Go Power question

[Joe1967]

Hi. First time posting. In July we purchased a Flagstaff 282RD. Before that we had two Grand design products. We like the fit and finish of the Flagstaff. Also like the fact that we have not had to have it in the shop to fix anything (yet!). I had a question about the GoPower controller, which I did a bunch of searching for and have yet to find an answer. I am new to solar. It has a 200 watt panel on the roof with an 1800 watt inverter. When it's dark out, the GoPower shows just about 0 volts coming from the panel (to be expected). When the sun is up, it shows about 22 volts. How do I figure out how many watts or amps are being put into the battery? I assume the panel is not 100% efficient. The GoPower does show the state of the battery. It is the 30 amp blue tooth model. Thanks!

[TacomaJoe]

I just looked at an online picture of one and it showed the output voltage and current. Try poking the display buttons to toggle through the different displays.

[Aussieguy]

find your user manual here?
https://support.gopowersolar.com/kb/...-user-manuals/

Pressing Button B scrolls between display info (some models)

.

PS.. the screen may show what the controller is producing... But if you got a fridge using 6amp ..... and controller is producing 10amps

Battery is only receiving 4 amps

I have bluetooth in the battery shows me it's actual charge / discharge
if you want same INFO you can get a SHUNT

[jlankford]

Which model do you have? There should be an info screen that will show you the voltage and the current flowing into the battery. There should also be an info screen that shows you the accumulated amp-hours (Ah) that have been provided over the course of the present day. Some models will also show you amp-hour history for the past several days. You need to look at the operator's manual for your specific model.

Be aware that the current displayed, and the accumulated amp-hours, will not actually all be going into the battery. The numbers represent what has flowed out of the SCC onto the 12VDC bus, and some of that power would have been consumed by other 12V things in the RV - lights, fridge, etc.

If the power consumption in the RV is more than what the solar is providing, then the additional current to power those things will be drawn out of the battery. If the solar is providing more current than the RV is using, then the surplus current will flow into the battery. So, using the numbers displayed by the solar charging controller (SCC) to guess at the real state of the battery is not very accurate.

[Aussieguy]

state of battery is just a guesstimate... it's probably using battery voltage to calculate it... works OK for lead acid battery

I no longer look at my bluetooth for the SOLAR performance...
just check the battery SOC once in a while .



If you want to do.......... off grid / boondocking
I would increase the solar panels to the maximum allowed for your controller
(one or two .... more 200w panels)

get lithium (lifepo4) when your battery dies...
or if you want increase boondocking times .......... with faster charging and more battery capacity switch to Lifepo4 earlier

I got 2 x 100ah lifepo4 from amazon
twice the capacity of lead acid + charges much faster so can utilize the solar better.
cost was similar if not better than getting a AGM battery

[Joe1967]

Thanks for the info everyone. I found the history function, so I can see how many amps are being generated by the solar panel. What is the point to having the GoPower show voltage coming from the panel on its scrolling display? Wouldn't amps be more helpful, since the history is in amps?