Saturday, May 6, 2017

Battery Report

I let the batteries charge up all night the night before last and yesterday I unplugged the motorhome. It was a cloudy day but the voltage remained at 13.7 which told me they were getting some charge from the panels. I checked it again last night around 11 PM and they were sitting at 13 volts which was very good. There was nothing turned on in the motorhome, just the normal systems that always draw a little power.

I don't know what they dropped down to in the middle of the night but at 8 AM this morning they were being charged by the solar panels under a sunny sky at 14.4 volts!

Today I will connect the two TV's to their dish and turn them on for three or four hours tonight to see what they drag the voltage down to and to see how fast they recover tomorrow, whatever the weather is.

So far I am very happy.

Here are my rooftop panels. The new 100 watt panel is at the bottom and I should have mounted it further to the left (or right) to leave room for another one beside it. There still might be room, I will have to get up there and measure. As a commenter mentioned yesterday, solar costs in Canada are almost prohibitive. Last year I bought the new one At Canadian Tire for $199 Can ($145 US) but now they are back up to $550! I will wait for another sale or purchase and install it in the US where they are sometimes $110 US ($150 CAD) on Amazon.

5 comments:

  1. It's crazy how much more we must pay for stuff up here in the great white north...

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  2. Looking good I got a 100 watt panel last summer on Amazon.ca $199. free shipping.

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    1. Thanks George, I will add Amazon.ca to my "watch list"

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  3. Like you said thee prices for solar panels in Canada are very Prohibitive. Having researched for nearly five years I knew that I would be purchasing my panels in the US. When the time came the company I planned to order them through doubled their prices. Still having my notes I placed my order with Renogy in California. https://www.renogy.com/ They delivered them to my campsite in New Mexico free of charge. They recently dropped their price from what we paid but we'll be getting more panels from them later this year when we return to the southwest.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. There are some pretty good deals around if one looks but what about the $1 per watt promise?

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