Solar upgrade! Got 200W on my roof

kenbw2 · 2020-08-02 15:24:47

My old 100W panel was being quite intermittent, so I went solar shopping. Decided to get 200W to prepare for the darker months.

Found one that fits beautifully on our vans' roof.

Putting out more than twice as much as my old one ever did!

Casper · 2020-08-02 23:02:38

What solar charger is that? I am just using a cheap £10 Chinese one just now but when fully set up im looking for a MPPT but the price of the Epever ones are making my toes curl.

Last edited by Casper (2020-08-02 23:49:51)

kenbw2 · 2020-08-03 23:30:20

Yea the prices are eyewatering aren't they. I did get a slightly cheaper one for £60 as I was thinking of going 24V. This is the link to the one I bought but it;s changed to a bluetooth one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013TYIIT8

For what it's worth, for just 12V setups (ie not two panels in series) the cheap PWM controllers are fine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_cVEYxj3E&t=1010s

Casper · 2020-08-04 14:19:04

kenbw2 wrote:

Yea the prices are eyewatering aren't they. I did get a slightly cheaper one for £60 as I was thinking of going 24V. This is the link to the one I bought but it;s changed to a bluetooth one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013TYIIT8
For what it's worth, for just 12V setups (ie not two panels in series) the cheap PWM controllers are fine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_cVEYxj3E&t=1010s

Cheers but rather have a LCD Display. Funny as i do have the cheap one the guy in the video is getting excited about and yes, good results but.... I have a 300watt panel and thinking of running a small aldi desktop fridge through an inverter and these MPPT are meant to get up to 30% more out your panel. Ill runn the cheap one just now till i find something. Was doing work in teh van today and its chucking it down but the panel is still taking an an amp big_smile

kenbw2 · 2020-08-04 16:30:09

This one was the next best one I was looking at. It's a huge case for some reason but if that doesn't bother you it seems good: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Renogy-Rover-I … B07GYVQWV2

Casper · 2020-08-04 21:02:32

kenbw2 wrote:

This one was the next best one I was looking at. It's a huge case for some reason but if that doesn't bother you it seems good: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Renogy-Rover-I … B07GYVQWV2

No the size dont bother me thanks. Im having a bug cupboard for all my electrics. Plenty room in my bus mate

Casper · 2020-08-09 17:34:58

When i was chatting to you about the controller i also put a bid in on one in ebay and only just won it. Epever MPPT and has a wireless adaptor so i can change settings from sitting on my ass in the awning. big_smile Today i moved my panel to the back as it looked stupid up front and hanging over the sides.

I also ordered a smaller 100w panel to put in the gap up front to give me 400w. Should be enough big_smile

Stu-D · 2021-04-05 23:18:00

That's an awesome setup Ken, I've very interested if I think I can repair the under side.... once I eventally attack it with a hammer, MOT not till December Lol, if it get's past another MOT without me having to weld too much then I'll consider a setup like this, there may even be a mobile version of Starlink by that point... proper digital nomad life! :-P

Casper · 2021-04-06 20:12:03

Stu-D wrote:

That's an awesome setup Ken, I've very interested if I think I can repair the under side.... once I eventally attack it with a hammer, MOT not till December Lol, if it get's past another MOT without me having to weld too much then I'll consider a setup like this, there may even be a mobile version of Starlink by that point... proper digital nomad life! :-P

If worried about the MOT this could be solid. Make one good van and another for spares for little money.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/vans/fiat-scu … 1401676804

kenbw2 · 2021-04-07 14:11:47

I'm amazed to find I'm being completely self sufficient on solar these days. I switched my alternator charging off weeks ago to see how long I could last.

Forever, until winter by the looks of things!

tee_cee · 2021-04-07 14:57:15

kenbw2 wrote:

I'm amazed to find I'm being completely self sufficient on solar these days. I switched my alternator charging off weeks ago to see how long I could last.
Forever, until winter by the looks of things!

What capacity batterys do you have?

kenbw2 · 2021-04-07 15:31:02

A 75Ah LiFePO4 one for the 'house' electrics

Limiting factor me isn't really storage, it's generating as much as I use. Glad this panel is serving me well

Last edited by kenbw2 (2021-04-07 15:31:56)

tee_cee · 2021-04-08 17:05:37

kenbw2 wrote:

A 75Ah LiFePO4 one for the 'house' electrics
Limiting factor me isn't really storage, it's generating as much as I use. Glad this panel is serving me well

Interesting choice. What was your main driver for going LiFePO4?

kenbw2 · 2021-04-08 22:32:27

tee_cee wrote:

Interesting choice. What was your main driver for going LiFePO4?

The cold mainly. Winter is when I get the least solar and use the most electric. It's also something Lead Acid struggles with - you lose like 20% capacity in winter.

The other benefit was they accept a higher charge rate. Lack of solar meant I was idling a lot, so I hoped to reduce that with a battery that would charge in less time.

Pathfinder100 · 2021-07-30 14:44:34

kenbw2 wrote:

tee_cee wrote:
Interesting choice. What was your main driver for going LiFePO4?
The cold mainly. Winter is when I get the least solar and use the most electric. It's also something Lead Acid struggles with - you lose like 20% capacity in winter.
The other benefit was they accept a higher charge rate. Lack of solar meant I was idling a lot, so I hoped to reduce that with a battery that would charge in less time.

How have you tackled the charging issue with LiFePO4 and temperatures below 5C? Did you use heater pads?

kenbw2 · 2021-07-30 17:04:20

Hah, in October when I bought it it was "that's later's problem", which I then proceeded to forget about until I drove into the snow and was like "oh crap, yea I should worry about this". I have a switch for the alternator charge relay so disconnect that, and I unplugged the solar

Long story short, I don't have a good answer. According to the manufacturer the internal BMS has a low temp charging protection. I'll believe that when I see it.

Last edited by kenbw2 (2021-07-30 17:05:41)

Pathfinder100 · 2021-07-31 11:55:19

If it was in a battery box, surrounded by closed cell foam insulation and had a couple of heating pads wrapped around it, you could probably use the Vehicle Battery to heat the Leisure Battery, by running the heating pads from a temperature relay that only fires up when the internal box temp is below say 5C. You could put a switch to a timer inside the van since you don't want it running all the time, just maybe in the morning for 20 mins to warm everything up on exceptionally cold mornings.

Or the alternative way is to bring the battery inside the van. If you are inside it, its unlikely to get to 0C insdie.

tee_cee · 2021-08-01 14:38:13

Both my flex panels have stopped working. 100w and 60w in series. Measuring at the panel junction boxes, the 100w puts out 0v, and the 60w is 0v in full sun and puts out 20v (1A) as the sun goes away.
I guess that the full on sun a couple of weeks ago has somehow overheated the panels and broken some internal wiring.
Somewhat pissed off with these panels now. I have already had one with poor output, and one blew off my roof (my fault that one)

Last edited by tee_cee (2021-08-01 14:38:52)

kenbw2 · 2021-08-01 18:28:47

Pathfinder100 wrote:

If it was in a battery box, surrounded by closed cell foam insulation and had a couple of heating pads wrapped around it, you could probably use the Vehicle Battery to heat the Leisure Battery, by running the heating pads from a temperature relay that only fires up when the internal box temp is below say 5C. You could put a switch to a timer inside the van since you don't want it running all the time, just maybe in the morning for 20 mins to warm everything up on exceptionally cold mornings.
Or the alternative way is to bring the battery inside the van. If you are inside it, its unlikely to get to 0C insdie.

Yea I'll need to figure something out for this winter. On the days where it didn't get above 0C I only turned on the charge relay after the engine had been running for an hour, betting that the engine bay would have been warm enough by then

tee_cee wrote:

Both my flex panels have stopped working. 100w and 60w in series. Measuring at the panel junction boxes, the 100w puts out 0v, and the 60w is 0v in full sun and puts out 20v (1A) as the sun goes away.
I guess that the full on sun a couple of weeks ago has somehow overheated the panels and broken some internal wiring.
Somewhat pissed off with these panels now. I have already had one with poor output, and one blew off my roof (my fault that one)

Same, I've gone through 2x 100W panels and they seem to have had some internal wire breakage because if I bend them concave, they give full output, but nothing when flat. I think it's because of how they flapped in the wind.

No trouble with this one yet thankfully

tee_cee · 2021-08-01 20:03:46

Funny thing is there is little evidence of this type of failure on the net. When I get home I'll tryy to repair, but If I do buy some more I'll maybe get branded with warranty.

Pathfinder100 · 2021-08-01 22:29:03

They tend to only last a year, for the cheap Chinese ones. Overheating is the biggest problem with them, plus mixing two different wattage panels is inadvisable for other reasons (the 50w will drag the power generation of the 100w down). If you really want to make that configuration work, get a second controller and plug each panel into its own 10A controller, although the 50w would take a 5A controller, like the one Bimble sells.

I use fixed frame panels. In the grand scheme of things they just work better. I'm after one of these 295W Perlight Mono PERC panels. At 1.5m x 1m x 35mm and costing only £130, it should provide all the power I will need for all the time I have this van and still work well in winter. I use a 30A Epever XTRA-3210 MPPT controller to run the panel and have the bluetooth addon kit to give me the extended functionality. I'll get you some pictures of it when i have it all set up.

Tee Cee, for your problem, try lifting the panels up by mounting them on a thin wooden frame so an air gap exists below them. It doesn't have to be a massive air gap, even say 5mm from the roof with some holes in the frame to allow air to move. A small amount of air flow should negate the heating issues. Also try not to park in partial shade or you can end up with hotspots on the panel, which in time will cause them to fail. The other things is seriously consider splitting the panels on to different controllers, so you can maximise power generation.

If you search at Will Prowse's DIY Solar Forum you will find lots of threads about Flexi panels failing. Most of the time its because people glue them down on to a metal van roof and don't allow any cooling. Flexi's were originally designed for boats, that generally have fibreglass or wooden roofs that (probably) dissipate heat better. Panels create a lot of heat when they generate energy. If they don't have good airflow around them, they generate less or ultimately fail. That's one of the reason i prefer framed panels. Even if you glue them straight to the roof, you could drill a couple of holes in the frame to promote air flow.

tee_cee · 2021-08-02 18:40:26

Thanks for that, those panels look good. I went flexi because the van is 197cm, so I guess these would tip me over 2m. How will you mount the panel?

Pathfinder100 · 2021-08-03 00:10:03

Wickes angle brackets, most likely, its how I did the panels on my Transit. The picture below was of my secondary charging system that kept the vehicle battery topped up, but all of the panels were done the same way with 4 angle brackets per panel. For the Perlight I will probably go with 6 brackets. I will stick it down with Stixall most likely (which is what i used for that 20w panel and it was a major pain to get off the other week after a year on the roof). I ideally want to avoid bolting through the roof, but might do anyway. It depends on placement. Will definitely need to fit a gland box for the cables.

The van roof dimensions are (according to the Mk1 Dimensions Thread), 1m wide by 2m long (roughly). The Perlight panel is 1.5m long by 1m wide, so will easily fit with 0.5m of space behind it for a roof vent. If I also consider the height, I should still be able to keep the total height, just under 2m.

The panels I currently have are 100w and were purchased from an ebay shop called TripleSolar. At the time, they were the only place that would deliver panels (at the start of the Covid pandemic). They work well for the size. 100W Mono Solar Panel They aren't cost effective. Until I get the Perlight I will be running 2 of them side by side on the roof.

tee_cee · 2021-08-03 15:53:27

Do you need any clearance under the panel? Seems like my van should be 1942mm high, so it might just fit

Last edited by tee_cee (2021-08-03 15:53:51)

Pathfinder100 · 2021-08-03 21:23:34

5mm should suffice. it just needs some space for airflow. On those panels that would give a total van height of 198cm, which is still low enough to get under most barriers.

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#1 2020-08-02 15:24:47

Solar upgrade! Got 200W on my roof

#2 2020-08-02 23:02:38

Re: Solar upgrade! Got 200W on my roof

#3 2020-08-03 23:30:20

Re: Solar upgrade! Got 200W on my roof

#4 2020-08-04 14:19:04

Re: Solar upgrade! Got 200W on my roof

#5 2020-08-04 16:30:09

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#6 2020-08-04 21:02:32

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#7 2020-08-09 17:34:58

Re: Solar upgrade! Got 200W on my roof

#8 2021-04-05 23:18:00

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#9 2021-04-06 20:12:03

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#10 2021-04-07 14:11:47

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#11 2021-04-07 14:57:15

Re: Solar upgrade! Got 200W on my roof

#12 2021-04-07 15:31:02

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#13 2021-04-08 17:05:37

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#14 2021-04-08 22:32:27

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#15 2021-07-30 14:44:34

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#16 2021-07-30 17:04:20

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#17 2021-07-31 11:55:19

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#18 2021-08-01 14:38:13

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#19 2021-08-01 18:28:47

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#20 2021-08-01 20:03:46

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#21 2021-08-01 22:29:03

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#22 2021-08-02 18:40:26

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