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texman 
Senior Member 
Joined: 24 Jul 2014 Location: TeXas Online Status: Offline Posts: 446 |
 Topic: Any upgrade the solar in a 190?Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 9:33am |
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would anyone have a recommendation or a warning on the various MPPT controllers available to purchase? Also same question on solar panels. i want to add at least a 100watt to my existing 80 watt. i need a package (panel and controller) i was thinking to just buy a renogy 100watt package, but looking at ebay i can get a controller and panel for around $150 instead of the $ 350 for the renogy. a few deals on amazon as well. i would rather spend the $350 and have something decent than $150 for trash. IYKWIM.
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 10:01am |
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If you get a 100 watt 36 cell (nominal 12V battery charging) module you don't need an MPPT controller, in fact it might not work for you because it has to step the voltage down to charge the battery so its really designed to work with higher voltage modules.
A lower cost PWM controller would work fine. I don't have first hand knowledge of the reliability of the various controllers but one benfit of Amazon is you can review the customer ratings and comments and see what kind of problems folks have run into.
For the module any of them will probably be fine as long as they are glass front. If you like Renogy they have their 100w 12V modules on Amazon for $120 and 20A PWM controllers for $60 so you can get the two for $180. There are other PWM controllers as low as $15. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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texman
Senior Member
Joined: 24 Jul 2014 Location: TeXas Online Status: Offline Posts: 446 |
Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 10:14am |
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i guess the suitcase models are a premium, but are supposed to be waterproof controllers. must be a nice suitcase.
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 10:23am |
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Yeah, well, the electrons don't care if there's a suitcase or not.
 Best to put the controller near the battery anyway. Its regulating the battery voltage and does a temperature adjustment so will be more accurate that way. You could mount it out of the weather in the storage compartment and run to the batteries from there. There is another Renogy PWM controller on Amazon for $30 which doesn't do any metering but it occurs to me that you have already put in metering anyway so that might work fine for you.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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GlueGuy
Senior Member
Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2627 |
Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 11:33am |
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If you're going to use a single panel, I would definitely go with a 12V panel and a PWM controller. That would be the most economical path. However, if for any reason you decide to get a second panel, then I would lean toward an MPPT controller and run the panels in series. In fact, if you're going that far, I'd probably go for a couple of 24V panels (which actually run voltages in the 35V zone) in series with an MPPT controller. This would afford you to use smaller gauge wire and lower current. It would also mean you would probably get better use in marginal sun conditions.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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PeterK2003
Newbie 
Joined: 26 Feb 2019 Location: Pennsylvania Online Status: Offline Posts: 15 |
Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 3:15pm |
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Does anyone have the wiring diagram for the 2019 190?
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furpod
Moderator Group - pHp 
Joined: 25 Jul 2011 Location: Central KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 6128 |
Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 3:47pm |
No such thing exists.
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 01 Mar 2019 at 7:05am |
I think the decision is tied to both rated power but also whether you want a portable system or a roof mount system. For the best bang for the buck I'd go with the following: Roof mount: get a 72 cell utility module or more than one with an MPPT controller. That will get you over 300 watts each and can mount edge to edge on an rPod. Portable < about 180- 200 watts: get a single 12V (36 cell) module and a PWM controller. 180-200 watts is about the highest power you can get in a 12V module using standard 6 inch solar cells. Portable > about 180-200 watts: get one or more 60 cell residential modules and an MPPT controller. In all cases mount the controllers in the rPod. The 72 cell utility modules weigh a bit over 50 lbs and are about 78 inches long so are really too big to be considered one person portable. The 60 cell modules weigh about 40 lbs and are about 66 inches long so not too bad to lug around. And as GlueGuy says once you get over about 200 watts you are running a lot of current at 12V so its best to be at a higher voltage to reduce wiring size and losses. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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texman
Senior Member
Joined: 24 Jul 2014 Location: TeXas Online Status: Offline Posts: 446 |
Posted: 01 Mar 2019 at 9:26am |
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Sorry if i have hijacked the thread.  but as far as roof placement of panels, are you using the no holes version and adhesive:  or the hard mounted version and drilling into the roof ?  or something else for permanent mounting? |
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 01 Mar 2019 at 12:01pm |
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For myself, I don't plan to use either. I plan to attach using vertical auminum plates screwed to the sides of the end frames of the modules and to the top inch of the rpod sides. The trick is to get modules that are the same length as the pod is wide. I haven't done my solar install yet because I want to remove the a/c and the lead acid batteries with Li ion as part of that project.
Both of the products you've selected would have some issues. You'll need to hit the roof crossmembers with the screw in ones. Those are aluminum tubes on the flat part of the roof and wood in the curved portions. The glue on ones would restrict you to a smaller module and you'd need to be careful with surface prep to be sure you get good adhesion. You should expect to have an uplift force on the modules somewhere around 35-50 lbs per square foot. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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Any upgrade the solar in a 190?