controller?

I'm guessing the easiest answer would be to drill through the wall nearest to the battery controller and just mount a socket close to there - Afterall you never know what your site will look like, and where you will need to place the panel. So I guess one spot is as good as another for mounting the plug on the van. Still if there is a 'standard' location people are using it would be good to go with that.

 

[Glen Bundesen]

No standard. But I prefer not to have it on the outside of the van.

I positioned my Solar controller in the van's front boot. There are 2 cables going into the solar +- connectors (one from the roof top panel and another short one with an Anderson plug attached). I then have another 5mtr cable with another andrerson plug attached to the portable solar panel which I plug into the short cable.

I have another short cable with an Anderson plug attached to the +- Batter connectors on the Solar Controller, and another cable coming from the batteries to the Van's front boot. This is so I can charge my batteries or use this cable for 12v power for my Aussie Mover or air pump,.

Glen

 

[Duncanblake36]

Anderson Plugs all the way. You can pick them up cheap off ebay. I have all my solar panels (2 fixed on roof and 1 portable) feeding directly into a Ctek D250S dc to dc Solar charger. That way you don't mix solar controllers. They fight each other is you have more than one and batteries don't charge as well.

On the side of the van I have a "Solar Only" Anderson plug.

 

[Drover]

Yes use Anderson plugs, as for position usually on the RH side just underneath where exactly is up to you, don't go thru walls. Use an 8 B&S cable at least.

Depending on your solar set up on your van and the regulator fitted you can run the cable direct to your battery or to the regulator. Direct to battery does give you the option of using it for power in ie; solar panel or power out ie; compressor, fitted with appropriate fuses......

If you use coloured anderson plugs then the plugs must be the same colour or they won't connect, this is done so folk don't plug the wrong bit of gear in......grey is the general duties colour, I use grey with a label.

Fitting the panel direct to battery means you must use the regulator on the panel, going direct to van regulator you must bypass the panel regulator.

What is the solar set up on your van, panel size ? regulator type/model ?

 

[Boots in Action]

External solar panels seem to be a popular choice. You can park your van in the shade but still charge your batteries.

Where are people mounting the plug on the exterior of their van? And what kind of plug are people using? How do you go about running the cables to the battery controller?

I'm guessing the easiest answer would be to drill through the wall nearest to the battery controller and just mount a socket close to there - Afterall you never know what your site will look like, and where you will need to place the panel. So I guess one spot is as good as another for mounting the plug on the van. Still if there is a 'standard' location people are using it would be good to go with that.

Hi @Luke.sleeman and welcome to the forum, where there are members with lots of experience willing to help. Others seem to have covered the main points, but @Drover has brought up some important points about your solar controller. Firstly make sure that it has the capacity to well and truly cover any additional input from extra panels. Also load likely to be placed on unit if connecting load to solar controller to show amps going out, depending on where controller is placed and how wired. See my earlier posts on this. If it is a 30 amp solar controller, then it can handle 30A in from panels and 30A out to any loads.
I have only portable panels (1 X 180W and 1 X 200W) and they are connected to the one MPPT controller. If connecting your second panel, you should bypass the controller on the back of the portable panel. See my recent post by Kick Ass in how they have done it and still have the ability to use it for other charging.
As far as which side of van to place Anderson plug, you should go to the nearest external point closest to controller and battery. The connecting wire between controller and battery must be as short as possible to reduce losses.

Below are pictures of my external Anderson plug connection together with a shot of my single controller inside van. Hope all this gives you something to consider.

 

[Luke.sleeman]

My van came with a j35b battery controller which has solar inputs ( https://teambmpro.com/products/intelligent-battery-management-system-j35b/ )
It also has an upgraded 160w solar panel on the roof.

I read the manual last night - the j35b can take up to 300w of panels and 20a:

Unfortunately I don't know the voltage or ampage of the 160w panel on the roof, but I'm guessing there should be plenty of headroom with the j35b to fit another panel. I have a few spare panels I have for my sailboat. I'm not sure which I will use yet - there is a flexible 100w and a solid 75w. Neither have a solar controller on the back. I was planning to put the external panel in parrallel with the roof panel by basically just wiring it to the +ve and -ve solar inputs on the j35b.

The one open question I have is what effect this will have on the system when the roof panel is shaded. I have read that with panels in parrallel the efficiency of the system is reduced to that of the worst panel - which with the roof panel covered would not be good?

 

[Drover]

Yep it can cause problems that's why my portable is ambidextrous but just wait a bit and Booties will chime in with something enlightening for sure.

 

[Boots in Action]

Yep it can cause problems that's why my portable is ambidextrous but just wait a bit and Booties will chime in with something enlightening for sure.

Thanks for the invitation @Drover . @Luke.sleeman you do not have to worry about the voltage of your roof panel. Normal OCV of a solar panel is approx 22.0 volts and max working voltage is somewhere between 18.5 and 17.0 volts. You can expect up to approx 8.0 amps under ideal conditions from your roof panel, but would rarely be attainable owing orientation to sun, cleanliness and time of day .
My panels are 22.5v open circuit and 18.5 v under light load.
When you connect your extra panel in parallel, each panel works independently, so if one is shaded and unable to produce significant power, the unshaded panel is still able to produce at full power. So yes, as you cannot move your fixed roof panel, and if it was shaded, then the only significant solar power coming in would be what is generated by your portable panel in the sun.
If panels are connected in series (not suited to your j35b unit as too higher voltage - MPPT controller type needed) and all are in the sun, then output for the string would be limited to the output of the smallest/weakest panel in the circuit. Not applicable in your case.

That is why @Drover sings the praises of his portable solar panel as that gets him up to full speed when Big Mal is resting in a shady spot.

 

[Snowman]

Thanks for the invitation @Drover . @Luke.sleeman you do not have to worry about the voltage of your roof panel. Normal OCV of a solar panel is approx 22.0 volts and max working voltage is somewhere between 18.5 and 17.0 volts. You can expect up to approx 8.0 amps under ideal conditions from your roof panel, but would rarely be attainable owing orientation to sun, cleanliness and time of day .
My panels are 22.5v open circuit and 18.5 v under light load.
When you connect your extra panel in parallel, each panel works independently, so if one is shaded and unable to produce significant power, the unshaded panel is still able to produce at full power. So yes, as you cannot move your fixed roof panel, and if it was shaded, then the only significant solar power coming in would be what is generated by your portable panel in the sun.
If panels are connected in series (not suited to your j35b unit as too higher voltage - MPPT controller type needed) and all are in the sun, then output for the string would be limited to the output of the smallest/weakest panel in the circuit. Not applicable in your case.

That is why @Drover sings the praises of his portable solar panel as that gets him up to full speed when Big Mal is resting in a shady spot.

Hi Boots, It sounds like you have a good understanding of the Solar setup on the Expanda's, I wonder if you could give me some advice.
I have a 20.64 Expanda with the 160W Solar panel on the roof with a TPS1230 Solar Controller and J35 Battery Management System. I have just purchased a Kings 200W Solar Blanket so I can chase the sun, where is the best place to connect the Solar Blanket. Parallel with the existing Solar Panel into the TPS1230, directly into the J35 Battery Management System or directly to the battery? Do I need to keep the voltage regulator on the Solar Blanket of bypass it?
Snoman

 

[mikerezny]

Hi Boots, It sounds like you have a good understanding of the Solar setup on the Expanda's, I wonder if you could give me some advice.
I have a 20.64 Expanda with the 160W Solar panel on the roof with a TPS1230 Solar Controller and J35 Battery Management System. I have just purchased a Kings 200W Solar Blanket so I can chase the sun, where is the best place to connect the Solar Blanket. Parallel with the existing Solar Panel into the TPS1230, directly into the J35 Battery Management System or directly to the battery? Do I need to keep the voltage regulator on the Solar Blanket of bypass it?
Snoman

Hi,
here is the quick overview to start the conversation.

You can have only one solar controller in the line from a solar panel to the battery.
If you want to keep the solar controller on the back of the portable panels then the output of that assembly has to be connected directly to the battery.
There are three good reason to keep the controller on the panel.
1: That means you can easily use the panel / solar controller to supply charge to other batteries, lend it to some one, etc, etc.
2: It follows the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid!
3: You would have two independent solar systems and that would give you more reliability.

The TPS1230 is a basic PWM controller and will be no better or worse than what you already have on the portable panels. So there is no point in complicating things and trying to add the portable panels to the TPS1230.
Do you have a J35B? This is the one with terminals for solar input.
If you decide to use either the TPS1230 or the J35B, you will have to bypass the controller on the back of the portable panels.

take care
Mike

 

[Snowman]

Thanks Mike, you have answered my question. I wasn't sure whether I could have 2 x separate Solar panel/controller combinations feeding into the battery. My preference is to wire a couple of anderson sockets directly to the battery. The I can just plug the solar blanket in directly to the battery when required rather than complicate things.

 

[mikerezny]

Thanks Mike, you have answered my question. I wasn't sure whether I could have 2 x separate Solar panel/controller combinations feeding into the battery. My preference is to wire a couple of anderson sockets directly to the battery. The I can just plug the solar blanket in directly to the battery when required rather than complicate things.

Ideally, you do not want to have two solar controllers managing your battery.
In practice, this only applies once the battery is fully charged. The controllers may hunt each other trying to keep the battery at the correct float voltage.
Solar controllers may even be set to slightly different float voltages.
So, here is how I would handle it:
When the batteries need to be recharged, use one or two controllers. Once the battery is fully charged, disconnect the portable solar panel.

You will be able to tell from the readout of the TP1230 what the battery voltage and charge current is. From that you will get a feel for when the battery is fully charged.

With respect to the wiring to the Anderson plugs: make sure you put an inline fuse close to the battery terminal for each feed.

I blew a fuse the other day and spent 15 minutes trying to remember where I had carefully stored the spare fuses so I wouldn't forget where they were.

take care
Mike

 

[Boots in Action]

Thanks Mike, you have answered my question. I wasn't sure whether I could have 2 x separate Solar panel/controller combinations feeding into the battery. My preference is to wire a couple of anderson sockets directly to the battery. The I can just plug the solar blanket in directly to the battery when required rather than complicate things.

Hi @Snowman , @mikerezny has already answered your query in general terms. However, there are a few more things to consider. IMHO, both solar inputs should be connected to the same solar input on the solar controller in van. This is NOT complicated at all, so still meets the KISS principal. This is as simple as fixing a Anderson plug at the side of van as close as possible to TPS1230 and running the wiring from there to INPUT on van controller. These terminals will already have the input from the panels on the roof, so all you are doing is connecting two inputs to the same terminal. However, as Mike has stated, to ensure optimum charging control, the controller on the back of the portable panel must be bypassed. You do not have to remove it to do this. Fit two new wires (pos and neg) to junction box on back of panel BEFORE it leaves to go to controller and connect Anderson plug to other end for connection to van point. This will mean you will have two output lines coming from the back of portable controller, one with Anderson plug (for van use) and the other with original connectors (alligator clips or some other type) for general use. If panel is used on its own to charge anything other that the van battery, just use it as normal via the attached controller. If wanting to assist the roof panel in charging van battery, use the lead with the Anderson plug. Just make sure that the two output wires from the controller on the portable panel are not touching each other or metal or shorted out. From my memory of one of these Kings folding type, the solar controller is a separate unit with its own connectors and must be wired in SERIES with solar output when used normally.
A second Anderson plug on the side of the van close to van battery with wiring DIRECT to battery (with inline fuse) will give you the option of connecting a "smart" battery charger for home charging without opening van, lifting up seats and connecting cables to battery terminals. Also, if suitably fused , this second Anderson plug will enable you to take heavy electrical loads direct from battery for compressor etc and even charge up somebody else's battery whilst you are still charging your own. This happened to me on a camping trip just recently when a fellow camper let his battery get too low to run his compressor fridge!! A very handy connection and well worth the effort to complete.

Even though your TPS1230 is a very ordinary PWM controller, it does have the capacity to handle up to 30A in and 30A out if electrical loads are connected to LOAD terminals. By my calculations with the Kings connected in parallel with your roof top panel, you will still be lucky to produce 18A or so under ideal conditions so no worries in that regard. Photos of my Anderson plug connections on side of my van are attached. Your call on what you can do or achieve. Cheers

PS. Apologies to Mike for additional info and ideas. I tend to be pedantic and go for the max. Not happy with just "that is near enough" or "good enough".

 

[mikerezny]

PS. Apologies to Mike for additional info and ideas. I tend to be pedantic and go for the max. Not happy with just "that is near enough" or "good enough".

Hi @Boots in Action,
no apologies needed. There are many different ways to skin a cat. It is always good to consider various options.

take care
Mike

 

[Drover]

and just to add more confusion, I'd just run an anderson from outside direct to battery to plug the blanket in, fit an anderson to the panel so you can run a decent sized lead from it, then in time you can fiddle around with the set up when you get more familiar with it all, the run direct to battery will be very handy.

 

[Crusty181]

and just to add more confusion, I'd just run an anderson from outside direct to battery to plug the blanket in, fit an anderson to the panel so you can run a decent sized lead from it, then in time you can fiddle around with the set up when you get more familiar with it all, the run direct to battery will be very handy.

I have the same, an Anderson on the chassis outrigger under the battery and connected directly to the batteries (via a fuse of course). Solar blanket connected in, power lead to the Engel in the car, power lead to the car battery to charge from the vans rooftop solar, run the portable water pump or tire pump to rei-nflate after offroad. Very handy to have.

Ive had this chat with Boots some time ago, my thoughts regarding 2 x solar regs on the same batteries is better than a flat battery. The regs will only start any potential conflict once one gets to float and by that point ill have the charge i need.

 

[Drover]

The regs will only start any potential conflict once one gets to float and by that point ill have the charge i need.

Thats what I have found and by then the roof top isn't getting much gammas anyway.