My 80 Watt photovoltaic solar panel arrived yesterday, and today the Morningstar charge controller and battery charge monitor arrived. All I need now are the mating connectors for the solar panel. And a box to carry it in. And a couple of legs to prop it up in the sun. And a bulkhead connector for the trailer end. And…. and…. and….
80 Watt solar panel
I started the solar power project about 2 years ago, but it all got put on hold when I could not use the teardrop trailer because of my back issues. Two years and back surgery later, I’m using the teardrop, want greater flexibility in choosing campsites, and want to complete the solar power project.
I bought an 80 watt panel from solarblvd.com along with a Morningstar PWM charge controller and a battery condition monitor. I plan to integrate the charge controller into my existing electrical system, and mount the battery monitor on the electrical door above the PD 4045 converter.
But the bigger challenge is how to carry a 2 ft x 3 ft solar panel safely and with minimum fuss. My plan is to build a plywood box that it will slide into, and mount that box on the tongue, moving the existing tray forward the necessary four to six inches. The box needs to be weather proof and the wood needs to be protected so it doesn’t disintegrate like the first awning receiver blocks did.
I think I will use an epoxy coating to waterproof the wood then paint it brown to sorta match the trailer. But I doubt I’ll have time to do the necessary finishing before leaving for the Farm Gathering, so I’ll build the box with screws so I can take it apart later for painting. And in the interim, I’ll carry it in the cab of the truck to protect it from the weather.
I didn’t expect the panel to use special, proprietary connectors that if removed void the panel’s warranty. So now I’m waiting for the correct connectors to arrive from the vendor.
Without the connectors, I can’t even hook the panel to the charge controller to test it. Oh well. They’ll arrive soon. The FedEx guy knows where I live, he’s been here every day this week ;-)
This evening I mounted the charge controller in the electrical compartment, and hooked it to the battery. I also hooked up the battery condition monitor. I’m now seriously doubting the usefulness of that device. But it’s there…..
Hopefully the solar panel connectors will arrive Thursday.
The connectors didn’t arrive Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. So today (Sunday) I built the box to carry the panel in. I planned to use 2 X 4’s with a 1-1/2″ slot cut in them to hold the panel. Cutting a 1-1/2″ X 1″ slot in a 2 X 4 proved to be a greater challenge than I could overcome so I made the top, bottom, and ends of the box from 1 X 4 with 1″ strips attached to create the channels. Other than being heavier than I expected, the wood box needs only handles and latches to be complete enough for this trip.
PV Panel Carrying Box
Connectors arrived Monday afternoon. I made up the pigtail to the controller and the 25 ft extension cord, plugged it in and all works as specified! Woo hoo!
I’m going to run the fan on low all night to run the battery down a bit to see how quickly it recharges tomorrow, assuming we have any sun. It has been partially to completely cloudy here the last two days.