Solar EVC Project - Finished!

[1961tbird]

Hey dazey77,

I like those mounting brackets too. How do they attach to the fibreglass top? Glue, bolts?

[Abscate]

Every wire needs strain relief , that is the weight if the wire cannot bear on the electrical connection it makes. Dont underestimate the effect of 10,000 miles of wire tugging at the connector through vibration. Look at a modern car and see how wires are clipped everywhere. That’s a major reason why electrical systems are 100x more reliable than the past
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.ssS!

[dazey77]

[dazey77]

[goffro]

This is great information in this thread for anyone considering solar! I don't know a damned thing about solar so this might be a dumb question: Are there factors that preclude having a portable or movable solar panel installation?

Such as too much resistance to overcome in having a longer wire run between the panel and the controller?

For example, consider a solar panel that one could quick-release off of the roof and place elsewhere -- such as on a near-by stand on the ground, or on the hood. This would be good for applications where the van is parked in the shade, so that capturing the sun requires the solar panel to be at a different angle than the popped-up roof provides.

It would also be useful for storing the van with a cover. After the vehicle is covered, the panel could be temporarily placed on the (covered) roof, or on a ground stand near by, to keep the batteries topped off during long-term storage.

[steve2sloth]

Portable solar panel solutions are very popular, and probably more common than fixed/mounted panels. As you mentioned, many people want to park in the shade but keep their panel in the sun. I decided to attach the panels to my roof but that's a lot of work that most people wouldn't want to take on but I feel like it was the best plan for me as it offers many advantages like ease of use, chaining multiple panels together for greater wattage, and longevity.

If I were to do it all again, maybe I'd go the easy route and just upgrade my house battery to 200ah, as I did, and then attach a portable panel to it when I got to camp. Or skip the bigger battery, but I enjoy a good project. I like this Renogy 'solar briefcase' (https://www.renogy.com/100-watt-12-volt-monocrystalline-foldable-solar-suitcase-with-voyager/) because the charger and stand are built into it but I'm sure that a lot of ppl would get a flexible panel because it's cheaper, but then you'd need to find a charger for it and figure out how to angle it toward the sun.

My mechanic offered to attach a cable to my house battery so that it's ready to attach a portable panel to it whenever. As far as cable length goes, that depends on the gague of the wire. Using this chart (http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg) you can see that at 10 amps (a single 100w panel) a 10awg cable can go 30 feet, though that's roundtrip, so really 15' from your battery to the panel. Just use the right cable for your needs and you're good

[goffro]

[steve2sloth]

If you did connect 2 flexible panels in series to get to 24v and thus have a thinner wire, you'd have to get a big/expensive MPPT charger to convert that down to 12v for the battery to charge. The normal small/cheap PWM charge controllers just throw away everything over 12v... which is ok if you have 2 panels in series and it's a cloudy day so you only get 14v, but not optimal in full sun.

If your overall goal is to camp longer without using your alternator/shore to charge, you're often better off focusing on efficiency first and solar second. So replacing all the bulbs with LEDs and using a very efficient refrigerator. In general, ARB fridges use double the wattage of an Engel fridge of comparable size because of Engel's famously efficient and unique motor (expensive). That's your biggest battery hog right there. I got my Engel MT45 off of craigslist for $700 from another Eurovan fan.

I installed 300w solar, 200ah battery, LEDs, and the Engle fridge and tbh it's overkill. I usually camp for 3 days at a time and I could have skipped the solar upgrade and still had enough to run the fridge all the time (It's SOOO much colder/faster/quieter than the 3-way). A single flexible 100w solar panel would be enough to stretch my boondocking time considerably in the summer, though I don't relish the idea of repositioning and re-securing a portable panel every day. It's very windy in the Sierras where I prefer to camp. With the 300w fixed panels that I've got, I get plenty of usable charge even parked in the shade, and I've literally never connected to shore power so idk this buzzing sound that you mentioned. Though in the winter I do need to at least try to aim the panels in the right direction, so that's where the big battery comes through for me.

Anyways, hope that you get to break out the heat gun and crimpers for something soon! Stay cool