With the new solar panels I had run into a bit of an issue; My current setup didn’t really allow for the flexibility I want in my solar charging and battery usage. The 2 panels I have mounted on top of the van were wired into the charge controller, which in turn goes to the battery for charging. However, with the 3 new panels, it would have ended up being a mass of wiring leading to the charge controller… and that was that.Fine for charging, but what about other uses? Say I wanted to charge small appliances without having to go through the battery? Say I wanted to power a fan directly off solar? How much power is coming in from the solar panels?
Those questions led me to build a charge-panel at the rear of the van, accessible from the rear doors, which not only gave me all these abilities, it also makes it much easier to continue to build on my solar setup.
My inverter (top-left) was mounted firmly in place and supplies 1000 watts of 120v power directly from the battery as well as gives me a display of the power remaining in the battery. Below it is a set of + and – “battery-out” posts so I can pull 12v power directly off the battery without having to dive under the seat to access the battery.
In the top-center is the charge-controller that came with the new solar panels. I already had a charge controller wired in (top-right) but I liked the abilities that this new one had; Lighter, USB, 3 6 and 9v plugs, and yet another display on voltage. This one I wired in so the solar panels pass through it then to the previously installed charge controller. This gives me “solar-only” display and dedicated solar-only outputs. Now I can see exactly how much voltage is coming in from the solar panels and to be able to use that power without drawing off the battery.
The posts below the new controller is the “solar in” posts. Now I can easily and quickly add more panels with a simple twist of the fingers. The other set of posts (bottom-right) is just another way to grab that solar-only power which I will call “solar-out” and will be great to power fans on those hot days, or charge small appliances like flashlights or power tools that reside in that same compartment.
Underneath it all, and not visible, is the deep-cycle battery charger that is used when I plug the van into a 120v socket. While it is there, I have it disabled for emergency only use, and prefer to rely on the clean solar power. I am able to plug the van in and use 120v through-out, but keep the battery charging on solar power.
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