Eurovan Solar Panel

[mcbbcn]

Hi Everyone,

I got a request to talk about my solar setup, so here I go.

First, here is a picture of MPPT solar controller sitting (or really, screwed in on top of my custom battery bank 2x235amp/hr lead acid 6 volt batteries which become a 12v 470amp/hr...less than that, because they're lead acid). Everything is inside my aux battery compartment.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WWggZ1KfJePDXZep9

To the left of the MPPT controller, you will notice the wireless controller which works in Android and IOS and allows you to check the state of the battery, controller and solar from your phone.

Also, you will see a weird yellow cable going into the MPPT controller, and that a positive cable from the battery into the MPPT controller and it has an inline switch, because, I'm guessing, these controllers were made for home systems and they are ok running all the time, and because this is a van, and I'm not running solar all the time, I wanted a way to turn it off, so I put a simple inline switch which I only switch on when I'm using my solar panel. I just don't like having parasites consuming energy from my battery when I'm not using it.

Why MPPT? Solar energy is very finicky about shadows and it's common if a leaf shadow is covering a bit of the panel, it won't be able to pull the current from the solar panel as it wants full exposure to the sun. This is where MPPT comes into place, as it's able to provide a full amount of volts even the solar panel is partially covered.

How to pick an MPPT controller? The controllers come in various sizes and mine is a 20A+eBox-WIFI. Basically, a 20amp and there are several ways to calculate which size you need based on the size of your solar panel. You can just google it, but I'm running 160watts on my solar panel and the 20A controller was the right size for it. Also, my controller came bundled with the eBox-WIFI which is the blue box you see to the left of my controller which creates a private wifi and allows you access the controller remotely without having to move your suitcases or stuff in the back of the van.

However, there is a very tricky point about MPPT controllers. My controller is TRACER 2210AN from EPEVER and I chosed this one because it can be configured to charged a lithium battery in the event I replace my battery in the future. But, the interesting thing about the 'AN' at the end of this MPPT controller is that it's a 'common negative' ground. I'm not an expert in this area but because my battery is in a vehicle and the ground is connected to the chassis of the vehicle, I needed a common negative controller. Also, if I understood correctly, most of solar panels can be run on negative or positive common ground, but there a few that only run on positive ground like Sunpower panels. So, make sure you get a controller that is a negative ground controller.

Solar panel: I got this solar panel: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079Q2HFJ7/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm sure you can find more expensive ones and cheaper ones but reading quite a bit about this one, I really liked it. It can fold small and I store it under my folder smart foam mattress in the back. And if I'm not using it, I can even sleep on it and it's thin enough that I won't notice it. So, it's perfect for storage.

Why foldable and not fixed? I wanted one that I could move around, so I wanted to position my van under a shade, I could still position the panel in the sun and it comes with its own self standing legs if I want to put it on the ground, but don't put it in a place that a car can run over it, although I saw some pictures of a tire running over a foldable solar panel and it still worked. That's how tough they are. A common location is pointing your van south and putting it on top of windshield and holding it with a couple of bungee ties. In this position, it stops the sun from going into your car as a second use. Here is a picture of guy using it this way: https://www.dobinsonsprings.com/accessories/camping-and-touring/solar-panels . Even if the panel hangs a little bit to the each of the sides of the windshield (it curves outward), it's perfect because the sun rises on the easy and sets on the west, so you make best use of the curvature of the earth as our planet spins around. Also, you could move it on top of your van roof even when the top is popped and let it hang.

What type of cables? This is another important point to look at. Each panel comes with it's own set of connectors and there are different types. My panel came with MC4 connectors. So, I ended up getting these 50 feet extensions (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D7VBNMM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) that when rolled in, they fit perfectly inside the battery cabinet and they are long enough that they can be move around to different spots with no problems.

So, that's about it. Have fun with this project if you go down this path!

Miquel

[RichBenn]

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