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Post by MartyB1 on Jun 15, 2016 17:07:58 GMT -8
New here and I just purchased the Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Polycrystalline Solar Starter Kit for my travel Trailer. The stock batteries (made it almost 3 years) just died on the first trip out this season while dry camping and I want to avoid this in the future. In addition to this new solar starter kit I swapped out all the old 12V stock incandescent bulbs for LED bulbs. My question is I have two (2) brand new 12V Deep Cycle batteries that are wired parallel, when connecting the charge controller to the batteries how should they be connected? I'm not sure if I should put the positive on one battery and the negative on the other to ensure they charge evenly or if it matters at all what battery I connect them to? I was also curious about the fuses so please let me know if this is correct; I plan on using a 30A fuse between the panel and the charge controller and one between the charge controller and the battery, both on the positive wire. I am not going to mount the panel on the RV as we tend to camp in a lot of treed areas and can't always be positioned to face the panel south or in the optimal position. I'm making a portable frame to be able to use it similar the briefcase panel, having at least the 20' length of cable provided. I feel if I go with a 30A fuse if this works well I can upgrade adding more panels, possibly mount 1-2 on the roof with the option of the tilt mounting brackets and still have one portable. If anyone has any better suggestions please and can answer these questions i would be very appreciative.
Thanks for you're help in advance,
MartyB1
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Post by peggy and frank on Jun 16, 2016 6:24:00 GMT -8
the best way to hook it up from cc to a 2 battery hook up is to have 2 exact lenghts of wire hooked to both positives on the battery and the same for negative. so you will end up going from cc to fuse from fuse it will split into 2 seperate wires on the positive side, and then on the negative side you'll go 2 wires right out of the cc. the pros would recommend you hook the charge output from cc to a fuse panel,not to just a fuse block. and then to battery, not everyones got money. renogy does sell the fuse panel. by hooking positive to negative, battery side you will be changing it from 12 volt to 24 volt. when hooking up a battery positive or negative to the next battery positive to the next battery positive, etc. the first battery in line will always get the most abuse. typically speaking lets say you had a 4 battery bank hooked in paralel. the first battery might be fully charged but not the last one. thats why they suggest to hook it up with 4 seperate charge power inputs. as for the fuses sounds good. with dc you can never over fuse our over size on your wiring, as long as you can afford it.
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Post by MartyB1 on Jun 21, 2016 16:00:31 GMT -8
the best way to hook it up from cc to a 2 battery hook up is to have 2 exact lenghts of wire hooked to both positives on the battery and the same for negative. so you will end up going from cc to fuse from fuse it will split into 2 seperate wires on the positive side, and then on the negative side you'll go 2 wires right out of the cc. the pros would recommend you hook the charge output from cc to a fuse panel,not to just a fuse block. and then to battery, not everyones got money. renogy does sell the fuse panel. by hooking positive to negative, battery side you will be changing it from 12 volt to 24 volt. when hooking up a battery positive or negative to the next battery positive to the next battery positive, etc. the first battery in line will always get the most abuse. typically speaking lets say you had a 4 battery bank hooked in paralel. the first battery might be fully charged but not the last one. thats why they suggest to hook it up with 4 seperate charge power inputs. as for the fuses sounds good. with dc you can never over fuse our over size on your wiring, as long as you can afford it. Thanks for your help Peggy and Frank!  I Installed my system yesterday and got it up and running, showing active charging by the PV light flashing green. I do have a couple questions for you or anybody else that may know. I ended up using a 30A auto reset breaker instead of a basic 30A fuse on both the positive leads between the panel and charge controller (Renogy Wanderer), and the battery and charge controller. I am probably going to be upgrading this system and rather than have to keep changing the amperage I put it at what the charge controller is rated at. Will any of this be an issue? I will post a picture tomorrow showing you what I have done. The next question I have is what is a good in-expensive way to show the amount of charge that the panel is generating so it can be monitored, something inline showing actual number readings? All help and comments are welcome as well as links or product names and model numbers. Thanks to you and all who contribute to this post. |
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Post by spiderbob on Jun 21, 2016 19:50:01 GMT -8
Two good options for a "battery monitor" are LinkLite Pro, by Xantrex or TriMetric by Bogart Engineering. I prefer the latter.
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Post by jsb2000 on Jun 22, 2016 12:02:09 GMT -8
I use two of these: GT Power RC 130A Power Analyzer Battery Consumption Performance MonitorI have one between the battery and loads and another between the controller and the battery. The former shows me the current drain from the battery. The latter shows me the current flow from the solar into the battery. Both show me the voltage of the system, along with all the supply/consumption stats I could ever want. |
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Post by MartyB1 on Jun 22, 2016 15:46:54 GMT -8
I use two of these: GT Power RC 130A Power Analyzer Battery Consumption Performance MonitorI have one between the battery and loads and another between the controller and the battery. The former shows me the current drain from the battery. The latter shows me the current flow from the solar into the battery. Both show me the voltage of the system, along with all the supply/consumption stats I could ever want. Would that unit just be connected inline between the panel and the charge controller on both the positive and negative sides? If so which side of the breaker should it be on? One last question with this, does it show the voltage and amperage the solar panel is producing? |
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Post by jsb2000 on Jun 22, 2016 16:06:43 GMT -8
Would that unit just be connected inline between the panel and the charge controller on both the positive and negative sides? If so which side of the breaker should it be on? One last question with this, does it show the voltage and amperage the solar panel is producing? I have two of these units. The first is connected between the output of the controller and the battery bank. It shows the voltage (volts), current (amps) and power (watts) being produced by the solar panel and being fed to the batteries. The second is connected between the batteries and the load (IE any devices I'm powering). It shows the voltage (volts), current (amps), and power (watts) being used from the batteries. You might be wondering why I placed the first meter after the controller rather than between the panels and the controller. Here's why: I'm more interested in what the controller is feeding the batteries rather than what the panels are feeding the controller. If my batteries are full and I'm not drawing anything from there, I don't care if the panels are sourcing 100 Watts in full sunshine. I want to see the controller sending (practically) NOTHING to those batteries! Similarly, if my batteries require charging and I'm drawing current from them with my lights etc., I want to see what the controller is sending to those batteries in real time. Is it enough to charge the batteries and handle the load? Placing it on the output of the controller will tell me that. The meters also tell me how MUCH capacity (in Amp/Hours) has passed through them in either direction. This lets me judge how much I've filled or drained the batteries over time. Much more informative than simply looking at the voltage level and trying to judge the charge state of my batteries. As to the breakers...you have them in the right places. If you add these meters, you want to have the breakers isolate what you're trying to protect from overheating. So...breaker between the battery and everything else (including meters) and breaker between panel and everything else should do it. |
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Post by MartyB1 on Jun 22, 2016 17:58:34 GMT -8
Would that unit just be connected inline between the panel and the charge controller on both the positive and negative sides? If so which side of the breaker should it be on? One last question with this, does it show the voltage and amperage the solar panel is producing? I have two of these units. The first is connected between the output of the controller and the battery bank. It shows the voltage (volts), current (amps) and power (watts) being produced by the solar panel and being fed to the batteries. The second is connected between the batteries and the load (IE any devices I'm powering). It shows the voltage (volts), current (amps), and power (watts) being used from the batteries. You might be wondering why I placed the first meter after the controller rather than between the panels and the controller. Here's why: I'm more interested in what the controller is feeding the batteries rather than what the panels are feeding the controller. If my batteries are full and I'm not drawing anything from there, I don't care if the panels are sourcing 100 Watts in full sunshine. I want to see the controller sending (practically) NOTHING to those batteries! Similarly, if my batteries require charging and I'm drawing current from them with my lights etc., I want to see what the controller is sending to those batteries in real time. Is it enough to charge the batteries and handle the load? Placing it on the output of the controller will tell me that. The meters also tell me how MUCH capacity (in Amp/Hours) has passed through them in either direction. This lets me judge how much I've filled or drained the batteries over time. Much more informative than simply looking at the voltage level and trying to judge the charge state of my batteries. As to the breakers...you have them in the right places. If you add these meters, you want to have the breakers isolate what you're trying to protect from overheating. So...breaker between the battery and everything else (including meters) and breaker between panel and everything else should do it. So, just to make sure my dumb a$$ does this the right way, as I too am no electrician, for optimum information and to protect the equipment I should place the meter between the controller and the breaker on the battery output side of the controller correct? I have the breaker on the + side between the controller and battery. |
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Post by spiderbob on Jun 22, 2016 20:56:00 GMT -8
Or, you can go with a meter that uses a shunt, what is a shunt you ask, it is an accurate, very low resistance resistor which is placed "inline" with the wire carrying the current to be measured so that all the current going into the battery, charging, or out, discharging, just pass through it. This is what the monitor sets up as amp-hours in and out of the battery, and accuratly. It looks at this in both directions. Yes, the two watt meters does a similar job, I am not totally familiar with those, so I will not speculate on accuracy. What my meter does give me is a day by day use report and well as a history over a period of time. It also is set up for proper equalizing, at the battery manufacturer recommendations, which so many converters/chargers do not do, including some solar chargers although they do give a higher rating. Maintaining your batteries is primary, after all they are the storage depot for the energy you are collecting. I prefer a fuse as to a breaker, breakers are mechanical in nature, parts that can fail. Once tripped they degrade. I'm sure it is a minis-cue amount but none the less.
So there you have it, two, maybe even four ways you can go. Sadly, mine is more expensive. But I would suggest reading about all your options, and asking yourself how far do you really want to go with this.
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Post by jsb2000 on Jun 24, 2016 5:35:37 GMT -8
So, just to make sure my dumb a$$ does this the right way, as I too am no electrician, for optimum information and to protect the equipment I should place the meter between the controller and the breaker on the battery output side of the controller correct? I have the breaker on the + side between the controller and battery. Yes, that would probably work just fine in terms of protection. I have mine configured like this: Here's a quick rough diagram of my configuration: [Solar Panels] --Fused--> [Controller] -----> [Meter] --Fused---> [Battery] ----Fused----> [Meter] -------> [Loads] ^ | [Charger]-----^ |
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I Installed my system yesterday and got it up and running, showing active charging by the PV light flashing green. I do have a couple questions for you or anybody else that may know. I ended up using a 30A auto reset breaker instead of a basic 30A fuse on both the positive leads between the panel and charge controller (Renogy Wanderer), and the battery and charge controller. I am probably going to be upgrading this system and rather than have to keep changing the amperage I put it at what the charge controller is rated at. Will any of this be an issue? I will post a picture tomorrow showing you what I have done. The next question I have is what is a good in-expensive way to show the amount of charge that the panel is generating so it can be monitored, something inline showing actual number readings? All help and comments are welcome as well as links or product names and model numbers. Thanks to you and all who contribute to this post. 
