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01-21-2010, 03:45 PM
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#21
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Apple Valley
Posts: 161
M.O.C. #9997
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by WorkerB
Hi Mike,
As Hamrad said earlier on this post I added 6 panels to the Monty a few days ago. Since installation I have not had a perfect day of sunshine so I can't speak from experience. We had one fair day since installation and I was excited to see my 4 AGM batteries fully charged in 4 hours. The rest of the day ran the inverter, 5 cu. ft. freezer 2 laptops, electric coffee pot, printer, lights, TV & Satellite receiver. These were use as needed but not all at once. I will post some pictures later today. We are at Quartzsite and need to run to town. The cost was reasonable but I shopped around and found great deals. Some folks like to save the money and do it themselves. Others pay more and have their system installed. Either way you will not be sorry you installed solar. We may still be here when you arrive so keep in touch and you can climb on the roof and have a look. Regards,
John
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John, That sounds great! Would be nice to see your setup. Haven't recieved word yet on when our Monty will show up here. Sure getting the rain now. Thanks, Mike
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01-29-2010, 03:20 PM
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#22
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Apple Valley
Posts: 161
M.O.C. #9997
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by mojavemike
Quote:
quote:Originally posted by WorkerB
Hi Mike,
As Hamrad said earlier on this post I added 6 panels to the Monty a few days ago. Since installation I have not had a perfect day of sunshine so I can't speak from experience. We had one fair day since installation and I was excited to see my 4 AGM batteries fully charged in 4 hours. The rest of the day ran the inverter, 5 cu. ft. freezer 2 laptops, electric coffee pot, printer, lights, TV & Satellite receiver. These were use as needed but not all at once. I will post some pictures later today. We are at Quartzsite and need to run to town. The cost was reasonable but I shopped around and found great deals. Some folks like to save the money and do it themselves. Others pay more and have their system installed. Either way you will not be sorry you installed solar. We may still be here when you arrive so keep in touch and you can climb on the roof and have a look. Regards,
John
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John, That sounds great! Would be nice to see your setup. Haven't recieved word yet on when our Monty will show up here. Sure getting the rain now. Thanks, Mike
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John, just got word that my Monty won't be here until the 3rd week of February. Appears that other besides me are starting to spend their money. You will probably be gone by then. If you are heading this way, I have plenty of room with a view, for a stop over on where ever you are going. Mike
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03-13-2010, 02:35 PM
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#23
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Montana Master
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Indian Land
Posts: 1,142
M.O.C. #9808
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by HamRad
Mojavemike,
You should be here at Quartzsite. John, WorkerB, and the Q group are installing 6 panels on his rig. They made great progress yesterday and will probably finish today. He should have all the power he can use once they get the panels all dialed in. Hopefully there will be some pictures.
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We are all still waiting on pictures, would love to see how you did your install.
I hope to have all the parts in two weeks. I went with two Uni-Solar PVL 136 Watts and two 68 Watt panels (four 136 Watt panels wouldn't fit). These are the ones that sick to the rubber roof. The reason I went that way, was they are the only panel that is shadow tolerant, and we camp around trees a lot. There is an outfit that use the 68 Watt panel, and put a nice rubber edge around it that you screw into the roof, but the price is three times as much. The panel is rated for 130 miles per hour, so I don't think you really need it. Time will tell, but getting the roof clean is paramount.
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03-13-2010, 02:50 PM
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#24
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Montana Master
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Rapid City
Posts: 739
M.O.C. #77
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7.3 Ford. I went the same way with 2 68 watt panels. We only run a few lights, the refer, and DW's laptop with our system. However, we run the laptop on battery for a couple of hours then plug it in and charge it for a couple of hours. That way, I still have enough power left in the batteries to run my 750 watt coffee pot in the morning. The coffee pot was the main reason for going with solar. Not polite ot crank a generator too early.
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03-13-2010, 03:02 PM
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#25
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Montana Master
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Indian Land
Posts: 1,142
M.O.C. #9808
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by lasater
7.3 Ford. I went the same way with 2 68 watt panels.
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How long have you had them on there, and have you had any problems.
I know others express concern when I was researching, and was already to go with Glass panels, til I found out that if as few as three cells in the panel got shaded, it could knock out the whole panels output. This is because most only have three by pass diodes, where the Uni-Solar has a by pass diode on each cell.
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03-13-2010, 03:11 PM
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#26
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Montana Master
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Rapid City
Posts: 739
M.O.C. #77
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Had them put on at Q this year. No problems at all with them. I do check the batteries pretty often to make sure they have plenty of distilled water.
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03-17-2010, 03:09 AM
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#27
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Milford
Posts: 434
M.O.C. #8202
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03-17-2010, 03:20 AM
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#28
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Milford
Posts: 434
M.O.C. #8202
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by 7.3Ford
Quote:
quote:Originally posted by lasater
7.3 Ford. I went the same way with 2 68 watt panels.
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How long have you had them on there, and have you had any problems.
I know others express concern when I was researching, and was already to go with Glass panels, til I found out that if as few as three cells in the panel got shaded, it could knock out the whole panels output. This is because most only have three by pass diodes, where the Uni-Solar has a by pass diode on each cell.
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Mike where did you get the info about the diodes? I would like to look into that.
Thanks,
John
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03-17-2010, 04:36 PM
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#29
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Montana Master
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Indian Land
Posts: 1,142
M.O.C. #9808
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by WorkerB
Mike where did you get the info about the diodes? I would like to look into that.
Thanks,
John
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John,
I read it a couple of different sites... I did a Google and found this link to a lab exercise.
http://www.learnonline.com/pdf/The%2...l%20Output.pdf
Easy way to tell is look at the spec sheet, and look for how many diodes are in the panel. If a panel has 60 cells and 3 diodes, then you would have 3 parallel circuits of 20 cells in series. If just three cells are shaded (one in each of the series) the whole panel is 0 output. See PDF above near end, explains it.
Now the Uni-Solar has a diode on each cell, so you will lose a .5 volt (drop across the diode) for each shaded cell, but doesn't cause an open circuit.
I think the links where I was reading are on my other computer, which is not started... I will post the those URL's.
PS, thanks for posting the pictures. My panels shipped today, will be here next Tuesday.
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