Solar Panels

[3kids]

Spoke to a CTek tech recently and he was the one who alerted me to the issue. The dual battery arrangement sort of works (but not to 100%) as the wire gauge is usually substantial and proximity to alternator is less than 1 metre away if mounted under bonnet. Batteries mounted in the rear potentially wont recieve adequate voltage to charge properly without it being stepped up.
Just looked up the Red arc product and it seems brilliant, the one bonus I see straight up is the 40 Amp input meaning 480 watts of solar panels can be hooked up. Allowing for losses means you could push your luck to 500 watts. The only down side is at this address http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/...C_Charger.aspx

[Cuppa]

Have sent you a PM Dave.

I presume the downside to which you refer is the higher voltage at which the Redarc begins to charge. I believe this makes a negligible difference in the real world.
In the link you posted, folks talk about the Redarc being expensive, but I found it to be cheaper than the Ctek 250 Dual +Smartpass. (I paid $450). I must admit I also found it a bit easier to understand what the Redarc did, & was a tad confused about the Smartpass, & the need for two separate 'boxes' when Redarc could do the same with one. Admittedly the Ctek with the smart pass allows for greater current (up to 80 amps ) than redarc's 40amps, but 40 amp was more than sufficient for my needs. The one thing which I found a bit odd about the redarc is that it floats the batteries at 13.2v -13.3v once it has reached a charging voltage of 14.4v-14.5v, a fair bit lower that the 13.6v that my Morningstar Tristar solalr regulator that I have in our bus, but I can't really see that this is likely to be a problem. Not sure what float voltage is with the Ctek.
For me a major advantage with Redarc is their excellent after sales technical service.

Cuppa

[3kids]

I think the main thing is that they both work and do what they are intended for.
Cheers for the heads up regarding cost of the red arc. I am only borrowing the units I have at present (the lads in question will probably let me keep them as I sort a lot of 240volt problems for them) and it is good to know the prices are extremely similar. My favourite auto spark is a red arc advocate but refuses to get involved with solar. The voltages is the next thing I want to confirm, my suspicion is they will operate slightly lower than specified.
Really looking forward to posting pictures of the rev 1 install and trailer set up

[Woof]

Hi Dave, mate I have got no idea what you are talking about.....LOL
All I want is a solar system that will let me run my 60 litre Engel fridge/freezer and at the right price.

[3kids]

Hi Mate,
I will be trialing 3 different panels this Easter weekend at Nanga. I will let you know how I get on.
As usual it will be a budget thing. With batteries it is a case of getting what you pay for.
When I get to work tomorrow I will try and post a PDF doc that might assist.
Also start cruising through E-bay for solar battery chargers. They actually give you an idea on what the lower end units are capable of.
Cuppa is also a wealth of information and his set up and knowledge is impressive.

[Woof]

Thanks heaps Dave

[oncedisturbed]

Well the panel came in today and appears reasonable at this stage. I set it up under patio as today was all over the place weather wise and still managed to pump out enough to go from medium to full charge on an 80AH hybrid battery. Looks like that battery is on it's way out as the battery pack meter as well as the mppt controller battery meter both dropped to medium charge afterwards.

The cables look fairly thin so am guessing 20-30 amp (10 B & S??) twin core so will have to go through the site that Cuppa provided on wiring lengths / size and later look at possibly upgrading the controller to a better unit but looks like it will do what we need at this stage, biggest indication will be actually putting it under load and see how it goes as it's mainly the fridge that we use during the day and depending on weather it is turned off before we go to bed to conserve power and use the 2 batteries in the troll for LED lighting.

[NP99]

Bump guys......

[BoojaBear]

Can any one tell me what is better Amorphous or Monocrystaline panels

[threedogs]

Mono are way better the other needs to be much bigger to produce the same amps