scappoosebrad
Advanced Member
On our recent 3-night, lakeside, camping trip @ a sunny 80 to 85 high/65 lows , our spot was primarily “in the shade”(only 1 available) as is the case in many mountain campgrounds. First time our 160W Zamp roof panel was reacting to “shady” camping spot… by the 3rd day, our Zamp Controller was showing max @ 12.6v and early morning @ 12.0… previously our solar only camping locations had at least 4 hours of direct sunlight that easily restored the charge back to 13.4v by 1 pm.
Our rig is a 2016 Fleet with factory installed solar components: 160w Zamp roof solar panel and Controller, IOTA IQ Smart Converter, and 2 x 6v AGM Full River DC-226 batteries. We try to limit our appliance use to: our Isotherm CR65 fridge (electric only) setting @ “2”/low(biggest draw) and our Fantastic Fan @10-20% in the evenings, our LED lights for bedtime activity. And unlike some of you in recent posts, these components appear to be working properly and serve our needs –for now.
We were starting from scratch with our electrical/solar knowledge prior to purchase. I have read and tried to absorb as much as my “limited” brain can absorb. From the recent posts about ”Battery” and “Fridge & Voltage Drop” I pored over posts and slowly increased my knowledge—but hard when I haven’t installed, been an engineer, or w/ minimum electrical/solar knowledge/experience. As was mentioned, there are indeed some “limitations” to our current factory components—where some are upgrading their controllers and solar panels including even 4W factory components (recent Camper World article—did NOT realize our 160w Zamp solar panel will not collect with “partial sun”—it is either “on” or “off” vs their newest and current multi-zoned Overland solar panel—works in partial shade ).
That said, other than possibly adding a portable solar collector, our current system is “good to go” for now. I would welcome some options to maximize the use of our current solar system. (1) Shady campsite options? Start your truck for 1 hour every other day? Take an hour drive every other day to visit another lake or to town? Others? (2) With so many “variations” seen in these posts, what are reliable High/Low charge guidelines for (a) High float level charge--13.4v(our current float level); (b) how LOW do you allow your charge to get to “maximize” your battery life? Some say 50%, some say 60%...often with an AGM battery I see 12.0v as a bottom line(will be calling a local Fall River Battery distributor for their Min/Max guidelines)…
Look forward to your comments, suggestions, findings from others who have camped with a similar solar systems... your monitoring levels? your shade spot options?…thanks!
Our rig is a 2016 Fleet with factory installed solar components: 160w Zamp roof solar panel and Controller, IOTA IQ Smart Converter, and 2 x 6v AGM Full River DC-226 batteries. We try to limit our appliance use to: our Isotherm CR65 fridge (electric only) setting @ “2”/low(biggest draw) and our Fantastic Fan @10-20% in the evenings, our LED lights for bedtime activity. And unlike some of you in recent posts, these components appear to be working properly and serve our needs –for now.
We were starting from scratch with our electrical/solar knowledge prior to purchase. I have read and tried to absorb as much as my “limited” brain can absorb. From the recent posts about ”Battery” and “Fridge & Voltage Drop” I pored over posts and slowly increased my knowledge—but hard when I haven’t installed, been an engineer, or w/ minimum electrical/solar knowledge/experience. As was mentioned, there are indeed some “limitations” to our current factory components—where some are upgrading their controllers and solar panels including even 4W factory components (recent Camper World article—did NOT realize our 160w Zamp solar panel will not collect with “partial sun”—it is either “on” or “off” vs their newest and current multi-zoned Overland solar panel—works in partial shade ).
That said, other than possibly adding a portable solar collector, our current system is “good to go” for now. I would welcome some options to maximize the use of our current solar system. (1) Shady campsite options? Start your truck for 1 hour every other day? Take an hour drive every other day to visit another lake or to town? Others? (2) With so many “variations” seen in these posts, what are reliable High/Low charge guidelines for (a) High float level charge--13.4v(our current float level); (b) how LOW do you allow your charge to get to “maximize” your battery life? Some say 50%, some say 60%...often with an AGM battery I see 12.0v as a bottom line(will be calling a local Fall River Battery distributor for their Min/Max guidelines)…
Look forward to your comments, suggestions, findings from others who have camped with a similar solar systems... your monitoring levels? your shade spot options?…thanks!
