Solar 600W

[pmgia]

I took off the 190w and added (3) 200w panels, secured to roof rack. I had to remove the cross bars and Winegard to accomplish this but I doubt I would ever use them. Obviously had to swap out the solar charger for a Victron MPPT 100/50. I also de-badged the Tellaro, build quality isn’t good enough to give them free advertising.

Next is 800ah Lithium. Has anyone done a similar setup?

[DavidEM]

I noticed that you will probably get a little shading from the A/C when the sun is towards the front of your RV. I am guessing that you wired the three in series. The shading will affect the output of all three panels so you will lose output then.

The only way is to wire them all in parallel and accept the high voltage drop or replace the OEM 10 gauge with something bigger.

David

[pmgia]

I did wire in series. I am getting just over 1kWh per day so far. I may tweak it. Possibly put the middle panel on its own charger.

[DavidEM]

Originally Posted by pmgia

I did wire in series. I am getting just over 1kWh per day so far. I may tweak it. Possibly put the middle panel on its own charger.

If you separate the middle panel, then you will have to run a separate cable to a new controller. Why not wire all three in parallel and run a new bigger cable, at least #6 gauge.

If you can figure out how to run a separate cable for just the middle panel, you ought to be able to run a bigger cable for all three in parallel.

David

[Chance]

Originally Posted by pmgia

I did wire in series. I am getting just over 1kWh per day so far. I may tweak it. Possibly put the middle panel on its own charger.

You didn’t mention what panels you have, or their specs (model). Some panels have built-in circuits that deal with partial shade.

In Florida 600 Watts could deliver over 2 kWh daily on a sunny day in summer, but you didn’t mention if 1 kWh + results were recent in December. Even so, I’d expect a little higher energy output in Florida on a sunny day.

Obviously, the solar system can only produce energy if the batteries can accept it or there are other loads to use the power. If your batteries were nearly fully charged already, then the 1 kWh production doesn’t really say much one way or the other. Test has to be controlled for data to be meaningful.

By the way, if I suspected the middle panel was causing overall system efficiency problems from air conditioner shade, I’d first test to quantify how bad it is before making changes. One test could be to temporarily bypass the middle panel and operate with only the front and rear in series; then observe energy production on similar days under similar battery/load conditions.

I would personally avoid making changes before knowing exactly what is going on, otherwise it is guessing and could make system less efficient on average.

[pmgia]

I have only had these hooked up since December 5th. I used Grape 200w panels from Home Depot. I had two 180w on a 2017, I became friends with the person that purchased that van and those panels are still going strong so I like Grape. I wanted to use Rich panels - they are smaller and a few bucks cheaper but Grape is proven to me.

My 1 KWh average is not relevant, I haven’t had the batteries down. I’ll be full time for a month in the near future and will get real data then, plus I’m ditching the Mastervolt for a Victron. I will have a lot of data within 90 days. I put in a CerboGX when I changed out the MPPT, I can get live data online all the time.

DavidEM - thanks for the input, you’ve given good info before, glad you’re here.