| Author |
Message |
Pete (205.188.209.11)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 6:18 am: | |
I'm about to buy the solar panals and all the goodies that go with it. I have generator on the aux. batteries to charge them and the bus batteries are not hooked up to it.
This is all complicated by the fact that 30% of the bus batteries are used when dry camping cause of the positive ground of the bus. All new wired are grounded..no small task but..as fate would have it ( and lack of experience) some of the house lights and 2 fans are on the rig batteries..
Question..from anyones experience should i just hook up the panals to the bus batteries..or can i split it so it powers both at the same time?
Where I camp..some of the time..a generator cant be run and i might have to go 5 or 6 days with no recharge..
Any ideas? |
Dale Fleener (64.66.215.22)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 1:10 pm: | |
I am also in the process or solarizing my bus and have checked into such things you have mentioned, but only on paper, so for what its worth; I have decided to NOT hook my chassis batteries to the panels, I think there would be too much power going to them.
Maybe an 'emergency start' circuit will take care of the need to turn the engine over if the chassis batteries are low.
You might re-think connecting ANY house usage to the chassis batteries as this would slowly but surely drain them, and they ain't made for that type use.
My bus already has a negative ground, but if it didn't, I would consider very hard making the change. Look in the Archives and you will find threads on making the change.
A system like in most commercial RV's to isolate the battery banks would not be a bad idea but (if you can remember to use it) a simple disconnect switch could also isolate the banks.
Hope this rambling note helps
Dale |
Tom Connolly (148.78.247.10)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 3:46 pm: | |
You can hook-up solar panels to as many battery banks as needed. The solar panels are connected in a series / parallel configurations as follows, for 12V you connect all the 12V panels in parallel, for 24V you connect 2- 12V panels in series = 24V, for more current output you would then connect additional 12V series pairs, in parallel.
The Panels should be fused and the combined outputs connected to regulators, 1 regulator output servicing each battery bank.
Regulators insure that you do not over charge a battery bank and should be purchased in a size sufficient to handle the total wattage of the solar panel bank with an extra margin, the rule of thumb in electronics is 2-1/2 times the output for continuous duty. ( a bank of 4- 12V / 75W panels in series can produce 300W of 12V power (25 amps) and should be connected to a regulator that can handle a 700W short and about 400W continuous duty)
Additional regulators serving separate battery banks must also be rated at the full panel capacity.
Good quality regulators with multi stage charging will insure that no batteries are over charged.
Tom C |
Quest (198.29.191.148)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 1:35 am: | |
HUH?
( a bank of 4- 12V / 75W panels in series can produce 300W of 12V power (25 amps) and should be connected to a regulator that can handle a 700W short and about 400W continuous duty)
4 - 12v 75w panels in SERIES will give you 84volts dc at 75w. To acheive what you want, you would have 4 - 12v 75w panels in parrallel to produce 300w. BUT, if he has a 24v system, then he will use 2 panels in series, PARALLEL with the other 2 panels in series to have 24vdc at 150watts. The appropriate regulators will have to be considered.
Quest |
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