14 Solar Installation Questions!

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by ColoradoSwany

BTW, I really love the Victron smartphone app! This is a stealth system as nothing shows from the exterior (at ground level) and there are no additional gauges showing in the interior. All I need to know and more, are right on my Bluetooth app.

And a side note on the installation: I do not like being on a ladder, so I bought a 13’ long aluminum scaffold, each end of which sits on ladders. That 14” wide scaffold made the roof work much more tolerable for me and it will come in useful for waxing the roof. Additional good news is that I now have less roof to wax.

Good for you ! Nice work ! Our 3 60 watt Lensun panels and Victron controller still going strong ! Pat

[ColoradoSwany]

Thanks, Pat! Took me weeks of study and months to screw up the courage to tackle it. Glad I did. I would not have attempted it without the help of all those on this forum, especially you, Jim and Mark Bennett! And if I look back,I am sure I could come up with more names. This forum is really helpful.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by ColoradoSwany

Thanks, Pat! Took me weeks of study and months to screw up the courage to tackle it. Glad I did. I would not have attempted it without the help of all those on this forum, especially you, Jim and Mark Bennett! And if I look back,I am sure I could come up with more names. This forum is really helpful.

Your Welcome ! For me I have to give a shout out to Dave Walter who really helped my installation and keep answering my insistent questions ! Pat

[osubbfan@aol.com]

I enjoyed reading your post and valuable information regarding the 3 80W Lensun panels Solar system. I also am considering a system for my 5.0. I am curious if this is enough power? The 5.0 has slopped roof and I may not be as efficient as yours. Any info on your power usage and solar charge capabilities for your lifestyle would be appreciated. Thank You.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by osubbfan@aol.com

I enjoyed reading your post and valuable information regarding the 3 80W Lensun panels Solar system. I also am considering a system for my 5.0. I am curious if this is enough power? The 5.0 has slopped roof and I may not be as efficient as yours. Any info on your power usage and solar charge capabilities for your lifestyle would be appreciated. Thank You.

I have four 50w Lensun panels on the roof of my 21. They are connected in parallel to a MPPT solar controller.

As the MPPT controller allows them to be in series, it was a choice to not connect them in series. First, connecting a portable solar panel becomes problematic. Second, if one or more of the four panels is shaded, I still get power from the set.

Now to the question on power. The four put out 200w - that has been enough power to recharge my batteries usually before noon when we boondock even on cloudy days. So far, I haven't had the occasion to need the portable solar panel as the roof panels perform so well, it wasn't needed.

[ColoradoSwany]

Originally Posted by osubbfan@aol.com

I enjoyed reading your post and valuable information regarding the 3 80W Lensun panels Solar system. I also am considering a system for my 5.0. I am curious if this is enough power? The 5.0 has slopped roof and I may not be as efficient as yours. Any info on your power usage and solar charge capabilities for your lifestyle would be appreciated. Thank You.

It’s been great so far. Had several outings, some for well over a week, since the installation and never had a concern with low batteries. The only trip we had when it might have been an issue was the Ozarks in late October when it was gray, chilly and rainy or drizzly much of the time. But even the federally run campgrounds had electric hookups so no problems. Guess with all the shade trees and gray skies, that’s the norm there.

Our biggest draw is probably charging two iPads, two iPhones and an Apple watch from our USB ports. We don’t have a microwave, no CPAP machine, and forego the toaster if on battery power, so no inverter. I love the Bluetooth feature of the Victron controller. Keeps me entertained for hours!

We live and mostly camp in the southwest, so solar works great for us. I took along our 80w portable GoPower suitcase solar on every trip, just in case. Turned out I carried an extra 25 pounds unnecessarily on every trip. Never got it out of the car.

[Mark B1]

Originally Posted by osubbfan@aol.com

I enjoyed reading your post and valuable information regarding the 3 80W Lensun panels Solar system. I also am considering a system for my 5.0. I am curious if this is enough power? The 5.0 has slopped roof and I may not be as efficient as yours. Any info on your power usage and solar charge capabilities for your lifestyle would be appreciated. Thank You.

For our use, the 3 x 80W (240W total) Lensun panels with MPPT controller is more capacity than we need, but as we don't use hook ups I wanted to ensure I would get at least some charge in shady camp sites and on cloudy days. Note that I just installed our panels before the start of this years camping season and camped about 45 - 50 nights this year.
The main use for our 12V system is lights, furnace fan, water pump, a radio, charging phones and a few other rechargeable items. Much of our camping went into the fall where the furnace fan ran most nights (one night with snow). We shower every couple days which runs the water pump more than just regular use. There was maybe 2-3 days when the system did not come up to full charge during the day due to heavy overcast clouds and forest fire smoke. As well, at that time we had friends accompanying us who also used lights, charged phones, and showered which increased consumption. The battery never was lower than about 12.5 volts at dusk (going from memory ). I am certain we could operate for up to 3 nights without any solar.

If you look at Jim Bennett's installation on their Escape 5.0 at the following link you can see he fit four 60W panels for a total of 240W. He has some good roof pictures for locations on a 5.0. The 80W panels where not available at the time of his installation, but I believe they would fit and give you 320W total. I know Jim also runs an inverter for 120V applications (like expensive toast) so they likely uses more power than we do.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...ion-10273.html