Solar panels

[Swebby]

As this is becoming a free 4 all solar panel thread thought I would ask something.
I am thinking that if I was going to do this I would probably need 2 x 50W as they would fit in the depressions. Would you splice them together into the controller or would you need a controller with 2 inputs?

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[pkrboo]

As this is becoming a free 4 all solar panel thread thought I would ask something.
I am thinking that if I was going to do this I would probably need 2 x 50W as they would fit in the depressions. Would you splice them together into the controller or would you need a controller with 2 inputs?

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use 2 into 1 branch connectors then a single(well 2, pos and neg) into the controller

[Swebby]

Cheers. Will start having a good look into this now.

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[steveo9007]

I got 2 panels on my hitop that you can make out in the pic and they are controlled by a PWM Steca 1010 Controller, with 2 leisure batteries behind seats, they are joined together by the positives and then the left hand one goes into the solar controller, would both batteries be charged by the controller or should i be looking at a dual battery solar MPPT controller ???

[slowcoach]

I got 2 panels on my hitop that you can make out in the pic and they are controlled by a PWM Steca 1010 Controller, with 2 leisure batteries behind seats, they are joined together by the positives and then the left hand one goes into the solar controller, would both batteries be charged by the controller or should i be looking at a dual battery solar MPPT controller ???

If they're linked, then they'll just behave as one battery, so no need for a 2 battery controller.

[steveo9007]

Ok that’s cool as they are. Interested to hear about the differences between PWM and MPPT though, it’s seem the later is obviously more of an intelligent solar battery charger so I might do the switch over to that.

[Swebby]

Right I have hit a problem with panel sizes. The depressions on my side elevating roof are 55cm x 49cm. Trying to find panels to fit in them is difficult. A single 100W looks out of the question as too large, even the 50W ones I have seen won't fit so that really leaves 4 x 25W. Anyone seen any small semi flex ones that might fit?

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[Mocki]

You can go over the Moulding’s , Ralph did on his tin top with no issues ....

[Swebby]

Cool. Would you just seal it to the high bits and leave a gap in the depressions? Or are they flexible enough to bend and be stuck down everywhere?

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[Mocki]

search covkids posts, i think he added some plastic strip to fill the gaps, there will be pictures somewhere,i havent got time to look right now

[Swebby]

Will do cheers.

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[Swebby]

Found it. A good read.
https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... 5#p8120215" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


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[JonB]

Do you guys keep or remove split charge relays when installing solar? My VSR needs replacing and would also look to uprate all the cables. Just wondering if nowight be a good time to go solar.

[steveo9007]

kept my split charge relay in place as it doesn't get in the way for me, and will charge up my batteries as i am travelling from pillar to post, so happy where it is, and when parked up my solar panels keep it topped up.

[Mocki]

Do you guys keep or remove split charge relays when installing solar? My VSR needs replacing and would also look to uprate all the cables. Just wondering if nowight be a good time to go solar.

Voltage sensing relay and solar controllers don’t like each other generally , as the solar lifts the battery voltage and the VSR can’t tell the difference between that and the alternator lifting the voltage so just joins the two batteries together and makes the solar controller charge both at once with no conditioning . I suppose if you have a cheap PWM controller that is only for a single battery that would still work but if your controller is dual battery the vsr will cause problems
I kept my split charge system ( which is a alternator triggered 100amp relay rather than a VSR )but I built it with a kill switch so I can turn it off when it’s not needed , and I only switch it on when travelling in the dark if need be


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