Solar - What Volts / Watts / KWH do you get

[Californication69]

Haven’t seen a thread on what to expect from your Solar install. (Seeing as we have some major sunshine at the moment)
Thought I’d start one.
Maybe list what you have and such like.
I’ll start with.

(Vehicle) California Ocean 6.1 MY23
(Supplier) Solar Camper Solutions
(1/2/3 panels. ) 1x 100 watt panel
(MPPT) Epever Duoracer. Connected to rear Lesuire battery and single cable to Starter relay.
(Hours of sunshine) 14 hours
(Max watts) 57.9
(Max KWH) 13.3
(Max Amps) 3.1
(Max Volts from panel) 19
(How long vehicle not used and wether on EHU)
10 days, no EHU, fridge set at #4, and front dashcam plugged into USB by kitchen sink.

Not sure to include
(Panels cleaned recently ?) Yes
Any other items to include?

 

[Corradobrit]

I use Xtar 100w panel which has industry leading Sunpower cells. Rated at 100W but that is conservative. I regularly see 100+W. This charges an Ecoflow Delta 2 power station.

 

[Californication69]

I use Xtar 100w panel which has industry leading Sunpower cells. Rated at 100W but that is conservative. I regularly see 100+W. This charges an Ecoflow Delta 2 power station.
View attachment 109708

And what Watt & KWH & Volts?

 

[yossarian]

If your controller is reaching float voltage (looks like it is) then it is discarding energy. All the other max values are pretty much meaningless.

Max kWh of 13.6? You would need a 100W panel operating at full blast for 136 hours to achieve this. It can't be a single day figure. Possibly lifetime?

If all the max figures are lifetime then they are not particularly useful (my assumption of reaching float is not valid)

Let's try get to the bottom of your stats first then try draw some conclusions.

 

[Californication69]

Interesting video on how Solar yield reduces with increased heat.
We had 40 degree temperature inside the California yesterday and around 30 degrees outside.
My charging was down.
But saw an increase in max KWH?

(Max watts) 41
(Max KWH) 16
(Max Amps) 2.4
(Max Volts from panel) 17.7
Interesting video about heat and cooling the panels.

 

[Californication69]

If your controller is reaching float voltage (looks like it is) then it is discarding energy. All the other max values are pretty much meaningless.

Max kWh of 13.6? You would need a 100W panel operating at full blast for 136 hours to achieve this. It can't be a single day figure. Possibly lifetime?

If all the max figures are lifetime then they are not particularly useful (my assumption of reaching float is not valid)

Let's try get to the bottom of your stats first then try draw some conclusions.

Thanks @yossarian
I’ll pull the fuse from Lesuire battery and solar panel today to see if max KWH goes back to zero.

(My control panel is showing only half full Lesuire battery’s.)
(The only items on are fridge at #4 and dashcam plugged into kitchen sink USB)

 

[yossarian]

I have a victron running in a similar setup and will pull the numbers today.

Roger did some very basic testing years ago and was able to run a compressor fridge in summer with battery charge generally increasing daily.

Your dashcam is an unknown but they are not generally optimized for very low energy use particularly if they are writing to flash. Lower energy ones have a pir sensor that wakes them up as I recall.

 

[Corradobrit]

And what Watt & KWH & Volts?

The MPPT in the Ecoflow doesn't provide that granular data.

 

[Loz2286]

Currently running a Solar Camping Solutions single panel set up from @Roger Donoghue of this parish. SE facing panel, bright sunny weather in Switzerland. Ecoflow on charge and fridge running at ¾ setting. Last couple of days the Ecoflow had been recharging from 60% in about 2 or 3 hours.

 

[yossarian]

I switched on my fridge 4 days ago. Before that the battery was pretty much full (you can see it achieved float on the bar graph)

Since then 270, 340 and 380wh have not been enough to top off the batteries, but they are pretty close. You can see the minimum voltage has been very slowly decreasing.

 

[WelshGas]

It would be interesting to see what temperatures the panel is getting to?
Optimal temperature is 25c, I believe, with significant tailing off in output/performance with temperatures over 25c.

 

[wildslammer22]

Only had my set up for a few weeks but so far very impressed. It's from SCS, 1x100w panel and Victron MPPT. Peaked at 86W which is impressively efficient. Currently working from the van with laptop plugged into the inverter and fridge on level 5 and batteries are in float

 

[wildslammer22]

It would be interesting to see what temperatures the panel is getting to?
Optimal temperature is 25c, I believe, with significant tailing off in output/performance with temperatures over 25c.

I have mine mounted on my roof rack rather than directly on the van rails, as a result I have around 2" of airflow underneath the panel. I've no idea if that helps with efficiency in high temperatures but I've not seen a noticeable tail off in performance during the current UK heatwave?

 

[Californication69]

Thanks for the replies guys, this is why I’m considering a 2nd 100w panel from @Roger Donoghue so as it will run the fridge, the laptop and Starlink.
I do think the front dashcam was the culprit, as it runs off the sink USB, but couldn’t understand why the starter battery is not charging.
I’m now thinking if all the power from the solar is going to Lesuire, then there will be zero V going to the starter and that’s why the starter is not holding charge.
But then for 3 weeks, it’s dropped from 12.5 to 12.3
And when I put the key in the ignition it stated starter battery low, needs to be charged.
I’m wondering if I’m getting voltage from the starter to actually power the Epever DuoRacer?

 

[Californication69]

I can’t install a data logger on the Epever DuoRacer can I ?

 

[yossarian]

I can’t install a data logger on the Epever DuoRacer can I ?

There's something on GitHub using an esp32 if I remember correctly. There's also a bm2.

 

[Crasher]

This is my own install two ebay 100 watt panels and victron mppt.Seen 200watt +once not sure how is did this as only 100watt each .These figures are this morning at 9 am.Running fridge on 5 charging iphones projector battery Banks smart watches etc.Van display showing 30 %But think this is not accurate as I only go off voltage which has dropped to 12.44 but recovers fully in day.Total install 200 pounds.only negative panels are different in appearance. Little annoying.

 

[Shadrack]

This is my own install two ebay 100 watt panels and victron mppt.Seen 200watt +once not sure how is did this as only 100watt each .These figures are this morning at 9 am.Running fridge on 5 charging iphones projector battery Banks smart watches etc.Van display showing 30 %But think this is not accurate as I only go off voltage which has dropped to 12.44 but recovers fully in day.Total install 200 pounds.only negative panels are different in appearance. Little annoying.

View attachment 109837

View attachment 109838

Hi to all,
I may be missing something here. Looking at the solar displays the voltage seems a little hi for 100w panels. Have you wired panels in series or parallel?
my 2 x 100w sits around the 24v mark with decent sun available.
I have my panels wired in parallel on a Victron mppt 75/15.
Please forgive my naivety if I am thinking B*locs. But would be interested to know on how the panel volts are higher.

 

[Crasher]

I wired mine in series.Decided get more shaded days than full sunny and thunk will benefit and gu e better yield.overall.Usually wrong thoe.

 

[Californication69]

Solar voltage from one 100w panel.
More the better, the MPPT delivers only 14.4v to the battery. So 4volts is lost.
Not sure where it goes.
Maybe into the ether ?

 

[WelshGas]

View attachment 109846
Solar voltage from one 100w panel.
More the better, the MPPT delivers only 14.4v to the battery. So 4volts is lost.
Not sure where it goes.
Maybe into the ether ?

Very simple 100w panel in full sunlight produces

20v x 5 amps = 100w
This is then converted to the voltage required to charge the AGM battery, normally 14.4v when being charged at maximum .
So :-
100w / 14.4v = 6.9 amps so the battery will have 6.9 amps at 14.4 v to charge it.

Unfortunately due to the inefficiency of the system you will probably get 10 to 15% less, so about 6amps or so.

The solar controller works basically like a transformer, reducing the voltage and increasing the amps.

 

[yossarian]

More the better, the MPPT delivers only 14.4v to the battery. So 4volts is lost.

Technically your MPPT is a variant of a SMPS called a 'buck' converter. Google that for details.

A PWM controller is more or less what you've described above. When the panel voltage is close to the battery's float voltage there's not much between a pwm or mppt in efficiency. When dropping the voltage a lot a MPPT/SMPS will be substantially more efficient.

 

[Californication69]

Very simple 100w panel in full sunlight produces

20v x 5 amps = 100w
This is then converted to the voltage required to charge the AGM battery, normally 14.4v when being charged at maximum .
So :-
100w / 14.4v = 6.9 amps so the battery will have 6.9 amps at 14.4 v to charge it.

Unfortunately due to the inefficiency of the system you will probably get 10 to 15% less, so about 6amps or so.

The solar controller works basically like a transformer, reducing the voltage and increasing the amps.

So if I’m only getting 50 watts and 3.1 amps from the panel, (I think due to it being 30 degrees outside in the blazing sunshine and on a black California!)
How much is going into the battery’s?

 

[yossarian]

About 4.2A assuming your batteries are around 13.5V. Volts amps etc are pretty boring and annoying. 57W is easy to picture and understand.

 

[Californication69]

I guess this is stating my batteries are at 13.1 ?