Wandering Free.com

Choosing your Rv or Motorhome; Solar Systems

Hello again,  I am back to try and shed some light on choosing your Rv or Motorhome Solar System. This will include what equipment you will need.

(such as; Batteries, Charger controllers, Inverters, Solar panels the types of these and what I am currently using in my setup).

Terms used:

Voltage – Weather you are running at 12/24 volt or 240volt
Amps – Current draw of the unit you are running per hr
Charger Controller – A device that sends power from the solar panels to the battery banks.
Inverter – Makes 12 volts into 240volt (house supply)

First and foremost you need to determine what you are going to run on your solar system. To do this you need to make a list of the equipment you’re wanting to run and what power type they are/or require (i.e. 12 volt or 240 volt).

Hardware Voltage Required   

Here is some of my list to help you on your way:

LCD TV 23 inch.                         12 volt    
Wayco Fridge freezer              12/24 volt/240 volt   
500 watt Pure Inverter          12 volt
LED lights x 8                              12 volt

You may have more on your list but that does not matter at all.  What you want to have in your motorhome is why we are all different you can have what ever you want in your RV as long as you match the solar system output to the equipment you wish to run. It is also best to over estimate the power usage of your system as degrading of amps can occur if you have long runs in the conduit (wires to and from the solar panels and your batteries). Simply just follow the formula and advice below and you wont have any worries. 

You then have to find out how many watts each of the units will use:

For instant the Wayco fridge of mine uses 65 watts to run so all we need to do is divide our 65 watts by the voltage we want to use, which in this case is 12 volts and you get 5.4 amps per hour.

See the figure below:

65 watts
———-     =  5.4 Amps per Hr
12 volts

If you are unable to use this formula please click on the link below it will take you to a Watts into Amps converter page it is very simple to use just add the voltage and the watts into the correct boxes and it will calculate the AMPS for you.

 http://www.supercircuits.com/resources/tools/Volts-Watts-Amps-Converter

* Special Note: I cant find what watts my unit uses?

No problem, if you cant find the watts perhaps the AMPS are already listed on the unit instead. If this fails do a search on the model number of the unit in your internet browser, most websites will give you the specs of the unit online.

Building your Rv motorhome Solar system

Once you have done this for all the things you wish to run on your solar system we can now look at sourcing Charger controllers and batteries for your system. A good place to start is by taking the AMPS from the list above. Lets say that number comes to 15 AMPS what we then do is get a charger controller that will exceed that 15 amp limit. I chose the Blue Sky SB3024DI Multi Power Point Tracking (MPPT)  unit rated at 30 amps. Multi power point tracking simple put, loses less power from the solar panels, hence gaining more power for the batteries.

There are other types of charger controllers on the market which are simply x on/x off or pulse controllers. These types on controllers will do the job, but they will only charge the batteries to 14.4 volts and then switch off. Which can cause issues in the long run for the batteries. They cannot sense what voltage you have an the batteries, hence they may over charge a lead acid battery causing the electrolite to evaporate or turn into sulpur oxide. (may explode if it comes in contact with a naked flame).

If you have the money go with the Multi Power Point Tracking option.

If you want to know more about multi point tracking click on the Page below:

http://www.solaronline.com.au/blue-sky-energy-sb3024di-mppt-regulator.html

The solar panels

Coming up soon!

(sorry all hand got tired and am resting it on ice)around a tin labeled beer).