electrical dummy

THELMALOUIE · 02-14-2020, 06:41 PM

I am looking for some advise on the following. We have a 2016 Cherokkee 304b travel trailer. It currently has the orginal class 24 12volt battery. I want to change the battery and while doing so make the trailer more compatable to dry camping on occasion. When we dry camp the DW likes to use the tv 70watt and Dvr 95 watt and one of the 12 volt lights. Of course you also use the igniters on the refrig. and furnance. This usage is approx. 7 hour in the evening.
I have a 1000 watt solar panel with conttroler and a 2500 watt inverter.
I could not find the amps. on the above items. My questions are;

Batteries wet or agm
batteries (2) 6 volt or one 12volt
batteries how many Amp Hrs

Any information would be greatly appreciated as I know zero about electric much less solar.

notTobyG · 02-14-2020, 07:00 PM

Typically 6 volt golf cart batteries will give you approximately 220 amp hours linking two In parallel. Figure you can use half of that before having to recharge the batteries. To clarify do you have a 100 watt solar panel or do you have several panels equaling 1000 watts? If you have a thousand Watts of solar power sounds like you have more than enough for most situations.

BehindBars · 02-14-2020, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notTobyG

Typically 6 volt golf cart batteries will give you approximately 220 amp hours linking two In parallel. Figure you can use half of that before having to recharge the batteries. To clarify do you have a 100 watt solar panel or do you have several panels equaling 1000 watts? If you have a thousand Watts of solar power sounds like you have more than enough for most situations.

You’ll probably want the two 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series, not parallel, so you’ll have an output of 12 volts.

THELMALOUIE · 02-14-2020, 07:05 PM

1 1000 watt panel

notTobyG · 02-14-2020, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BehindBars

You’ll probably want the two 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series, not parallel, so you’ll have an output of 12 volts.

Oops you're correct!

BarabooBob · 02-14-2020, 07:28 PM

I have never seen a 1000 watt panel. I have seen a few 1000 watt systems which frequently are 10 panels hooked together. I have two 150 watt panels but most panels are 100 watts each. A 1000 watt panel would be very large.

tomkatb · 02-14-2020, 07:49 PM

The more battery storage the better. We have 4 six volt batteries.

You need the most you can get.

AGM generally are less forgiving of abuse and more expensive. Two lithium would give you 200 amps but the cost is high. Likely you need a new converter.

P=IV. 100 watts is 12.5 volts times I amps. So 100 watts is about 8 amps. Rooftop solar is generally about 25 amps a day per 100 watt panels on a good day.

If you use an inverter there is a 10-25% loss of power in the conversion that has to be figured into you calculation of what is needed.

Man, 1000 watts of solar is a ton! No walking on that roof!

boondocking · 02-14-2020, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THELMALOUIE

1 1000 watt panel

Is that panel approx 25 ft x 12 ft ?
If not, then that panel is not a 1000 watt panel.

formerFR · 02-14-2020, 08:29 PM

I think 2 GC2 Golf Cart batteries are in your future, wired in 'series' to give you 12 volts... you'll not really 'need' solar, though it's nice to have for the few hours the sun might shine for you, but it's not going to make any huge impact - the batteries are what is going to allow you to have a comfortable 7 hours of enjoyment each evening.
Then, use the small generator to recharge the batteries the next day, for several hours...

done!

notTobyG · 02-14-2020, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarabooBob

I have never seen a 1000 watt panel. I have seen a few 1000 watt systems which frequently are 10 panels hooked together. I have two 150 watt panels but most panels are 100 watts each. A 1000 watt panel would be very large.

I was thinking the same thing. Then I began to wonder how large a panel that really would be.

THELMALOUIE · 02-15-2020, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notTobyG

Typically 6 volt golf cart batteries will give you approximately 220 amp hours linking two In parallel. Figure you can use half of that before having to recharge the batteries. To clarify do you have a 100 watt solar panel or do you have several panels equaling 1000 watts? If you have a thousand Watts of solar power sounds like you have more than enough for most situations.

I had a chance to check today. It is a 100 watt panel

THELMALOUIE · 02-15-2020, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarabooBob

I have never seen a 1000 watt panel. I have seen a few 1000 watt systems which frequently are 10 panels hooked together. I have two 150 watt panels but most panels are 100 watts each. A 1000 watt panel would be very large.

It is a 100watt panel Sorry for the mis info

SlowrideHD · 02-15-2020, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THELMALOUIE

It is a 100watt panel Sorry for the mis info

A 100 watt panel isn't going to supply much more than a trickle charge. I have a dozen 265 watt panels at my cabin, so it really takes a lot of solar to do much good.
A couple of Trojan T-105 six volt batteries will give you 12 volts and about 110 amps of useable power before they draw down to 12.1-12.2 volts at rest. That is considered 50% of your total power in the batteries and you don't want to draw them down much more than that.
It would be great for you to have 400-500 watts of solar. The thing about topping off your battery bank with a generator that runs for an hour or so is that the battery bank never has a chance to get far out of "bulk" mode and into a "float" mode. That gets your batteries back up to near 100%
Also look at a MPPT solar control if getting more panels. A PWM is ok for a single panel but not ideal for efficiency.

**Flybob** · 02-15-2020, 01:22 PM

No problem. You would need a very large RV for a 1000W panel if you could find one.

GoneSouth10 · 02-15-2020, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THELMALOUIE

It is a 100watt panel Sorry for the mis info

Dammit - I just spent 4 hours searching Amazon for that 1000W panel!!!

notTobyG · 02-15-2020, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THELMALOUIE

I had a chance to check today. It is a 100 watt panel

As another has said 100 watt panel is only going to replace a few AH's back into the battery(ies). I have a 340 watt panel that I use on a pole that is anchored to the front or back of the trailer or with in a 75ft. radius of the trailer depending on where the sun is. This way I get the max sun possible. With my system I'm able to replace all AH used up to my max of my two 6v batteries (110Ah = 50% of 220Ah) . Obviously provided it is sunny. My biggest Ah drain is my Keurig 4 to 10 cups a day and running my Treager smoker 3 to 8 hours a day depending on the cast of characters each trip. I have been out up to 5 days at a time and never have had to fire up the Genie.

THELMALOUIE · 02-15-2020, 02:53 PM

What make is your panel

notTobyG · 02-15-2020, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THELMALOUIE

What make is your panel

LG when I put solar on my house I bought an extra panel. $300 for the panel

THELMALOUIE · 02-15-2020, 03:25 PM

Thanks I will look at that

**Flybob** · 02-15-2020, 03:42 PM

Be aware that all 100W ( or any other panel size) are not equal. Check efficiency and voltage out. Renogy has some good panels and good information. If you are buying a controller, get one that is 30%-50% larger than you think you need. That way you can add panels ( even unmounted) without buying another controller.

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