Solar problems

[loper]

No offense taken - I was just wondering if you kept with the PWM controller or Redarc found a solution.

I put together a battery box for my refrigerator, I have a cross country road trip planned, didn't like running it off the inverter/plug in the back of my tacoma, kept forgetting to switch it back on after stopping to eat or gas up.

The next item will be connecting it with the SCC, right now the plan is charge it up at a site that has electric overnight.

edit: perhaps you were talking about the cold panel - in grubworm's post above it was mentioned the series voltage, solar panels put out higher voltage when they are cold, I saw Idaho in your signature, so assumed a low temperature.

Ah, now I understand. No, it wasn't cold when I was fighting with it, about 100 degrees.

Since the PWM box works, I hard wired it in and that's my solution to the solar issue.

 

[cookiedough]

No, it wasn't cold when I was fighting with it, about 100 degrees.

Ugh - That sounds like a Phoenix day! Thanks for the clarification.

 

[freak4life]

Ugh - That sounds like a Phoenix day! Thanks for the clarification.

Dave, 100 is a fall day here.

:)

 

[cookiedough]

Dave, 100 is a fall day here.

:)

True! And this morning's hike was surprisingly and pleasantly cool!

 

[freak4life]

True! And this morning's hike was surprisingly and pleasantly cool!

The seasonal change is coming.

 

[loper]

So, here's a close out on this:
Just got back from a 6 day trip, and got to test the solar stuff. Running two fridges (60L Iceco for food, small Alpicool 9L for drinks), various lights, water pump, charging phones and cameras. Camped in one spot for a few days without starting the engine. The batteries (2 100ah AGM) never got below 12.2V, after just a bit of sun they hit 13.8V.
I'd say it works for our needs. If we add an inverter and start using 110V, I will have to increase both battery bank and solar.