Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum > MOC Technical Forums > Solar, Charging Systems, Batteries and Electrical
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 03-09-2017, 07:39 AM   #1
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
Solar advice

We plan to be staying off grid this summer for two or three months. Actually every summer until we get a well drilled, a septic system and build our cabin. It's a stones throw from Canada. So I've been shopping for a soler system for the new to us monty 5th wheel. I think I'm going to start with 400 watts witch I would like to install two 200 watts instead of 4 100s, I think I'm going to get rid of the two 12 volt deep cycle batteries and replace with 4 6 volt Trojans So the problem I'm having is 200 watt panels are not out there like the 100 watt panels. I went to the montana dealer yesterday they had 185 watts for a little over $400. the other thing is I read words like Polcrystalline or Mono Crystalline the parts guy at montana didn't have a clue. I'm wanting run a tv at night coffee pot in the morning. Last year with our other 5th wheel it seemed like the generator was running way to much
Thanks Mel
 
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2017, 04:23 PM   #2
Kimo
Seasoned Camper
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Idaho Falls
Posts: 87
M.O.C. #13238
We currently use two 100 watt mono crystalline panels from Renergy Solar and 4 6 volt Duracell 235 AH batteries. We also have a 2000 watt Xantrex pure sine inverter. Works great for the smaller amp items such as the TV. The coffee pot (kuerig) will pull up to 1500 amps while heating water so it's a big draw but still works great. The Renergy Eclipse system charges nicely. We will add two more panels in a month.
Kimo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2017, 05:52 AM   #3
WaltBennett
Montana Master
 
WaltBennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Hanover
Posts: 1,471
M.O.C. #13325
We've had 400 watts and 4 T-105s for several years now. I installed the system myself (it's here in Additions) as I couldn't find anyone willing to even get close to following Jack Meyer's advice (http://www.jackdanmayer.com/rv_electrical_and_solar.htm). We got our four 100w mono panels here: https://www.renogy.com/ and they make all kinds of sizes. I'd strongly suggest you find something you're interested in and get the actual dimensions. Then go up on your roof and figure out where you can put them. Since you really need to have the shortest DC cable run you can, this should be near the front of your rig (unless you're mounting your charge controller and batteries somewhere other than the front part). There's a lot of stuff on our roof that mandated using 100w panels so I could locate them best. I had to remove our MaxAire vent covers to avoid shading. You also don't want them completely level - a little slope lets rain water drain better.

Although I made certain I could add up to four more panels and two more batteries, it's worked very well for us as is. I put a thread up in Boondocking about spending four days with cloudy/rainy weather a while ago. Unless you just have to use electrical appliances (coffee pot is the worst!), or are in really cold weather so the furnace runs all night, a little care managing what you do will make it work fine.
__________________
WaltBennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2017, 10:16 AM   #4
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
Walt,
I am planning on buying from Renogy, I want to go with 400 watts. But I've been trying to find 200 watt panels for less space on the roof, but I think I'll go with the 4 100 watt panels with 4 6 volt golf cart batteries. Did you install a inverter? If so how big?
Thanks, Mel
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2017, 10:30 AM   #5
WaltBennett
Montana Master
 
WaltBennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Hanover
Posts: 1,471
M.O.C. #13325
Ahhh, yes, my inverter . . I was looking for something in 2kw size, but chanced on an AIMS 4kw new one on eBay. Yes, I know AIMS does not have a stellar reputation, but the thing was $815 with shipping! I simply could not pass it up. Maybe it's because I've never tried using it at anything near it's rating - probably never past 1kw - but it's worked very well for us. Only time it refused to work was two years ago in California, in 114 degree ambient temperatures. I've never seen anything electronic that liked to work in that kind of heat though. Once we moved on to a cooler place, it started working again.

Always nice to know I could turn on the air conditioner with it though - might run for a few minutes until the batteries went dead.
__________________
WaltBennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2017, 12:27 PM   #6
Dam Worker
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: West Richland
Posts: 1,253
M.O.C. #17164
I have been following this solar blog to learn a little bit about solar systems. Here is a link. Just information as I am not connected to this blog.

https://gotsolarinstalled.blogspot.com/?m=1

Tom Marty
__________________
Dam Worker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2017, 06:58 PM   #7
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
soler

Well I bought four 6 volt golf cart batteries yesterday, And today after days and hours of reading. I was leaning towards renogy starter system. Someone here sent me a link and at 4:00 a.m. I was reading it. Anyway his advice was the 400 watt Renogy It was $1200 but amazon had a guy selling them Used but new un-opened for $499 and free shipping. I hope its all in the box. So now I'm on the hunt for a inverter I'm thinking around 2000 watts. I'll keep you posted

Thanks Mel
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2017, 07:36 PM   #8
Kimo
Seasoned Camper
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Idaho Falls
Posts: 87
M.O.C. #13238
Be careful withe the controllers and the type of panels you get from EBay. They are usually not the mono panels and a cheap controller. The 400 watt Renergy system has the Eclipse 100 watt mono panels and the 40 amp Commander controller which is far superior. IMHO.
Kimo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2017, 04:28 AM   #9
jfaberna
Montana Master
 
jfaberna's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Willow Spring, NC
Posts: 989
M.O.C. #13909
I bought the 100watt Mono starter kit directly from Renogy because it was cheaper than Amazon and still had free shipping. It comes with a PWM controller which works fine for what I wanted. One panel or 4 in parallel produce ~22 volts which will not hurt the PWM controller and while it's only 80% efficient vs. 90% for a MPPT controller, it works and is cheaper. You can go from very little to a lot with features, bells and whistles, and cost. Some features gain you knowledge and some features gain you more Amp-hours. You can drive yourself insane and broke dealing with solar.

I just wanted to keep my 2 golf cart batteries charges while it's in the storage lot, so I'm ready to go any time, or just do maintenance on the rig in storage. If you boondock a lot you may need more monitoring features so you can know how much power you have left, how long it's taking to charge and how deeply you are discharging your batteries. Have fun.
__________________
Jim & Martha Abernathy
2014 Montana 3402RL Level UP, Sailun S637's, TST 507, 500W solar
2014 Ram 3500 Laramie® 4x2 diesel dually crew-cab 3.73 axle, Reese R20
jfaberna is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2017, 09:03 AM   #10
mjammersc
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Fort Wayne
Posts: 477
M.O.C. #17609
Personally if I was doing a smaller level system, less than 500-600W of panels, I would recommend the Bogart Engineering SC-2030 PWM charger combined with their TM-2030 monitor. Pair that with 4 135-150W "12 Volt" panels and 4 Trojan T-105s or similar and a Magnum 2012 Pure Sine Inverter/Charger (or another brand if cost is an item and/or you aren't needing the charger portion but Magnums are the typically the top rated units) you would have a good basic system. If you need any bigger, and then you need to go up to the higher voltage panels (typically 275-320W ea) and an MPPT controller and a 6 pack of batteries with an appropriate inverter.




From your description of being mostly a shorter term need and desire to minimize generator use but are OK with some, I would do the 500-600W setup I described with a straight inverter vs the inverter/charger to keep your costs down.
__________________
2016 Montana 3160RL w/MOR/Ryde IS and Disc Brakes
855W Solar System, TriStar MPPT-60 Controller, Magnum 2800W Inverter, 6 Trojan T-105REs
2015 Chevy Duramax SRW SB Crew Cab

mjammersc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2017, 12:54 PM   #11
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
soler

So I got up this morning grabbed a cup of coffee turned on laptop to check when my Renogy 400 watt premium kit would be delivered. Well I had a email saying my order had been canceled for Technical Problems. So I went to amazon and yes they still had the kits from Renogy for over $1200 but the other store on the same page last night was gone!! Thats the one I bought the Renogy unopened 400 watt premium kit for $499. I've tried contacting Amazon and the third party seller. I called the credit card co. they said I had a $499 purchase pending. So I guess I'll wait a few days and see what happens.
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2017, 01:14 PM   #12
WaltBennett
Montana Master
 
WaltBennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Hanover
Posts: 1,471
M.O.C. #13325
I had something like that happen, but with something my wife wanted. We get a lot of stuff from Amazon, and this only happened that once. Now, eBay is a different matter entirely . .
__________________
WaltBennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2017, 01:56 PM   #13
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
Grape

Has anyone had any experence with a solar Co. called Grape? The reviews are good, but I was hoping someone here knows something about them.
Thanks, Mel
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2017, 10:03 PM   #14
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
another solar kit

Well I've Been reading so much on solar, if I could just retain about half of it I would be a solar genious. Talked to renogy sales guy twice today, Lots of information very helpful. This what I've been wanting.
Renogy 400 Watt 12 Volt Eclipse Solar Premium Kit
it took a while but I picked it up at a decent sale price and I should have it Monday. Summers coming
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-17-2017, 07:02 AM   #15
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
Well the "Renogy 400 Watt 12 Volt Eclipse Solar Premium Kit" came yesterday, very fast shipping. So now I think all I have left is buying a inverter. I can't imagine that we will be running much more then a t.v. with suround sound. Computor I'm not sure what else. I'm sure I'll be going with PURE SINE not sure if I should go with 2000 watt or 3000. Any Ideas? I also started replacing the bulbs with LED that we will use the most. EXPENSIVE!
Thanks, Mel
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-17-2017, 10:02 AM   #16
mjammersc
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Fort Wayne
Posts: 477
M.O.C. #17609
The big power draws on inverters are microwaves, hair dryers, electric skillets, coffee pots, etc - thinks with big heating elements and of course a fridge if you are running it on electric vs propane. In 90% of the cases a 2000w inverter will suffice. Many have a surge rating where they can provide a higher power for short instances if needed. Overall the main thing you'll need to learn on solar if careful use of electric. When we are off grid, we typically only use the inverter in the evenings.

I am not sure if the renogy system includes a battery monitor such as the trimetric 2030 but some method to monitor your battery use (current draw and charge state) is a must.
__________________
2016 Montana 3160RL w/MOR/Ryde IS and Disc Brakes
855W Solar System, TriStar MPPT-60 Controller, Magnum 2800W Inverter, 6 Trojan T-105REs
2015 Chevy Duramax SRW SB Crew Cab

mjammersc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-17-2017, 11:27 AM   #17
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
Yeah it has Included MT-50 Tracer Meter and a 40 amp charger controler, I have 4 225AH 6volt batteries all I need now is the inverter. And were good at dry/ boon docking, but first time with solar. We have two 2000 hondas. I'm ordering a new converter now, It has the origenal and I want a new one. Our fridge is always on gas, we will be mostly watching movies maybe charging laptops. I think I'll go with the Pure Sine 2000 sounds like it will do what we need. When were on our property up in Washington we can run a genorator all night if we want. But can't wait to watch a movie with my wife listening to the coyoties and not the GEN.
Thanks, Mel
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-18-2017, 12:56 PM   #18
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
Kimo That's the one I bought, started looking into it after reading your reply. Also the genorgy's E-bay store you can make offers. I got $100 off and free shipping
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-11-2017, 09:09 AM   #19
Mel B.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: North Bay Area
Posts: 351
M.O.C. #19469
So a little update, I ended up buying the Renogy Pure sine 2000 inverter/charger, I decided to have it installed, since I'm still getting over a botched back surgery in Jan. that turned into 3 surgeries the last one in Feb. So that will be done in a few weeks, I'll keep you posted. But I wanted to talk about the LED 12 volt lights. They were $5 for 2 bulbs (I think they were 911's or something close to that. I can't remember right now. So I decided to try bulbs on amazon. I bought 30 leds for about $35 so I replaced 7 bulbs in the bedroom bath and shower area. Then in the kitchen/living room I left 8 of the old bulbs. Of course I couldn't find my amp meter but with 8 old bulbs on My volt meter at the cables on the controller dropped 2 volts, I turned lights off volt meter went up too volts. I then went upstairs and turned on the seven LEDS and my volt meter did not move. VERY IMPRESSED.
Mel
__________________
2004 2955RL 2nd owners 400 watt solar, 2000 inverter/charger 4-6volt golf cart battery's & a champion 3400 remote start dual fuel genny
2000 F-350 swd crew cab long bed 7.3 power stroke transflow 77 gal fuel tank.
Mel B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Montana RV, Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:32 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.