Solar The Solar Panel Thread

[zerosecta]

All that Said, I will be putting my 240V 40Amp TrueCharge2 Xantrex Charger up for sale soon to fund a couple of Solar Panels - or at least one big one.

I'll be the ginnea pig and be (possibly) the first Expanda with no 240V charger at all - Fully self Sufficient you could say :smile: My guess is that with a BCDC1240 (or similar other brand) and about 200'ish Watts of solar panel permanently mounted - you would render the 240V charger redundant and useless - use the space for an inverter instead

 

[cruza driver]

True, Single 105AH or 120AH battery and you may have an issue - - - Of course the very simply solution to that before spending $$$ of a Generator or solar Panels and Regulator - would be to simply by another Battery

Day light Savings, yes, I guess like the dairy farmers if your battery or solar panel doesn't want want wake up earlier then you may have an issue ;-)

:thumb: true mate jst stirring

All that Said, I will be putting my 240V 40Amp TrueCharge2 Xantrex Charger up for sale soon to fund a couple of Solar Panels - or at least one big one.

I'll be the ginnea pig and be (possibly) the first Expanda with no 240V charger at all - Fully self Sufficient you could say :smile: My guess is that with a BCDC1240 (or similar other brand) and about 200'ish Watts of solar panel permanently mounted - you would render the 240V charger redundant and useless - use the space for an inverter instead

Sounds interesting will it affect your payload or did you get 2 batteries from factory?

 

[macca]

Unless you only have battery zero you may need that top up :eyebrows: then theres the whole time of the year thing daylight savings etc :smile: :flame:

Yep since daylight saving my curtains have started to fade!:wave:

 

[zerosecta]

Hahaha, Payload - you mean the same payload that pretty much blown by simply filling up the two factory fitted water tanks and the factory fitted awning and annex walls?

Na Mate, my payload is intact affected already by the two batteries because they where fitted by me after purchase because I get get two 120ah for near the same price the dealer wanted to charge me for a single 105ah...

Besides I happen to know that two identical 16491 jayco's rolling out of the factory - one with and one without battery get the same plate anyway so that fable of paying the premium for jayco fitted battery for that purpose is bit of a myth

 

[hornet]

Sorry if this has already been discussed ,does anyone turn their panels off! , reason I'm asking is we have an Anderson plug charging the battery while driving ,and the triton charges around 13-14 volts , but since fitting solar to van the volts are around 14.5 - 14.7 , more concernd about affects on the tritons charge system

 

[Capt. Gadget]

I fitted an isolation switch on the battery side of the regulator so I can turn the panel off when plugged into 240v

 

[hornet]

Thanks capt , what sort of switch did you use , a battery isolator switch , or just a normal type switch( with a higher rating) how does the solar reg react when switched off , I believe we have the same reg ( from previous posts)

 

[Capt. Gadget]

One of these I bought from ARB I'll see if I can find the specs somewhere

Found it http://www.sidewinder.com.au/page164a.html#Anchor1

 

[ROnEM]

Hornet,

If you use a DC-DC charger (like the CTEK 250S Dual) this will allow you to have the Triton power via Anderson Plug and Solar on at the same time and maximise your battery charge.

There is no need to put in a solar isolation switch as there are two separate power inputs - one from car/Anderson Plug and another MPPT for solar.

If the van's batteries are fully charged, the Ctek can then redirect the solar power to the vehicle's battery to keep that topped up too!

 

[hornet]

The ctek looks like a good unit , wish I had of seen them before I brought my solar reg, we just brought a new van ( second hand but new for us )and I removed all the solar from the old panda , might be able to sneak the ctek in , if not i'll stick with the old reg and fit isolation switch

 

[Kartras]

Ok Guys,

This has probably been covered before.......but here goes.

Looking at sett ing up the van with solar charging and charging from the tow vehicle via 50amp anderson. So by all accounts a dc-dc charger is preferable and am looking at the ctek unit.

With previous vehicle i had a very reliable redarc solenoid controlling the charging of the second battery and was looking at the same in combination with with the ctek 250dual for optimising the charging of the van battery,(no second battery in tow vehicle)

now as i dont have a second battery in the tow vehicle and am just looking at charging the van battery and not needing the second battery to start the vehicle ,,,,,do i need a solenoid and the ctek unit. I found some info to suggest the ctek unit will only start charging the van battery once the vehicle starting battery has reached its fully charged voltage.(see below) is this correct????

"Once the start battery is at 13.2v, the Dual will connect to the second battery. The Dual increases the charge voltage from the alternator to better suit deep cycle batteries (GEL, AGM, etc).
The Dual charging process takes three stages: these are Bulk, Absorption and Float. When the auxiliary battery is full, the Dual will pulse or maintenance charge the start battery from the auxiliary battery.
The Dual also has a temperature sensor to protect the second battery; it reduces the charge at 70 degrees."

Have I fully confused everyone????


cheers guys

 

[Burnsy]

I have dual batt in tug but only a redarc isolator which unfortunately the alternator is not enough to fully charge my second batt, so I will probably fit a redarc dc-dc charger in tug which has built in isolator. In my opinion you want your van batt to charge as soon as you turn the key regardless of the tugs batt state of charge, so I don't see the need for isolator there.

cheers.

 

[Mike7]

Hi Kartras, the d250 is an isolator as well so don't need anything between it and the car battery/alternator. I'm using a d250 in my car and it works well.

the d250 is smart enough to wait for the starter battery to charge first (13.2v as per your quote) before it charges the aux battery So your starter battery is always fully protected.


cheers
mi,e

 

[Kartras]

Yeah guys,

from reading the literature no need for an isolator although i do see some wiring diagrams in the forums here with isolators fitted feeding the ctek 250......perhaps it is to be sure to be sure.

 

[Ligedy]

All that Said, I will be putting my 240V 40Amp TrueCharge2 Xantrex Charger up for sale soon to fund a couple of Solar Panels - or at least one big one.

I'll be the ginnea pig and be (possibly) the first Expanda with no 240V charger at all - Fully self Sufficient you could say :smile: My guess is that with a BCDC1240 (or similar other brand) and about 200'ish Watts of solar panel permanently mounted - you would render the 240V charger redundant and useless - use the space for an inverter instead

How’d you go with first cordless Expanda Zerosecta J ? Have you installed a DC-DC charger yet?

I installed a BCDC1240 on the weekend (already had the 240W of panels on the roof and 2 x 120Ah batteries) and using the Drifter Control Panel for battery and load monitoring.

I didn’t remove the 240V charger… but I won’t be needing it for charging the batteries any more J

I’ve had it running for three days - with great sunny days - it puts in 10-15amp on solar charging and when running off the car/Anderson plug I get 20 - 25Amps charging.

Not sure what the magic black box does but I would have expected better charging from solar at 20V over the car’s 12V. Time will tell.

Anyway, the batteries are kept full to the brim with solar alone and still has plenty of capacity for powering up the 3-way fridge when the sun is up.


In relation to some other posts on this thread… I have setup the same as the std Redarc wiring diagram:
- Installed the DC-DC Charger under the seat near the 1st house batter and Setec cabinet.
- Have an Anderson plug feeding the DC-DC charger from the tug
- Solar panels feed directly into the DC-DC Charger (also a MPPT Solar Reg). I put an Anderson plug in-line for isolation/disconnecting when required. I didn’t deem an isolation switch as necessary as it will be maintaining and charging the batteries whenever the sun is up so don’t need to be switching it. I did use a different colour Anderson plug to ensure it can’t be easily balls up...
- a change over relay wired in to auto-switch between Anderson or Solar power feed. I picked up the wire that charges the break-away unit which it comes up through the floor already to activate the changeover relay when the car is running (I wired in the auxiliary/reverse pin on the trailer plug with a relay as well to only feed power when the car is running).
- both house batteries wired directly to each other. With 50amp fuse in place and anderson plug for isolation/disconnection again.
- battery wired directly to house batteries. This 40amp charger has ample capacity to run the 3-way fridge and charge at the same time when towing or in good sunlight (i.e. when stopped for quick trips during transit). I didn’t bother wiring in a VSR for the house batteries as I couldn’t find a variable VSR that would handle a small 20Amp constant load and because didn’t want a 100+AMP VSR that cuts out at 12.7V… (not that I looked that hard… Redarc to one for up to 10Amp suitable for compressor fridge’s).

So far all works great. The drifter panel only goes up to >199hrs of power remaining J

 

[brookes2622]

- battery wired directly to house batteries. This 40amp charger has ample capacity to run the 3-way fridge and charge at the same time when towing or in good sunlight (i.e. when stopped for quick trips during transit). I didn’t bother wiring in a VSR for the house batteries as I couldn’t find a variable VSR that would handle a small 20Amp constant load and because didn’t want a 100+AMP VSR that cuts out at 12.7V… (not that I looked that hard… Redarc to one for up to 10Amp suitable for compressor fridge’s).

Ligedy there is a good VSR that is rated to 30AMP constant load make here in Oz by http://www.traxide.com.au/

It's not on his website but send him note, it's called the BG-25.

 

[Ligedy]

Ligedy there is a good VSR that is rated to 30AMP constant load make here in Oz by http://www.traxide.com.au/

It's not on his website but send him note, it's called the BG-25.

Excellent thanks Brookes - sounds like it will fit the bill just right.

Rated for 30Amp Continuos Load. 11.6V cut-out and programmable for high voltage cutout if desired. Draws approx 60mA when in use and under 5mA when in standby...

BG-25 Ordered.

 

[brookes2622]

Excellent thanks Brookes - sounds like it will fit the bill just right.

Rated for 30Amp Continuos Load. 11.6V cut-out and programmable for high voltage cutout if desired. Draws approx 60mA when in use and under 5mA when in standby...

BG-25 Ordered.

He also makes a real good dual battery systems and seems to know his stuff. I have one on order to go into my car, well I have it but I wanted to upgrade it after I got it to an isolator that will allow the stating battery to be jumped from the AUX with the push of a button in the cab. Interestingly, I suspect you could use the van battery to jump the car provided the wire is thick enough

Still haven't done the wiring diagram

 

[Ligedy]

I’ve had it running for three days - with great sunny days - it puts in 10-15amp on solar charging and when running off the car/Anderson plug I get 20 - 25Amps charging.

Not sure what the magic black box does but I would have expected better charging from solar at 20V over the car’s 12V. Time will tell.

Redarc Technical have just answered my query... I learnt my new thing for today

The solar panel array is rated at 240W, which means that, in ideal conditions, they can deliver around 15-17A maximum via the MPPT regulator (Eg 240W/14.8V=16A), so 12-15A from your panels in realistic conditions is very good.​

The vehicle alternator is capable of producing more than 240W, so the BCDC1240-LV can deliver much more current from your alternator (the power output of the BCDC1240-LV is limited by the available power at the input).​

​

You are seeing 350W or more from the tug's alternator which cannot be matched by a 240W solar array.​

I should have done more homework beforehand becuase a 25A charger would have been sufficient given solar will be a main source of power (a BCDC-1225 will handle handle 360W of solar panels) and 30Amps is the Recommended Maximum Charging Current Limit for the batteries that came with my Expanda...

Either way - plenty of juice on tap from the sun and tug when towing. Just the way I want it.

 

[Matty4]

Got my solar panels ready for installation onto the van.....just gotta play around with the layout to make them fit...............haha