New Batteries Now, Solar Year

[Recumbent]

Probably will go solar/electric within the next year(< 12 months), will installing 4 or even 6 batteries this year cause any issues with charging or batter life by using the converter and or eu2000i for the next several months before installing solar?

[7.3Ford]

Gary,

Just keep an eye on the water level you should be good. My Montana had six Trojan T-105, and I put 408 Watts of solar on about a month later (I expand solar to 546 Watts about 1 year later). The solar controller had a better program for changing and keeping my batteries, so I never used the converter after that, even when hooked up to shore power.

My unit sits in storage, without access to power, the solar keeps my batteries fully charged, and in the Summer time I set the fantastic fan for 75 degrees, so it move the hot air out of the unit.

I have four Solar World 275 Watt panels on order for the new Montana which is also on order. That is about 37% more power than my Morning Star Controller can handle, which should give me better output on cloudy days. In full sun the controller will de-rate the panels to what it can handle (800 Watts). The extra panel was only $297, so I am not dumping a lot into a panel I won't use under full sun. My experience is you get 100% output for 1-2 hours a day for panels that are laying flat. I hope this design will expand that to 3-4 hours of controller output at 100%.

[Recumbent]

Thanks on the battery pricing, will call the local golf cart shops, and again thanks for the panel info. Am considering buying two T105's now and adding 2 or 4 later (

[WaltBennett]

Something to keep in mind - your converter will not charge those new Trojans at the voltage they need. Before you get any new batteries, get a Triminic battery monitor, read what Trojan has on their website for charging voltages and you'll see what I mean. If you're going to only have them for a month or two before adding either solar or a good inverter, that shouldn't be a big problem, but I wouldn't go any longer.

[Drifty1]

I have the Hybrid 3012 and love it.. I paid $1935.00 plus a small shipping charge which was cheaper than the standard 3012 that most dealers sell.. I like fact that I can hook my generator up to shore power and set the inverter to draw 5 or 6 amp off the gen and the rest of the power needed from the batterys. I just installed 1305 watts of solar panels (3@435 watts) and going to pick up the back ordered Midnite Classic 150 charge controller in Yuma tomorrow. Will get to see how they work in a couple of days after making the final tie in.. I think I would wait to install your new batterys until getting the inverter as it has a better charging system.. The 3012 will charge at a rate of up to 125 amps.. Good luck with your choices as I think you are headed in the right direction..

[davidaf]

Another happy Magnum owner though the Hybrid wasn't available when I bought mine (grumble). Can't go wrong with their Inverter/Chargers. Like drifty said. Nice to be able to control load to charger when on a lower power gen or even 30 or 20a shore power.

[Bigboomer]

Same suggestion as others, get your inverter and charge controller set up and then get the batteries. Do not go more than 6 months max to add more batteries so they are closer in usage match otherwise the older ones will force the new ones to suffer.

Cannot go wrong with the Magnum. The hybrid was not out on the market when we built our system.

If you can try and go with AGM batteries which will be less maintenance and get you longer life and also will not need a vented compartment or battery box.

Also the big thing is watching your wiring and sizing of cables...see here for more info:

http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm

http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volta.htm

Good Luck!

Les

[Recumbent]

Thanks, I notice the individual solar panels mentioned in the replies are larger size watts than I had been looking at, specifically the 140 Watt Kyocera. Is there an advantage for 1 verses 2 panels with a similar total wattage?

[7.3Ford]

Gary,

Solar World panels are made in the USA. I got four 275 Watt panels for $297 each, which is just a little more the the Kyocera 140 Watt panels. They are a bit bigger, but smaller than two 140 Watt panels.

[Bigboomer]

Gary,

Just go

USA USA USA!

Solar world is also one of the higher rated companies on some "environmental" list that rates how well they do with not killing the environment when making these panels.

[Recumbent]

OK, got it, in summary will buy Solar World panels at 275 X 4 = 1100 watts made in America (true friends and neighbors), good quality combiner box, big wires, 4 or 6 Trojan Batteries, Midnite Classic 150 controller with remote, and Magnum Hybrid MSH3012M Inverter with remote. Thanks All. Our Montana came with one battery, so for the interim will get two Duracell Golf Car batteries at Sam's currently on sale at $85 +core and will make vented box to fit. It appears good quality solar that will fit our life style should cost about 4K to 6K. Will be at Qsite for First Circle in January using eu2000i to recharge. Recently camping at Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, and a neighbor was having trouble with solar due to (we heard) small wires. It appears that many have purchased packages with mis-matched components.

[Bigboomer]

Gary,

I purchased everything from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun:

http://www.solar-electric.com/

Great folks to deal with and very helpful...

and yes undersized wiring will kill your set up, especially from combiner to inverter and batteries to inverter....

Wire overall is cheap as compared with a brick of a system!

See you in Q!

[Drifty1]

Gary, I bought my inverter from Alan Ferber at Bay Marine Supply in San Diego. Here is a link.... http://baymarinesupply.com/store/ele...r-charger.html . The Sunpower panels and Midnite Controller came from Starlight Solar in Yuma. Link is http://www.starlightsolar.com/Home.html . You will producing power before you know it.