12-04-2022, 09:01 AM
Loaded 17 panels in my van yesterday in 32 degree weather with the wind 14 mph. You got to love North Central Oklahoma! Another member here also got some panels for his projects.
I wanted to post a diagram of the next phase Newell conversion when we return from our trip, a person has asked about how I plan on doing this so I drew this up this morning, and is subject to change but here is how you get 220vac from two single phase growatt inverters solar charger, battery charger all in one. I have six 8d house batteries on my coach, two behind the tag axle and 4 in front of the drivers, I also have two 8d batteries for the engine, my plan is to have one solar panel dedicated to two 8d house batteries and also keep the engine batteries charged up while under the sun this way I will not need a DC to DC converter and the house DC wiring will be the same less four 8D batteries and the magnum inverter. I will take the four remaining batteries and series two of them for each inverter, this will give me 24vdc for each inverter, this may change as I could do all 4 in series and make 48v going to 48vdc inverters just haven't decided yet. If your plugged into 120vac 30amp then you are limited to 30 amps shore power so that means only 15amps from each inverter to make 240vac but if you have a sunny day your panels will make up the difference and or battery will add to the output. The growatt inverters output is wired directly to to the coach AC breaker panel and the input to that panel from the grid goes directly into the growatt inverters. I will need to research how the coach uses 120vac to power everything and then how it utilizes 240vac. Is there a contactor for shore power voltage? Is there a contactor for the diesel generator?
When I did this conversion to our class B van it was only 30amp 120vac so it was pretty easy and everything was 120vac and the grid tied directly into the victron inverter and the output of the inverter fed everything. I only had 2 panels on the roof which gave us 770w max, I never seen 770w because they are flat but have seen 680w which was enough to run the AC on silent mode (half power) and refrigerator during daylight hours, we boondocked for 9 days and never started the generator. When off grid we never used more than one appliance at a time, if you had the AC going we would turn it off and make coffee or use the microwave then turn the AC back on when done. The biggest current draw we had was the electric hot water heater, we only used it when plugged into the grid or switched to propane never off batteries or solar. That being said I think the Newell will be the same way, I do not plan on using the aquahot off the sun or batteries, just to large a current draw. With this amount of solar on the roof it will be easy to use one of the heat pumps going down the road without generator.
I wanted to post a diagram of the next phase Newell conversion when we return from our trip, a person has asked about how I plan on doing this so I drew this up this morning, and is subject to change but here is how you get 220vac from two single phase growatt inverters solar charger, battery charger all in one. I have six 8d house batteries on my coach, two behind the tag axle and 4 in front of the drivers, I also have two 8d batteries for the engine, my plan is to have one solar panel dedicated to two 8d house batteries and also keep the engine batteries charged up while under the sun this way I will not need a DC to DC converter and the house DC wiring will be the same less four 8D batteries and the magnum inverter. I will take the four remaining batteries and series two of them for each inverter, this will give me 24vdc for each inverter, this may change as I could do all 4 in series and make 48v going to 48vdc inverters just haven't decided yet. If your plugged into 120vac 30amp then you are limited to 30 amps shore power so that means only 15amps from each inverter to make 240vac but if you have a sunny day your panels will make up the difference and or battery will add to the output. The growatt inverters output is wired directly to to the coach AC breaker panel and the input to that panel from the grid goes directly into the growatt inverters. I will need to research how the coach uses 120vac to power everything and then how it utilizes 240vac. Is there a contactor for shore power voltage? Is there a contactor for the diesel generator?
When I did this conversion to our class B van it was only 30amp 120vac so it was pretty easy and everything was 120vac and the grid tied directly into the victron inverter and the output of the inverter fed everything. I only had 2 panels on the roof which gave us 770w max, I never seen 770w because they are flat but have seen 680w which was enough to run the AC on silent mode (half power) and refrigerator during daylight hours, we boondocked for 9 days and never started the generator. When off grid we never used more than one appliance at a time, if you had the AC going we would turn it off and make coffee or use the microwave then turn the AC back on when done. The biggest current draw we had was the electric hot water heater, we only used it when plugged into the grid or switched to propane never off batteries or solar. That being said I think the Newell will be the same way, I do not plan on using the aquahot off the sun or batteries, just to large a current draw. With this amount of solar on the roof it will be easy to use one of the heat pumps going down the road without generator.
1999 45' with tag axle, #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas