Solar!

[Chris Owens]

Just sharing a little stoke! The solar kit arrived today. 200 watt system with 2x100ah batteries and a pure sine wave inverter.

 

[Raul B]

looks great.....

 

[nickburt]

Nice. What panel is that?

 

[Chris Owens]

Hi. Two 100 Watt Windy Nation panels.

 

[nickburt]

Hi. Two 100 Watt Windy Nation panels.

Many thanks, will look them up.

 

[Chris Owens]

Well...the solar is up and running. The wires ended up entering the van through a pop open window so no drilling or external routing was required.

 

[Road]

View attachment 52132 Just sharing a little stoke! The solar kit arrived today. 200 watt system with 2x100ah batteries and a pure sine wave inverter.

View attachment 52400 View attachment 52399 Well...the solar is up and running. The wires ended up entering the van through a pop open window so no drilling or external routing was required.

Cool - those are the same van racks I have, though am not using now. A tip, though, on wiring going through a window like that. I've found that letting the wire either make a loop or drop a bit before entering the window gasket will help prevent water following the line in and dripping all over the place. If at the back end of your van side, you may not even know it's happening while driving. I've run an antenna wire like that for ages and often get water following the wire in.

I'll be interested to see how your panels perform and if you get enough gain with fixed flat panels. I've grown used to folding panels I can move about while my van and trailer are in the shade, and be able to tilt them this way or that to maximize input, but am considering some flat mounted panels for awhile to compare. When we're driving, we don't really need solar input as it is usually overridden with the alternator charging the system, so I'm having an internal dialog about the worth, or not, of having permanent flat-mounted panels.

 

[Chris Owens]

Good idea on routing through the window. I followed it down and came in through the bottom to see if it helps with the water. I will have to keep an eye on it and see.

This system does not connect to the alternator. We do use power when driving because of the Theo toddlers. They watch cartoons, etc while traveling to a site. I thought about tilting panels, but I wanted the ease of flat mount. I didn’t do folding panels because I didn’t want to take up space in the van. Even though it’s a big vehicle it can get tight quickly with four of us.

I’m excited to see how they do though. I will monitor and post up in a few months with the results.

 

[Road]

Good idea on routing through the window. I followed it down and came in through the bottom to see if it helps with the water. I will have to keep an eye on it and see.

This system does not connect to the alternator. We do use power when driving because of the Theo toddlers. They watch cartoons, etc while traveling to a site. I thought about tilting panels, but I wanted the ease of flat mount. I didn’t do folding panels because I didn’t want to take up space in the van. Even though it’s a big vehicle it can get tight quickly with four of us.

I’m excited to see how they do though. I will monitor and post up in a few months with the results.

I don't mean that the solar is hooked to the alternator, but that the deep cycles are (or are in most typical setups with an isolator) and that they charge while driving in that case, making the solar not important while driving. If you have the batteries completely separate, not charging via alternator while driving, then oh yes, completely dependent on the panels.

 

[Chris Owens]

Right on. I knew what you meant and didn’t word it very well. Lol.

 

[Joseph Solin]

Nice setup. I did something similar on my Jeep paired with an Inergy Solar generator for power storage/inverting.

Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[Chris Owens]

That looks great! It’s awesome having solar on board.