Solar Blankets.. Redarc or.......?

Submitted: Wednesday, Apr 27, 2022 at 18:39

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Member - lyndon NT

Hi All

Finally looking seriously at Solar for the first time. I bought a "200w" Flexable Sunyee panel a couple of years ago. Tested it, 150w. Sent it back. Have a folding 150w from Kickass. Used it a couple of times. Weighs a ton and takes up a heap of room. We need way more capacity than that anyway. Hence why I looked at the flexible panels.

Now on to the idea of one solid panel on the roof of the Troopy (around 200w) and blankets (maybe up to two 300w). This would be a mix and match arrangement depending on trip. Need all the roof rack, off comes the panels and we just live with blankets. Short weekend away, panel will do for a day or two and no need of blankets.

Still in the early stages of planning. Looking at maybe this MPPT. 50A version.

Need to find out more detail of it's abilities above 40c. In the Top End, 35c in the shade every day. Car will be in the sun...... 50c....? Will do some tests on that.

Currently have 3 x 105 AGM's in the back. After a day of camping, down to around 50% SOC.

Top End, 2 fridges, fan and charging stuff.

At 40c and ideal conditions the above system will give me 50A. It will be hotter and I'm not going to move the panels or car all the time. So I'm hoping the above will give me 30A for 7 hours a day.

The cabling will be in 6B&S. At maximum current Vd will be an issue due to length of run. Redarc are saying their Solar blankets can't be put in series......................., interesting. I've queried this but have yet to hear back.

Does anyone use blankets and if so what have your experiences been and what are you using?

Is anyone using one of the MPPT's I'm looking at?

Has anyone had issues with the bonnet paint sitting a panel on it? Thinking more of temperature here rather than scratches.

Looking forward to your response.

Cheers

Lyndon

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Reply By: Member - Bigfish - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 07:53

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 07:53

First thing I,d o, and did, is get rid of the heavy agm batteries. Get 2 x 120 lithiums and this will give you about 200a/h of useable power at a steady 13.1 volts. Far better than the agm...especially in the heat when the fridge runs a lot longer. I,ve a Victron MPPT 100/30. I run 2 fridges (2 x 80) and 2 x 200 watt panels. Often in 38+ heat in the gulf. No problems at all and have the 2 x 200watt Renogy panels in parallel which sees about 22 amps charge. I,ve got several blanket panels but do not use them as they are no where near as efficient as the Renogy panels I have. All pnels need good ventilation underneath. The hotter they get the less power output.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:29

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:29

Hi Bigfish

Thanks for the reply. Renogy seem to have quite a few panels listed. If possible, can you link the ones you have?
Lithium is the way of the future that's for sure. I wouldn't go buying home brand ones right now though. I personally know of a large recall going on in OZ at the moment for Aussie Lithium batteries. Failed BMS, venting dangerous gases. Sorry, not a liberty to say more on that at the moment.

So, if I don't want to change my wiring to just two, but want to run 3 lithiums, I'll get no change out of 5-6k for name brands. Batteries are working OK, so rather spend the coin on solar. Yeah, I know, lots of advantages and I'll go that way in a bit but not now.

Cheers

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Follow Up By: Member - Bigfish - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:41

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:41

I have 3 x 120 a/h ITech lithiums as well as the Renogy 100a/h. The Itech have been terrific and between myself and the mates I go camping with we have 7 of the ITech 120,s. All reckon they are the ducks guts, Now at $800 each, top quality and excellent reviews on forums, you-tube and farcebook I reckon 2 of them for $1600 isnt too bad. The panels I used are the Renogy...SKU: RSP200D-AU $309
200 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Panel.

Mates also use the same panel.

I,ve always said that you get what you pay for. Cheap lithium often have cheap cells and very average BMS. ITech use A grade cells and a very good BMS, So for around $2500 you could have 2 x 120 lithium batteries, 400watt of good solar and a good 20amp dc/dc charger for the car. Make it a 40 amp dc/dc if you want. Naturally a good Victron MPPT solar reg would be a bonus...so let’s say for well under $3k you’d have an excellent system.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:51

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:51

Hi Bigfish

Thanks for the quick reply. I have a HD-FTE, so I don't think I have to go down the whole dc/dc thing that everyone has to now. Don't want to loose my whole rack, so 200w will probably be my limit up there. Though I can fit a 360w if all I want is solar.

Appreciate the info.

Cheers

Lyndon

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Follow Up By: Member - Bigfish - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:55

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:55

Apart from the 2 x 200watt for the camper I also have the 200watt on the roof rack of my vehicle. It gives out about 10amp on good day. Have seen 11.5. I also have a 20 amp dcdc in the car for the aux lithium but have never needed to use it because the solar is so efficient. Far North Qld weather helps...just like the Top End sunshine.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 19:02

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 19:02

Ha, FNQ is like a fridge compared to Darwin. We go there for Christmas sometimes, folks can't believe we don't even bother with the AC.
Yes, February can be hot there, I'll give you that, but the rest is a walk in the park.

I had a customer who had moved over, it was a couple of "drys" ago, tried to tell me it was exactly the same. I was like, err, I think you will find it's like 7 degrees cooler there. " NO IT"S THE SAME!"

I went outside and did a quick google, seven day forecast for Cairns 27c every day. Darwin, 34c EVERY DAY.

I was SOOOO, tempted to be a smart arse and show it to him but decided I couldn't be bothered with the grief.
Nice spot though :-)

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Follow Up By: Member - Bigfish - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 19:35

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 19:35

Spent 4 years in Darwin, 18 in Gove , 9 years in Cairns and travelled extensively all over the topend and central Oz for work.I adapted well to the heat and cant handle cold weather. I can confidently say that for the last 30 years I have never experienced a season of hot weather like we have had here for 6 months. We have had the fans and air con going flat out for 6 months. Never did that in Darwin or Gove. Climate change? Who knows but this last wet season was brutal. Almost like 6 months of October build up weather in Darwin. Main thing is that the fridges work fine in 35+ when we go camping.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 18:13

Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 18:13

Climate change or advancing years Bigfish :-) Maybe a little of both.

Note sure what years you were in Darwin? But it doesn't get a proper Dry like FNQ, typical temp for dry is 22c to 34c nowadays.

The 33c that Darwin used to get for a LOT of the year is gone. Replaced by 36c.

Those 3 or 4pm storms you used to be able to set your watch by...., GONE.

Authorities are waiting for Darwin to run out of water before they bother to do anything with the storage, we have had a number of "failed" wets over the last 10 years. Water levels got low, only a matter of time before we get 2 in a row and we will be stuffed!

I would have liked to have spent at least 1 year here 50 years ago, would have been a very special place. No AC would mean different folks. A few years back I did a FULL year, no AC. Why? I just wanted to see if I could do it and what the folks used to experience. But I also guess times were different back then, in a number of ways. Climate was cooler and folks used to work around the weather. I work as a Tradie, most folks hide in the AC ALL DAY and Night, emerging for just a few hours a day. I'm now north of 50 and still spend hours in roof cavity, like to see most folks try that for a few hours in the build up!
Years ago if you had expected a Tradie to come out at 2pm and crawl around in your roof for a few hours you would have been laughed at is my guess. Folks would have started early and been drinking cans by that time.

Any way, talking cans, it's VERY important to keep them cold!! :-)

Thanks for your input to the thread.

Cheers

Lyndon

PS, climate change, what the hell was that 46c day Cairns got a couple of years back.............

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Follow Up By: Member - Warren H - Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 22:16

Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 22:16

Interesting comments Lyndon, prior to moving to Canberra and the other extreme in 1996, I spent 40 years in FNQ, NQ and the Top End (Jabiru). What I find amazing is the change in Cairns summers, used to be 32 to 33, and usually in February perhaps a week or so at 34, with northerlies and 100% humidity. The last few years have added 3 to 4 degrees, glad I don't live there anymore and yeah 46 wtf?? Interesting about Darwin, it was always a lot more pleasant than Jabiru, the afternoon storm knocked the temperature down unlike Jabiru where it would be 32 at 1am.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Monday, May 02, 2022 at 09:36

Monday, May 02, 2022 at 09:36

Hi Warren

The weather is changing everywhere and man has his input to that. What percentage of that change we make up is anyones guess, but probably most.

Jabiru is still hotter than Darwin.

My born and bred mate in Katherine now says "it's becoming uninhabitable" . A couple of years back they had 40 days in a row over 40c, quite a few well north of 40c. Big deal some may say, what about when you hear the 40 days before and the 40 days after that were around 39c.

I wonder how the folks in Melbourne would go if you gave them 120 days in a row of 40c :-)

I still maintain that Cairns is a walk in the park compared to Darwin. Yes, around February is nasty for a month or 6 weeks. Here's today's 7 day forecasts

weather

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Follow Up By: Member - Bigfish - Monday, May 02, 2022 at 11:10

Monday, May 02, 2022 at 11:10

Here are the latest 6 months of weather comparing Darwin and Cairns. Having spent much time in the NT and now in Cairns I know there is bugger all difference in temperatures.
..

WEATHER

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Monday, May 02, 2022 at 11:38

Monday, May 02, 2022 at 11:38

OK, maybe your right, I really can only go by my own experiences. I've never lived in Cairns, just visited a heap of times at all different times of year. As I said, apart from around February it is always cooler for us.
As can be seen from this weeks weather.
We were last there around Christmas 2019, didn't need AC.
I could live here with no AC if I didn't work. That year I talked about that I didn't use AC, I was OK, but TIRED. Hard to sleep properly, and being over 50 and on the tools made it a bit hard.
We use the AC to sleep for 8 or 9 months a year. Have a tropical house, so when awake we live on the deck under the fans.
Unless I have to study, then I put the AC on in the office.

Did you really get 46c again this year? We didn't hear that, just the once a couple of years back when all the bats fell dead out of the trees?

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Monday, May 02, 2022 at 11:47

Monday, May 02, 2022 at 11:47

Hey Bigfish

Your probably hating me by now, but here is some info. Corresponds to our experiences with Cairns and Darwin. Similar day temps for January and February and that's where it kind of ends.

Weather

Cheers

Lyndon

PS, what years where you in Darwin? Long time ago or?

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Follow Up By: Member - Bigfish - Monday, May 02, 2022 at 12:27

Monday, May 02, 2022 at 12:27

Unfortunately the comparison site gives no details as to the comparisons. Over 5 years? 10 years? 50 years? Certainly not over the last 6 months and this is the period I have been talking about with the change in the weather. I lived there in1992-1996, Gove in 1996-2014, Cairns 2014-present. When I was based in Gove I was still sent to Darwin in the peak of the wet season for 3-4 weeks a time to assist with telecommunication issues. When I first moved over to Cairns I also noticed how much more pleasant the weather was than Darwin or Gove. However, as I stated and the facts show....This last wet was as hot as Darwin and I,m hoping we do not have another season like it. Wouldn't bet on it though. Cheers.

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Reply By: Member - McLaren3030 - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 08:29

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 08:29

Hi Lyndon,

I can tell you my experience with a solar blanket. I have an ITech World 200 watt solar blanket. I haves used it on the bonnet of my vehicle to charge a 100 amp LiFePo4 battery in the back of my vehicle which is running a 60 Ltr. Engel fridge. This has been used in low to mid 30’s temps in southern NSW quite successfully, without causing any damage to the vehicle paintwork. I was stationary for 4 weeks at one point. I have also used it to supplement the fixed roof mounted panels on my caravan.

The in vehicle DC/DC charger in the car is a Redarc 1245 with an inbuilt solar controller, so I do not use the MPPT Controller that comes with the blanket. I have not measured the voltage, amperage or wattage generated by the blanket, but it seems to work quite well and kept the 100 amp LiFePo4 battery well above 13 volts all the time.

Like Bigfish has suggested, if you can afford, swap out the AGM’s for LiFePo4. 200 AmpHr of LiFePo4 is basically the equivalent of 400 AmpHr of AGM, at about half the weight, and half the charging time with the appropriate charger.

Macca.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:31

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:31

Thanks Macca.

Appreciate your input.

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Reply By: Matthew G3 - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 09:22

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 09:22

Hi Lyndon NT
You saying a full system of 800w of solar will give you 50a?
Panels loose about 2% efficacy for every 5 degrees c above 25, so your system will only put about 700w at full power. Usually you only get on average about 80% of that power moving panels to get the most out of them. Plus your battery's might not take a full charge at that temp [getting to hot] plus check your reg as it to might start derating at that temp also. You never get the full ampage of panels for very long to many variables.

Matt

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:33

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:33

Hi Matt

Thanks for the reply. I agree,perfect conditions the system will give 50A. As I said, I'd be hoping for around 30A

Cheers

Lyndon

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Reply By: Member - Warren H - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 10:34

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 10:34

I've a 100W XTM blanket that I use infrequently. This blanket only has a few badly sewn loops that are too weak to hold the weight of the blanket. Some eg Projecta have props to setup the blanket on the ground. Even 100W which only has two rows of panels is almost too large for a windscreen and flops a bit on the sides so I'd make sure that any blanket can be set up on the ground. This bloke on the caravanners forum had a great solution using telescoping tent poles.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:41

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 18:41

Hi Warren

Thanks for the reply and link. Interesting the ideas some folks come up with. A bit too much for me to carry, would be ok in a van.

At this VERY preliminary stage, I'm just looking at a fixed 200w or there abouts panel on the rack.
And maybe 2 x 300w blankets.

Draping it from the top of the Troopy windscreen to the front of the bonnet it will fit, assuming it will sit that way.....?

The other one I'd hang at on the side of the car from the rack.

Thanks for the ideas.

Lyndon

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Reply By: qldcamper - Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 19:06

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022 at 19:06

Pays to do a quick calculation of the surface area of the blankets to see how accurate the advertising is.
Most arent up to advertised spec using the over all size not even taking into account the area with no cells.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 18:21

Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 18:21

Hi Mate

I agree, that's what happened with that Sunyee flexible panel that I bought then sent back. Only delivered 75% of the rated output.

Cheers

Lyndon

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Reply By: 1392 - Friday, Apr 29, 2022 at 17:32

Friday, Apr 29, 2022 at 17:32

I have had a Victron 75/15 and 120AH AGM in the back of my black Navara canopy for many years running an Engel 40litre as a freezer without any problems. Been across the GCR to Uluru, up to Darwin, thru Kimberleys. Very robust and reliable product. However, I use a household solar panel ($20 off Gumtree) rated around 200W at 44VOC. The beauty of the household PV is they are robust and higher voltage so VD in the cables becomes less of a problem. I have 2 of the same on my camper charging 2x100AH LiFePO4 and have extension leads 15 metres long for camp spots.

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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 18:22

Sunday, May 01, 2022 at 18:22

Hi

Thanks for that idea, might try to source an old house panel for the roof rack.

Cheers

Lyndon

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Reply By: Gusthebus - Saturday, Apr 30, 2022 at 16:18

Saturday, Apr 30, 2022 at 16:18

Hey Lyndon, we found 2 x soft folding projecta 120 W + 200 W on roof sufficient to run 60 l Engel as fridge and 47 L Arb as freezer. Found them v compact and lightweight with ability adjust angle to point at Sun. Connected via enerdrive ,mppt, on Anderson plug ? Dual splitter. Run 2 X 120 AGMs . This worked in northern Oz, also throwing in a few warm cans every day.

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Follow Up By: AlbyNSW - Saturday, Apr 30, 2022 at 17:45

Saturday, Apr 30, 2022 at 17:45

When you run multiple panels of different size and brands do you still run them through the one mppt controller or do they need to be individually controlled?

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Follow Up By: Genny - Saturday, Apr 30, 2022 at 19:43

Saturday, Apr 30, 2022 at 19:43

Alby, pretty much have to go through a single controller. Part of what a controller does is sense the voltage on the battery side, so it knows when to stop trying to charge. If you have two controllers, they may well be sensing the voltage output from the other controller, not the battery, and one or both controllers may shut down. It certainly worked that way for me when I tested it.

Ideally, the different panels should be the same or similar volts output. The way it was put to me, if you had 2 100W panels, one output 20V, and the other 18V, when used together, the output of both is 18V.

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