Finished my solar array

[Airspeed]

I built this out of an old telescope tripod and some 1/2" copper pipe.
all four panels are mounted with screws and rubber washers to let them
expand and contract in the sun. the array breaks down into two halves for storage, it slides apart easily in the center by pulling on two couplers and two that hold it on the tripod. The panels swivels up and down and left and right.
There is a small junction box on each half of the array that I mounted a 1/4" plug to connect the extension to the controller mounted in my tongue box next to the battery. It cost about $90 total including the four panels
Aaron

[NightCap]

Nice! How many watts?

[pauld3]

AWESOME POSSUM! You are amazing!
Lynn

[Airspeed]

These panels are supposed to put out 5 watts each so it would have 20 total but I haven't checked it yet,I am going to hook it up to the tear tomorrow and see how well it works. I hope I at least break even on the power used for occasional lights, XM,DVD,TV and water pump. About the only thing that runs all the time is my XM radio and it doesn't use that much power. I have a very small Honda E300 generator to make up the excess. It would be nice not to have to run it.
Thanks! Aaron

[steve wolverton]

That is so geeky. I love it!

[Airspeed]

I just checked the voltage on these panels, I have the each pair of panels connected separately and connected + to + and - to - , I measured each pair separately and got 23.5 volts from each pair.
These are supposed to have a max output of 18.5 volts. I did remove the in line diode as I will be using a charge controller that has a built in diode. I'm wondering it the little box that was in line on each of these solar panels also contained a voltage limiter as well as a diode? could that be why I am getting more than 23 volts when they are rated at 18.5 max?
Thanks for any ideas! Aaron

[Airspeed]

Well I just checked them again,this time I wired one of the in line boxes that contains the diode back into the circuit and it indeed drops the voltage down to 14 -16 volts. I took the little plastic box apart and it contains more than the diode,it has a small charge controller built in as well.
I guess having 23 volts is better than 18,will this increase the wattage as well? Someone with more solar brains than I fill me in!
Thanks! Aaron

[Greg M]

That is so geeky. I love it!

Hey, I resemble that comment Hmm... Solar panels

-Greg

[Airspeed]

I just received a reply from the manufacturer of these panels and they told me two of these panels wired in parallel without the charge controller that comes with them will give 1 amp at 18 volts. so with the four I have I will get 2 amps at 18 volts. So I think these will work just fine for what I need. With the charge controller that comes with these panels the voltage is limited to 14 volts. Aaron