Raleigh North Carolina and surrounding areas

The tank was an experiment lol.

 

If anyone is interested in solar panels and shading. The argument was a shaded panel doesn't produce ANY power. I should probably test with the meter inline with the charge controller and battery.

Panel: Renogy 100watt monocrystaline, pwm charge controller

Meter: G.T Power Rc meter inline between solar panel and charge controller

Load: Fully charged house and starting battery. Starting battery load of Ignition turned to On position with radio, fan, and headlights on, House battery load of a "go pro" and 12v led work light.

Test 0: Full sun

Result: 12.97v, 5.28a


Test 1: Partially shade panel (~20%)

Result: 13.18v, 0.35a


Test 2: Fully cover panel (~15%)

Result: 11.57v, 0.00a voltage changed with different positions of tarp but no current was recorded.


Test 3: Fully cover panel (~30, 60, 90%) and check output amperage/voltage

Result: no reading, I changed the position of the tarp which made little difference. Sometimes the meter would light up but not have enough power to function.


Conclusion:
A fully covered (percentage) panel will not produce enough voltage/current to power a device or charge a battery.
A partially shaded panel will produce voltage but may not produce enough current to power a device or charge a battery.

 

Sounds like a summer mod day coming up

 

Ha hell no, wasn't gonna drop 200 on something I can get for half price even with real expensive parts. I had a small leak in the output quick connect but tightened up and was good. I might get a pressure bladder and add it on but so far was shooting pretty well and will be good for quick showers or the pups. I took his idea and a friend of mine to get it done though and sourced everything myself between the Amazon, harbor freight, and ace hardware.

 

this is good info. Would you recommend me investing in a 30w panel? I dont have enough room for a 100w or I cant find one that fits my dimensional needs

 

That would be great, because I need all the help I can get haha

 

Size wise sounds like 30w is what you need but it's not much output, I(amps) = p(watts)/v(volts), 2.5amps=30w/12v. The 100watt panel outputs about 8amps and that's in ideal conditions and perfect angle to sun, which we will never have.

 

wait, what ? you haven't installed a sun tracking panel yet ? yer getting slack ! i figured by now you would have it on a telescoping tower to get it above the trees and multi axis panel tracking to optimize sun input.

my god, there are batteries that need charged !!!

 

the eventual plan is to link 2 together, but I will need some other things before I get to that point. I will be mounting these on top of my hard cases on my roof rack. At first they will be charging a battery that will not be linked to the main battery, but I will set up the dual battery in time.

 

Yea I remember that

 

Yup Basketcase is having an extended sleepover at Adam's until I find/build a new shop.

I probably should update my build thread at some point...

 

Lol yea you should

 

Need to get a pic, but holly crap found a huge gash in one my front tires today (and they say mall crawling can't cause damage)

 

Aren't they fairly new?

 

Oh damn that sucks!

 

I bought them off my boy with the big van when he upgraded, but ive not really liked them, so helps to give me reason to replace them

 

What size?

 

I've been warned against buying stuff from big white vans.

 

35/12.5/17