Wow, we’ve just been on a 2 week excursion with the motorhome towing a vehicle behind.
The weather was, as usual, 4 seasons per day, most days. Even with the irregular sunshine, we never needed to connect to mains nor did we need a generator. The solar charging from the 10 x 100Watt panels was ample to supply all our needs easily and according to the FlexMax controller log, most days the charger was on float cycle for a few hours.
We hardly used any gas. The inverter and Lithium battery bank powers the infra-red hotplate like a dream and on top of that, we have hot water on tap all day. Now instead of envy, stop drooling and get yourself rigged.
Yes, that’s right, I still have the controller limited to max 40Amp charge due to inferior cabling, yet it pumps enough charge to run the hot water cylinder without a glitch.
We are getting between 3 and 4kW charge per day. I love the summertime!
The panels don’t seem to be very sensitive to dust. Charging seems to stay the same. There are limits of course. I’m talking about a thin layer of dust, not covered in grime.
One customer, whom I supplied a 9 x 100Watt solar system and assisted him with the installation, contacted me while we were traveling. We met up with him and he showed me on his FlexMax log where he got a charge of 62Amp/Hour with a total of 2.9kW for the day. He is wrapped!
The reason he did not get more charge was merely because the batteries were full and the charger was on the float cycle for a few hours.
If you need to get a solar system done or would like advice, do not hesitate to leave a question in the comments below.
Hi Noah! I like the fact that based on your experience, a thin layer of dust, doesn’t seem to impact and charging stays the same. Yeah, I know what you mean when you say “not covered in grime”. LOL. But this reduces how many times a month we have to plan getting on top and cleaning the panels.
That sounds like a nice excursion and being able to run the hot water cylinder sounds fantastic. I’m still a bit surprised, I must say pleasantly surprised, that even though you have the controller limited to a max of 40Amp charge, you could still have hot water on tap all day! Nice indeed! I appreciate these insights.
Hi Henry
Thanks for your comment. You may not have seen my latest post on the RV refrigerator replacement. I now have even more power available because this phenomenally low powered and super efficient fridge is using much less power than the one I removed. You can see the post here.
Have a great day and come visit again soon.
Kind regards
Noah