[VAC] Re: Solar

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert,
 Had I thought a bit, I would have been more specific; I do know better.

Of course, most folks who would be considering adding solar power to a
trailer WOULD have a converter of some sort; if they can get by without,
they probably don't need additional power anyway.

A couple of folks asked about cost: I have maybe $500.00 in my solar
panels and charge controller. The latter is somewhat rudimentary and
cost about $30.00, the panels are "rejects" and cost me $225.00/each at
the Dayton Hamvention. That's a bit over half the price of equivilant
panels, from what I've seen. The defects in my panels are cosmetic in
nature and don't seem to affect their operation, and they WERE mounted
in frames. The same fella often has panels that didn't make it to that
stage of the manufacturing operation and are cheaper yet, but you'd
spend a fair amount of time (and some $$$) installing them in frames of
some sort, adding a junction box, etc.

The fancy metering was extra; the eMeter was over $200.00 w/shunt. It
came in handy on our recent 2-month trip, even though we were "plugged
in" every night.

Our converter, one of those fancy StatPower 3-stage chargers, crapped
out after about a week on the road. Having the eMeter, we were able to
keep track of usage and saw that it was going to be no problem getting
through the night, even though we were running the furnace a LOT. (it
was about 20 degrees that night) To get us by until we could get to a
Camping World store and buy an IntelliPower converter/charger, we went
to Wal-Mart and bought a $40.00 "automatic 10-amp" battery charger. I
set it next to the batteries under the couch and clipped it onto the
posts. This arrangement didn't allow the eMeter to see the charging
current, so it thought that the batteries were being run down. It took
more than 2 days of usage before the eMeter was showing "red" lights,
indicating a severe discharge condition. Of course, because the eMeter
would still measure the battery voltage, we were able to determine that
our batteries were actually in fine shape. In fact, based on the
accurage voltage readout, I would have felt comfortable finishing our
trip, using only the battery charger for a "converter". It didn't
provide enough power for peak usage, but made up for it when not so many
lights were in use. Battery voltage would climb to about 13.75 during
slack times, enough to charge the batteries but not enough to cook the
water out of them.

I consider a very accurate digital voltmeter to be a necessity if you're
doing any boondocking and/or are interested in how your batteries are
doing. That's the minimal instrumentation that you can get by with.

                                      <<Jim>>