Solar Test - 15 Days Boondocking in the Outer Banks in NC!

[rames14]

Mike, Matt installed another 600 watts of solar and doubled the batteries on another one of our members 3120. They report all has been good. The 50 amp Victron’s work great. And we have the hard wired Hughes Watchdog. It has a user replaceable surge module and Bluetooth. Your post came at a good time. We’ll be in the Moab, Utah area in about 10 days. 100 degree temps. We plan on following your lead and running the AC to cool down in the afternoon. Fortunately out west the temps cool down at night. We have our two Honda 2000’s along to augment. Tomorrow will be boondocking near Great Sand Dunes NP on the way to Spring Rally. In the winter, we saw around 4 kWh Solar per day even with the low sun angle. By March it was creeping toward 5 kWh. We seemed to go a week at a time without running generators. We usually ended up someplace with electric for a night after that. Did find one thing to keep in mind. When running your furnace, put fan to off. Otherwise it also runs the heat pump fan to distribute the air.

[MAWilsonPE]

Thanks Ron,

At first when Keystone had installed the wrong heat pump controller (they had installed a cool-only model in my unit) the heat pump fan would not run with the furnace. Once I got the right controller installed, it did. I learned to turn the fan to off pretty quickly, it draws a lot of power otherwise.

Good luck in MOAB!

Best Mike

[Foldbak]

I have two lead acid batteries. What should the controller be set to? The choices don't say "lead acid" they use some other terminology like tubular something or other...

[MAWilsonPE]

Hello Foldbak,

It looks like there are several options for lead-acid batteries. Tubular/plate type are your typical car batteries with fill ports on top. Gel batteries are sealed and can be oriented in any direction. Both are lead-acid. I would try to reach out to Victron for the proper settings for your batteries. I am no expert and would not want to mislead you.

Best, Mike

[MAWilsonPE]

Hello Ron,

I double checked the absorb setting in the Victron 100/50 MPPT Controller. The stock setting when the wheel is set to Lithium is 14.2 volts. I upped that to 14.5 volts based on the Matt recommended setting for the Magnum charger. You have to go into the settings using the app and change it to "User Defined" and turn on "expert" to change the voltage. I found this small change to make a difference in the charge rate for the last 15% of the battery capacity.

Best Regards, Mike

[rames14]

Just changed mine. Is float set at 13.6?

[MAWilsonPE]

I am not sure, nor am I nearby to check. I will look tonight...

[M&M]

I followed the settings shown in Super SolarFlex MERC-25 Settings for MSH3012RV that is in the files on this site. Is the setting being discussed somewhere other than these?

[MAWilsonPE]

Ron, the Float setting on mine is set to 13.5 volts which should match the Victron factory setting for lithium batteries.

Hello M&M , these latest posts have been for settings to the Victron 100/50 MPPT Controllers that Ron and I are using. I am recommending applying settings similar to those recommended in Matt’s cheat sheet for the Magnum charger. I ditched the Jaboni controllers originally installed as they were only capable of producing 30 amps to the batteries. With 600 watts of panels on each controller I have seen as much as 40+ amps on a clear, low humidity day in the Carolinas.

I hope this helps.

Best, Mike

[M&M]

Thanks. I made the same swap to the Victron and think I set them to match. I’ll confirm tomorrow.

[rames14]

The official logo of the Solar Flex Facebook page.

[MAWilsonPE]

That's awesome!

[Livermore]

Mike, questions on the Honda used for charging.
What settings did you use in the system? 10amp draw limit from the Honda? Eco off on the Honda? Two hours brought you up a long way.
I have the 2k Honda but haven't needed it yet on my rig. I have a 1200i Super Solar unit too. Figure the day will come when I need to get a good charge into the batteries or augment my power for AC. We have been camping on the coast or SW during the winter.

[MAWilsonPE]

Hello Livermore,

I did not use Eco or limit the output from my Honda 2200i. It will put out about 1800-1850 watts continuously which matches the max charging rate set in the Magnum inverter of about 110-120 amps (DC). That works out to be about 15 amps AC. I have tried to set the limit to 15 amps on the Magnum controller and that works if I am only charging but if I turn on an air conditioner while charging at full clip it will trip the Honda. To do that I have to start the air conditioner first and then the charger and it then limits the charge rate to match the shore power set point limit.

I hope this helps!

Best, Mike

[MAWilsonPE]

BTW, I just finished installing three 200 watt Renogy panels so I now have a total of 1800 watts of solar power (on a good day, about the same as my Honda generator)!!

[kowbra]

Mike, thanks so much for sharing all of your data in this thread! A lot to digest, but really good info.

We have the SSF package in our 2021, and also upgraded to the Victron 100/50 controllers. Like you, we've relied on Matt for a lot of the expert settings and to get things sorted.

Just now, I'm working on an issue where the microwave will trip the inverter when plugged into 30a power, with other loads running. Interestingly, we can load up on a 30a power with dual AC, or lots of other loads, and the system works as expected - namely the inverter will draw extra loads from the batteries where possible to fill in. Or, as expected, the inverter will shed some loads as needed. But often the microwave will be the thing that trips the inverter and shuts it right down; all 110v power is off. It comes back after about a minute or so.

We had our PD transfer switch fail, and I have a replacement (forget the brand), but I'm having the dealer replace it in a couple of weeks as we have other warranty work to get done.

The SSF system is amazing. The longest we've done in a stretch is 9 days, but as long as we don't need a lot of AC, I don't even take my generator. It's really nice to just live a pretty normal routine and know you can do it anywhere.

Now, of course, are the limits on water and waste water... this fall I want to tackle that one

Thanks again!
Brad

[MAWilsonPE]

Hello Brad!

Great to hear from you! I am glad you are getting good use out of your solar package.

My PD transfer switch failed too and they sent me a replacement which has been working fine so far. I did wire my small Honda generator to the transfer switch so it works as intended.

Regarding water replenishment, consider one of these water bladders. It fits nicely in the back of the truck behind the hitch and holds up to 60 gallons of water. Perfect to refill the fresh water tank without moving the rig. I connect it to the “winterize” inlet so I can used the water pump to transfer. Connect the outdoor shower outlet to the city water inlet, switch to fill and it works

https://www.bayteccontainers.com/60galwaterbag.html

Amazon does not seem to have the 60 gallon one just now. When empty, it is really lightweight and folds up to about the size of a paperback book

My next upgrade to the SSF system will be a couple of more batteries, just trying to decide where to put them.

Best Regards, Mike

[MAWilsonPE]

My Honda 2200i install:

[rames14]

Mike, how do you handle exhaust?

[rames14]

Brad, we were next to you at Q this year. I imagine your outdoor bar takes a lot of water. We found with our SeaLevel gages that we can go almost two weeks without dumping. We added a bladder and HF pump before Q and did need water. We had been carrying two Honda’s and we just haven’t found the need. Enjoy your travels.