Ultimate Solar Thread

rando said:
A 30A MPPT controller should be fine for 3 120W panels.
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Yep - realized that after I looked it up again. Originally I was thinking I would get a 15 or 20A and opted for the 30A for expansion. Guess it was the right call!
 
I did several years back when I installed solar on our first camper. I can document every day and night spent in our camper.
 
ski3pin said:
I did several years back when I installed solar on our first camper. I can document every day and night spent in our camper.
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Interesting. I might do this. Does the "second home" require an address? Any other gotchas?
 
michgoblue said:
Had ordered two from Amazon and just ordered a 3rd from SolarBlvd for $20 cheaper than I paid earlier. Was going to use a 30A MPPT Controller - now I need to see if I need to upgrade to a 40A instead.
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Howdy

Did you get your flex panel installed ?

Could you please post the actual dimensions of the Solar Blvd panel referenced ?

There seems to be confusion over the actual size versus shipping box.

Many thanks

David Graves
 
Esus

The IRS says on page 4 of

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p936.pdf

"For you to take a home mortgage interest deduction, your debt must be secured by a qualified home. This means your main home or your second home. A home includes a house, condominium, cooperative, mobile home, house trailer, boat, or similar property that has sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities. The interest you pay on a mortgage on a home other than your main or second home may be deductible if the proceeds of the loan were used for business, investment, or other deductible purposes. Otherwise, it is considered personal interest and is not deductible. Main home. You can have only one main home at any one time. This is the home where you ordinarily live most of the time. Second home. A second home is a home that you choose to treat as your second home. Second home not rented out. If you have a second home that you do not hold out for rent or resale to others at any time during the year, you can treat it as a qualified home. You do not have to use the home during the year."

Here's an explanation of the solar ITC

http://www.seia.org/policy/finance-tax/solar-investment-tax-credit

I'm not an accountant. You should check with your tax preparer to see if they think your camper qualifies. If so, taking 30% of the installed solar system cost off your income taxes looks like a pretty good deal.
 
DavidGraves said:
Howdy

Did you get your flex panel installed ?

Could you please post the actual dimensions of the Solar Blvd panel referenced ?

There seems to be confusion over the actual size versus shipping box.

Many thanks

David Graves
Click to expand...
The shipping box was just a tiny bit larger than the panels. I sold the camper that I installed 3 on, but installed 2 on my current camper. Pretty sure they are 52" x 23" x 1/8th" but will measure when I get home if you need more precision.

The first three panels I attached directly to the roof using Eternabond and it held pretty well. The new camper has Yakima tracks so I built a rack out of angle aluminum and flat aluminum to mount them in and bolted that to the Yakima tracks.
 
Howdy

Yes, some actual dimensions would be GREAT !

I have Yakima racks but they are at a different width than some other Hawks..

Thanks again

David Graves
 
DavidGraves said:
Howdy

Yes, some actual dimensions would be GREAT !

I have Yakima racks but they are at a different width than some other Hawks..

Thanks again

David Graves
Click to expand...
The 120w flexible solar blvd panel was 1/2" too long for me to mount east to west between my rack mounts on my 2015 Fleet. I think it's actually 51.5". I was able to fit two of them plus a 50 watt flexible end to end oriented north to south between one rack mount and the two fans. That has the added benefit of grouping all of your connector cables in one small area real near the solar connector in the roof.

I did call the Solar Cynergy guys and they said it would be possible to trim the ends but it would open the seal on the laminate and you would need to reseal them somehow. Plus, you can only trim so much before you hit the grommets. Hope that helps.
 
SCUD said:
Esus

The IRS says on page 4 of

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p936.pdf

"For you to take a home mortgage interest deduction, your debt must be secured by a qualified home. This means your main home or your second home. A home includes a house, condominium, cooperative, mobile home, house trailer, boat, or similar property that has sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities. The interest you pay on a mortgage on a home other than your main or second home may be deductible if the proceeds of the loan were used for business, investment, or other deductible purposes. Otherwise, it is considered personal interest and is not deductible. Main home. You can have only one main home at any one time. This is the home where you ordinarily live most of the time. Second home. A second home is a home that you choose to treat as your second home. Second home not rented out. If you have a second home that you do not hold out for rent or resale to others at any time during the year, you can treat it as a qualified home. You do not have to use the home during the year."

Here's an explanation of the solar ITC

http://www.seia.org/policy/finance-tax/solar-investment-tax-credit

I'm not an accountant. You should check with your tax preparer to see if they think your camper qualifies. If so, taking 30% of the installed solar system cost off your income taxes looks like a pretty good deal.
Click to expand...
Scud,

Thanks a bunch. That is awesome and I don't think it would have occurred to me unless Turbo Tax specifically asked. I don't think "do you have a camper with solar on it" is in their programming yet!

Thanks again,
E
 
michgoblue said:
The shipping box was just a tiny bit larger than the panels. I sold the camper that I installed 3 on, but installed 2 on my current camper. Pretty sure they are 52" x 23" x 1/8th" but will measure when I get home if you need more precision.

The first three panels I attached directly to the roof using Eternabond and it held pretty well. The new camper has Yakima tracks so I built a rack out of angle aluminum and flat aluminum to mount them in and bolted that to the Yakima tracks.
Click to expand...
I guess I forgot to take the measurements then . . .

Anyway the panels were 51.5" x 21" x 1/8th". I had purchased 2 originally but had room for a 3rd if needed. Saw them on sale for $139 so bought one more. Even though the new one is the same spec and part number as the old, it is actually 5 inches shorter, and has one less row of cells. So it may be that they are a little more efficient now? I guess I will know after I get it hooked up.

I installed with aluminum angle and flat brackets on my Yakima racks. Because the last one is shorter, I have to add a cross support from the flat aluminum on the edge of the middle panel running to the flat aluminum running under the outside edge of the new panel, since the front would not meet up with the angle aluminum that the other two were resting on.

I have had these panels mounted for 6 months and several thousand miles so far with no issue, so it seems like a fairly sturdy way to do it, while also making it really easy to remove and work on.
 
Finished installing my third 120W panel yesterday. Camper is off the truck in the garage so might not have a chance to test it for a while, but in the indirect sunlight coming in from the open door it appears to be functioning well, and did increase the voltage coming in.

I decided to add the 3rd panel, in parallel, because we often have cloudy days here in the Pacific Northwest, and even during sunny days we tend to have a lot of trees that partially obscure the sun. I have a VMAX 155aH Solar Tank AGM and noticed that with 240W under our cloudy conditions it would not quite get topped off, so figured I might as well toss on another panel. I may end up having to make a portable though to deal with camping in or near trees if I don't get enough from the 3 panels.
 
I shut down my fridge for the season. Since then I haven't seen it drop below 100% soc even on cloudy days.
 
PaulT said:
Angry Bob Solar has a new article on his web site that piqued my interest re the higher charging voltages being recommended now.
https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/2018-warning-turn-the-voltage-down/

Interesting read. I'm sure more will follow.

Paul
Click to expand...
Interesting. He is now recommending a max of 14.4V for AGM batteries in the absorb phase. ROLLS/Surrette (which is what I am using) recommends 14.7 I might just be turning that down...
 
Gotta go out and check mine. Interesting reading. Don't undercharge, don't overcharge. I can see why some just say the heck with it and just replace cheap batteries every other year.
 
And if I turn mine down to 14.4, will I void my warranty? In his story, the manufacturer honored the warranty because he used their recommended (and now determined to be too high) voltage. Hmmm. :unsure:
 
Vic Harder said:
And if I turn mine down to 14.4, will I void my warranty? In his story, the manufacturer honored the warranty because he used their recommended (and now determined to be too high) voltage. Hmmm. :unsure:
Click to expand...
And would the manufacturer void your warranty if you used a Zamp that allows no modification of the charging profile other than selecting AGM, FLA, or Calcium?

Paul
 
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