Portable solar setup

[bike4mee]

Hey
I think I need a portable solar panel. May have SUP's on top of camper blocking the solar panel a lot of the time. Will either of these 2 panels work? I have very little extra room for a bulky panel so these folding would work best. I have a 80w panel on the roof now. Both could be wired to go into the sunsaver 10L solar controller? Do I have to get a larger controller? It seems like it will work. The controller shuts off the flow if the battery is fully charged, so even if both panels are in-puting it won't hurt the battery. What do the experts think

Folding panels
https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Portable-Monocrystalline-connector-Dual-port/dp/B076K55CMB/ref=pd_sbs_86_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=64NJY26MK4JASH61G1MD

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076M3PLGB/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1KUFOOH4NT2X7&psc=1

connector for camper
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T36YVI4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

connector for panel
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0057ZQJ12/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A1AUFI5NHGNZ61&psc=1

 

[rollinrollinrollin]

I recently purchased a P3Solar roll up 90 watt portable to supplement the 160 watt on the roof. It’s great and rolls into a 6” diameter tube. They are very knowledgeable.

 

[bike4mee]

I'll post this reply I received from a friend. Makes sense. If anybody knows of a switch i can use to go back and forth between panels that would be great

I think you might need to go a couple of routes by adding the additional portable wattage. Probably a good idea ( I plan on doing it to someday down the road - especially if I upgrade to a compressor fridge). But, I think that the controller you have is not capable of taking a full charge from both panels at the same time. As I recollect, those Morningstar model controllers we put in our rigs are rated to 10 amps. Essentially, a charge controller is typically current limited which means that it can only pass through so much current (amps). Remember, volts X amps = watts, so your 100w upgrade is rated at 5 amps but you might get a bit more in high sunshine and cool temps (100/18=5.5) and your 80 watt panel is nearly the same (i.e. 80w / 17.5v = 4.6 amps). When connecting to the charge controller in parallel, the amperage is additive, so you are very close to the controllers limit.
Solutions:

1. New charge controller that allows for greater current throughput. e.g 15+ amps. Those may not be too expensive. That way, you can keep the roof one connected at all times, and just plug in the portable whenever you want to use it.
2. Cheaper, but more user intensive, provide a way to switch between using only one panel at a time. So, when using the portable and the rooftop one is compromise, connect only that one. When away from camper and rooftop is clear and you don't want to get a portable one stolen, connect only that one. You might get away with this controller since the rooftop will not be able to output full power when covered by paddleboards. The limit would only be reached when it is uncovered and fully operational so you would just not want to connect both panels when the rooftop is uncovered.

Hope this all makes some sense. Also, the connectors your suggest are what FWC uses and what we used so I'd probably go that way, but you might need to cut of the MC4 connectors that come with the panels as they are specific connectors and I don't know of a connector for those that would mount nicely on the side of the camper. That would be pretty simple though. You would need both the female side that mounts to the camper and a male end that would replace the MC4 connectors on the panel.

https://www.amazon.com/Zamp-Solar-RVROOFSIDE-Sidewall-Port/dp/B00T36YVI4/ref=pd_bxgy_263_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TGNQ89S17TTS21XKVVQW
this one for the camper, the male one for the panel. See combination at bottom of link.

 

[rando]

You probably won't need to upgrade your charge controller. Even using both panels, you would only be at 10A under ideal conditions (which you will never see with a flat mounted panel). Under ideal conditions you probably wouldn't need to use the portable panel anyway.

 

[PaulT]

A caution on cutting off the MC4 connectors from a solar panel. Some manufacturers state that your warranty is voided by cutting the factory installed wires. Instead, buy or make a short adapter with MC4 on one end and your choice of connector on the other.

Paul

 

[BillTheHiker]

I recently purchased a P3Solar roll up 90 watt portable to supplement the 160 watt on the roof. It’s great and rolls into a 6” diameter tube. They are very knowledgeable.

rollin,

How do you have that P3Solar wired up? does it have its own solar controller or shared with the one for the rooftop panel?

 

[bike4mee]

Hey
Shared the controller with the rooftop. Like Rando above stated, it will probably be fine. I will only use the portable if I'm blocking the rooftop with shade or kayaks.

 

[Mguide]

rollin,

How do you have that P3Solar wired up? does it have its own solar controller or shared with the one for the rooftop panel?

I just purchased a P3 roll up for my brand new Hawk, with a Zamp 160 on the roof. I’m also wondering about connecting to the Zamp wall connector or if it needs its own controller? My other question is: is the P3 connector’s polarity the same as Zamp, or is surgery required?

 

[rollinrollinrollin]

I checked with FWC factory and was told that my P3 will work just fine with the existing FWC controller. When I purchased my P3 I did not purchase the controller with it. They provided a cable with the roll up panel. It's just plug and play. The guys at P3 checked with FWC and told me that they said to limit the panel to no more than a 90 watt model.

 

[Kokopelli]

I checked with FWC factory and was told that my P3 will work just fine with the existing FWC controller. When I purchased my P3 I did not purchase the controller with it. They provided a cable with the roll up panel. It's just plug and play. The guys at P3 checked with FWC and told me that they said to limit the panel to no more than a 90 watt model.

Rollin,
How are you plugging the portable into your system? Can you use a splitter on the roof plug and plug both the roof mount and the portable into the roof wires, or do you need to do something different? I would be interested in supplementing my 100W roof solar but only have the one plug on the roof. Thanks!

 

[Vic Harder]

Rollin,
How are you plugging the portable into your system? Can you use a splitter on the roof plug and plug both the roof mount and the portable into the roof wires, or do you need to do something different? I would be interested in supplementing my 100W roof solar but only have the one plug on the roof. Thanks!

If you are a little bit handy, you can add an external plug and wires to the controller/batteries. Worst part is cutting into your camper!

 

[paddlesurf.net]

I have a brand new Hawk and haven't installed my roof panels yet but I have been charging my batteries with a 160watt portable Zamp suitcase (it has a pwm charger on it already).

What I did is wire an sae plug to my battery bank. When I want to charge the batteries, I open the external battery compartment door and then just plug in my Zamp panel.

I did have to cut the wires on the Zamp panel and reverse them so that polarity was correct (Zamp plugs have reversed polarity) but that was easy to do.

I've been charging my batteries for a week now testing out the limits of an external ARB fridge that I have. Everything works great.

 

[bike4mee]

That sound real good! I like having both. The roof mount for when I'm parked, so to keep the battery topped off. In the winter a fully charged battery is less apt to freeze. I have the portable for when i'm in the shade or have things on top of the camper shading the panel.

 

[Kokopelli]

If you are a little bit handy, you can add an external plug and wires to the controller/batteries. Worst part is cutting into your camper!

So can I just run another set of wires from the portable panel to the charge controller where the roof panel wires come to? Both sets of wires coming in to the solar input on the charge controller should work fine and not cause any problems? They can both be sending charge to the controller and the controller will do the rest?

Thanks

 

[Vic Harder]

Like rando said above, yes.

Your friend indicated that the Morningstar 10L can likely only take 10A, but as rando pointed out, you are unlikely to see that even with both panels running, and you describe your usage as mostly either/or anyway.

 

[bike4mee]

Have a quick plugin for the portable. I don't ever plan on having both panels being used unless it is real cloudy.

 

[So Cal Adventurer]

For what its worth, I have the Renogy 100 watt "Solar Suitcase" and even though its a bit heavy and awkard to carry around, it worked great and had everything included, controller, etc...