Super folding panel

[shonky]

HI, all

So I just woke up from the post-brekkie kip and saw the solar controller was showing 9amps coming in. No good, as the batteries are very low. Plugged in the 140amp folding panel and the controller went up to 24.5amps.
Who's first - Chuck or T.I.Terry??

[dapope]

Start by cleaning the panels, then checking connections!

[T1 Terry]

I wanna know where you got a 140 amp folding panel, next I wanna know how the hell you carried it A 140w panel should put out around 8 amps at best, you might get 9 amps at a squeeze, 15.5 amps is just not going to happen, so maybe a loose connection was temporarily improved, or there was a load dragging some of the solar out before the meter measured it and that load stopped around the same time as you plugged the other panel in, or you have a problem with the meter

[shonky]

Hi, all.


The answer? MyCloud! Sorry, couldn't resist it, but a cloud did pass at the critical time.
Apologies, T.I.Terry, should have said 140watt.

FYI we installed a second pair of 120amp AGM's last October and have only used our $400 Chinese genset once since that time,due to lousy weather and bad parking by the writer.
Word to the wise - if your house batteries are too heavy to lift and your starter battery is flat, fit an anderson plug and a long lead to the house setup, with crocodile connectors at the other end. 35kg batteries are far too heavy for Mrs shonky to manage.

[T1 Terry]

so you don't have super panels after all The start battery in the Mazda threw in the towel last yr on our trip south, actually it must have been 12 mths ago cause it was last Easter. I had 2 soleoids set up so the inverter could be powered from the start batteries or the house batteries, so now I just turn both on and start off the Li hpouse batteries. If it ever stops rainly long enough I plan to drag the start battery out and add it to the scrap pile and run start off the house batteries.

[dapope]

Geeze Terry, if I knew how to fix the swaggie to do the same, I would. Is it just a case of hooking the start leads to the house? I have a much better use for the 90ah battery!

[T1 Terry]

Do you have the alarm timer circuit set up? If you do, after I've trialed it on the Mazda I'll write it up on the Lithium forum, a fairly easy upgrade if I've got it nutted out correctly.

T1 Terry

[dapope]

No, not as such, the charge seem to peak at 14.2 as they are. I keep a load on when we are travelling though. Would probably use the water heater, or air con fan as well if needed. Headlights knock it back too
Will wait till you are done playing
Cell balance is the bigger issue, but they seem to be behaving at the moment

[Greynomad]

I have AGM house batteries, not Li, but that's irrelevant to this part of the thread:
The Winnie Explorer has a dashboard switch as part of the factory wiring, which allows the driver to kick in the House batteries for start-up if the starter battery has a knee-trembler.
Just thought I'd drop that thought in...

[shonky]

Hi, all.

We've an 8meter 6B&S cable for the folding panel, with Anderson plugs each end. Is this strong enough to use as a jumper lead? If so, are we better off isolating one battery or can all four be used - 4*120amp?