{Solar Power Options}

Solar Power Rv Battery Charger
Will a RV solar panel inverter be compatible with breaker panel that has a battery charger?

We are hooking solar panels up in our RV. However, in order to get the outlets to work, we have to plug our inverter into our breaker panel. The breaker panel has a battery charger and we're afraid of creating a giant "circle" of power that will fry our system.

Hey Sister, great idea. I'm not sure exactly what you're doing there. We have a home that is powered by the wind and sun, and a small camper with solar as well, but ours might be set up a little different.

The solar panels you are using do not need an inverter to charge the battery, they should simply hook to the battery bank directly, or by way of a charge controller. If you are also adding an inverter to use the battery power to run your AC outlets, that is a separate problem. Most boats I've come in contact with have a selector switch that selects between the battery charger or the inverter. So when you are on shore power, it stays in the charger position, which allows the battery charger to keep the battery's at float, and does not allow the inverter to power the AC system. Away from shore power, it is selected to the inverter, which allows the batteries to power the inverter, which powers the AC system, and the battery charger is then locked out. This is why most RV and marine inverters today have both the charger and inverter built into one unit, and it switches for you whenever you plug in the shore power cord.

If you are installing the solar panels yourself, see what the, "short circuit current," rating is on the panels. If it's 3 amps for example, and you're hooking two of them up in parallel, then you can have as much as 6 amps of charge current on a sunny day. Then see if you can find out what the amp hour capacity of your battery bank is. As a rule of thumb, if the maximum charge current of the solar array is less than 2% of the amp hour capacity of the battery, then you don't need a charge controller, the panels will never over charge the battery. All you need then is a diode between the panels and battery. A diode is an electrical check valve, allowing the panel to charge the battery, but not allowing the battery to feed back into the panel at night. There's a good book on charging batteries at the library, and a magazine you might consider looking into. I will list them below. Good luck, and take care...Rudydoo

Solar Power Videos

Select Your Boat or RV Solar Panels in 3.5 minutes!.mp4

Basic Solar Camping Gear

Completely ?roughing it? in the outdoors might become something of a thing of the past, if you choose to use solar camping gear during a trip.

It is a proven fact that sunlight contains approximately 1,000 watts of power per square meter. If you can harness that energy, your life can be made a lot easier - without the need of bringing extra weight to fuel your electrical or electronic devices. During camping trips, you normally want to bring only the essential items. Too much additional weight can be quite a burden to you.

The free energy of the sun can be used in several items. You might use one or two solar-powered devices, or your campsite can be surrounded with solar camping gear.

These items are often lightweight, and portable enough to be carried. These include radios, camp lanterns, flashlights, and AM/FM radios. The gadgets have their own photovoltaic cells, which gather energy from the sun.

For devices which don't have their own solar cells, you can use a separate solar charger to power the device.

What is a Photovoltaic Cell?

A photovoltaic cell is made up of a nonconductor, with one side coated with metal atoms that produce electrons when they are exposed to the sun. The other side of the PV cell is coated with negative electron atoms. If you connect a wires, from each side of the cell, to a device, current will flow when the positive side is exposed to sunlight.

The downside of using a photovoltaic cell is that it can be less efficient than other types of power. A small solar panel can can only power equipment which doesn't require a lot of power. What's more, when you?re outdoors, you can't always expect the weather to cooperate with you.

Chances are, you?ll experience bad days when the sun barely peeks out of the clouds. At times like these you?re solar-powered gadgets will not work. This is the reason why majority of these solar-powered camping gear feature additional energy sources, such as batteries, hand crank dynamos, or the option to charge them from a wall socket when available. There are even solar chargers that can recharge your AA batteries, so that you can later use them to run your small electronics.

Some people enjoy camping in RVs. Solar power can be used to charge the RV?s batteries. Photovoltaic cells can be discreetly placed on the dashboard.

Some people like to take hot baths, even in the wild. A solar shower can be utilized for this task.

Or, by using a solar cooker, you can have hot meals without risking a forest fire.

As you can see, solar camping gear can make your outdoor life a easier, as well as safer. And it can help you to enjoy nature even more ? without doing additional damage to the environment you are camping in.

Be Sociable, Share!

•