Solar Power System -- part 1
This is a project I have been
working on for a while, and it's been partly functional for over a
month. It is still a work in progress, but it's mostly finished now.
Thanks to Don (Linda of Raven's Roads
husband) for advice and helping me get the pannels mounted on the roof
of my RV at the RTR.
The panels and controller were purchased from AM Solar in November. I have one OM100N panel, two OM100W panels, one OM150 panel, and a Morningstar Tri-star 60 MPPT controlled. (Prices have changed, and they no longer list the OM100W or OM50 on their web page.) I purchased the mounting feet and tilt bars from AM Solar, but I felt their prices on wire and accessories was high and purchased that elsewhere. (Marine cable for the roof from Ebay, some other wire from a scrap metal dealer by the pound.) Parts of it will be redone when I get the correct cable.
The 60-amp controller is larger than I need, but it
has an ethernet interface that the 45-amp version does not. This
allows me to monitor the controller via a web page, and I plan on
doing more in the future. Placing the controller was a bit of a
problem, it needs to be mounted vertically with six inches of clearance
top and bottom, near the battery bank but not in the same compartment,
and should not be exposed to road grime. My compromise was to mount
it low in the corner of the kitchen, cutting a cupboard door in half
and using plywood to strengthen the thin wall it is mounted on. This
makes the lower section of this cupboard unusable. The wires to the
battery/generator compartment run through a hole drilled in the floor
of this cupboard, coming out over the batteries. Other things may be
mounted in the former cupboard space in the future. The 80-amp fuse
holder is mounted under the controller.
My solar system is sized for a significantly larger battery bank than my pair of 6-volt golf-cart batteries. I have plans to put in a higher-capacity battery bank in the near future. As things stand now, I have plenty of power during the day and have to watch my power consumption at night.