As we are wintering in Yuma, the sunniest city in the US, we have been taking advantage of our Solar System more and more for our electrical needs. This has lead to reworking some of the system for best results.
This may be a good time to recap what our Solar System has evolved into. Starting out we had 4-100watt panels with a 40amp MTTP charge controller and 4-6 volt 235 amp hour battery bank wired first in serious and then parallel to product a 470 amp hour 12 volt system.
We now have a 5 panel 560watt system charging the same battery bank. We’ve replaced the original 40amp charge controller with a new 60amp MTTP controller as we were often times pushing the limits of the 40amp charge controller. Also the new charge controller is completely reprogrammable allowing us to tweak it as needed to meet our requirements.
Speaking of tweaking we also permanently installed the 200amp catastrophic air fuse from the battery to the 3000watt pure sine wave inverter, wired a 100amp circuit brake between the solar panel and charge controller and a 80amp circuit brake between the charge controller and battery bank. Were also working to lock down cable connection and reroute wires as needed giving the system a neater finished look and knocking down resistance giving us more power.
Self note: As taught when electronics were first introduced in the Automotive Industry (yes I am that old) the connections would generate about 80% of the issues one would have with the system. Well they were right as the majority of the issues that have come up with the solar system have been wiring connection related.
The system we have now supplies electricity throughout the RV for 36 hours. This is without limiting our usage from normal. I would like to reach the point were we can go a full 48 hours before requiring shore or generator assistance to replenish the battery bank. This will require an upgrade to the panels as well as the battery bank.
Another self note, several park campers, have while walking, by stopped to chat for a while about the system. It seems like one of the first Questions they ask is if I build it and it gives me a feeling of pride to tell them yes, and we start talking about the basics of the system. (There may be a possibility of turning the building of these systems into a part time job as most of the people here have more than enough money to support building one if for no other reason than as a toy. And as here is the place we stay the longest each year might make it feasible.
Does Solar pay off? Our electric bill has been as little as $18 when others around us have been paying around $100 so in the long run it surely could at least pay back the investment.
We also purchased and installed a power vent fan about a year ago and came to the conclusion that it worked so well at cooling the RV the we also wanted one in the bedroom. So for the last 6 months we have been hauling around the second fan, still in the box, not having enough time to install it. Well that day came yesterday and with a little work of pulling 12 volt wires to the old vent opening using a aluminum flat bar as a fish (rod for pulling wire thru walls and ceilings) we now have the second power vent fan installed and running above our bed.
The outcome of which is great except for the fact I was taking something for granted. Right after we did the install I went to clean up my tools which are almost always placed on top of a box next to the basement storage compartment while doing this. It has always worked great as the box is just the right height to let the front door swing over it without hitting and make a super place to set things you move in and out of the basement. Well you guessed it I no longer have the box as it was what the power vent came in. I know I could still keep the box but with out it’s contents it became very unstable.
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