Solar test

[JimD]

All this talk about shaded panels. Just how far apart are your panels where one would be greatly shaded while the other one is not. My panels are mounted in line with each other so they pretty much get equal sun/shade. I suppose if you constantly park by a large tree you may get uneven shading. I gladly accept any free power I get from my 2 panels.

After all of this talk I just invested in a new mppt controller. From what I hear these things are in the high 90% efficiency range and much better than the cheap controllers often used. I hope to install it this weekend and see if I can get a bit more out of my 200 watts.

A nice thing about this controller is that I will be able to monitor the solar operation through a phone app via bluetooth. Currently I would have to crawl under my slide out and prop open a storage area door to see what my controller is putting out.

[pconroy]

Good timing - the RVGeeks talk about serial, parallel; shading and different model panels.
A good video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beS2qs9GkMo

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by JimD

All this talk about shaded panels. Just how far apart are your panels where one would be greatly shaded while the other one is not.

Check out some of the videos where they monitor the output with just a VERY SMALL amount of shading. Very small.


The output drop is astonishing...
Shade a corner of a panel because of the Air Conditioning cover and whammo...





I'm not worried about it,m personally.
I'm not into squeezing every last milliamp out'a the system as are some others.


Those folks talk about stranded vs solid gauge wire.
I'm just grateful for a few free amps.

[eagle55]

Originally Posted by JimD

All this talk about shaded panels. Just how far apart are your panels where one would be greatly shaded while the other one is not. My panels are mounted in line with each other so they pretty much get equal sun/shade. I suppose if you constantly park by a large tree you may get uneven shading. I gladly accept any free power I get from my 2 panels.

After all of this talk I just invested in a new mppt controller. From what I hear these things are in the high 90% efficiency range and much better than the cheap controllers often used. I hope to install it this weekend and see if I can get a bit more out of my 200 watts.

A nice thing about this controller is that I will be able to monitor the solar operation through a phone app via bluetooth. Currently I would have to crawl under my slide out and prop open a storage area door to see what my controller is putting out.

I have the 40 amp version of this one in my Amazon cart now. It looks like a good one, and with the ability to monitor my batteries from my cellphone while laying in bed wondering how the battery is holding up on a cold night with the furnace running seems worth it. Let us know how you like yours!