Our solar setup (1 Viewer)

Elias

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We are now a couple of days into our Spain trip & I thought I'd share how were getting on with our solar kit

The setup is:
  • x1 250w 36v panel
  • mppt 250 voltronic solar controller & lcd computer.
  • 220 ah hankook battery bank (x2 110ah)
So far I have seen a peak of 11a charge but we were on the move at the time & the sky was a bit patchy.

We are hoping to not have to plug into mains to charge the battery's, the bank is at about 70 percent full at the moment & the weather is forecast for 2 full days of clear sky's. I am hoping that this will get the batterys to 100 percent, we will just have to take it easy on what we are using at the moment. (I better add that we did not start our trip with fully charged battery's)

We usually have the stereo on when we park up, I think that draws around 5amps, we have only charged the laptop twice from the battery's which has a 19v transformer, not sure of the amount of drain from this? And finally the 5.2a water pump which gets used in the morning for the kettle & washing up.

As I write this we are getting 6.2a from the panels & only using the lighting (I'm being a tight arse) we will be heading to Salou in the next hour, with clear sky's all the way I'm hoping for a good charge.
 

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Jim

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Why is it that men spend hours looking at those little displays? Or is it just me :)
 

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Snowbird

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Why is it that men spend hours looking at those little displays? Or is it just me :)

Its not just you Jim. I think it helps satisfy the hunter gatherer instinct.

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Elias

Elias

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We are on our second day at this site just outside of Salou & it looks like the solar panel isn't working aswell as I hoped.. also it seems that I had let the batterys discharge alot more Than I originally thought, I think another couple of hours on mains they should be fully recharged.

Anyway we are currently getting 6a from the panels, the van is on flat ground & I have fixed the panel flat to the roof. I think next time i will fix the panel to a bracket so that I can angle them towards the sun.

I will wait until the batterys are fully charged and will see if the panel can keep up with our power usage over the next couple of weeks.

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I doubt your radio will be using 5amps, on our battery monitor usage goes up by about 5amps when we turn on 32” TV, Sky box & Soundbar
 
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Elias

Elias

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It's a pioneer single din stereo, we had been blasting it out when working on the van so I can imagine it's around the 5amp mark. Just had a look at the manual, the maximum current consumption is 10amp.

The battery's are now fully charged, it took around 12 hours on mains and a couple through the panel. Tried to get the most out of the sun yesterday.....

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Lenny HB

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It's a pioneer single din stereo, we had been blasting it out when working on the van so I can imagine it's around the 5amp mark. Just had a look at the manual, the maximum current consumption is 10amp.

The battery's are now fully charged, it took around 12 hours on mains and a couple through the panel. Tried to get the most out of the sun yesterday.....
Yes probably does, the double DIN ones have a 10 amp max and nominally run at 6 amp.
 
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Elias

Elias

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The updates are coming thick and fast today! As I now have a full charge I can determine how many amps each appliance uses from the votronic panel - the flashing sun indicates a full charge & the input amperage changes depending on the appliance request..

So this is obviously very rough but here's my usage:

Waeco 21l fridge on first use: 5.5amp
Pioneer stereo using aux: 3amp
19v laptop charger: 1.4amp
Mini rig speaker charger 5v: 0.3 amp
Phone charger: 0.8amp

Once the phone, laptop and speaker is charged I can run the fridge from the solar which is currently bringing in 7-8amps.
 

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