This
was what I would call "an ideal project"
that Pinnacle Innovations completed in 2022. I
say "ideal" in the sense that this project
came to us as a newly purchased RV that had what
I call the bare or minimal electrical system without
any solar equipment. Although we're happy to work
on just about any RV with just about any amount
of electrical or charging equipment, I definitely
prefer it when Pinnacle Innovations can provide
the maximum number of parts or systems. The reason
for this is simple: The Client will always end
up with a far superior finished product when Pinnacle
Innovations can supply all of the industry leading
equipment required and install it in a fashion
that will be of the highest quality and hence
highest performance.
Unfortunately
many RV Manufacturers will "cut corners"
and/ or use low quality products (and materials
in many cases - such as the use of non-tinned
copper wiring and wiring of smaller gauges than
we'd like to see) to either maximize their profits
or else to help keep the final sticker price down.
I have found that this is particularly common
when it comes to factory equipped/ factory installed
solar equipment. In almost all cases the factory
uses the cheaper/ non-programmable/ lower efficiency
PWM style solar charge controllers which may be
OK for use with the factory installed AGM house
batteries but we certainly cannot use them when
we upgrade to Lithionics lithium-ion batteries
- primarily because we cannot custom program the
Bulk Charge and Float Charge Voltage settings
to those figures needed for use with the Lithionics
batteries. So when the RV comes to me with a PWM
contoller (or even a lower quality MPPT solar
charge controller) I always have to replace it
with a far superior MPPT solar charge controller
like those made by Victron Energy. I feel bad
for my Clients because essentially they paid for
this original low quality product that unfortunately
we cannot use.
In addition, I've found that most RV Manufacturers
don't really understand the best/ most optimal
way to wire up the actual solar panels. Typically
I find that they are always wired in Series -
which would not necessarily be a problem if the
actual solar panels themselves had a base output
Voltage of at least 25 Volts. However, most of
the time the RV Manufacturer has installed the
smaller 100 Watt to 200 Watt semi-flexible solar
panels which may only be able to produce a maximum
of 20 Volts DC under peak/ ideal sun conditions.
The problem with this is that the MPPT solar charge
controllers typically need to see at least 4 Volts
or 5 Volts higher coming in from the solar panels
themselves than the bulk charge setting that we
program in to the MPPT for the MPPT to be able
to start up and actually charge the batteries.
So for the Lithionics 12 Volt batteries, we always
set the MPPT's bulk charge Voltage at 14.4 Volts
(sometimes we bump this up to a maximum of 14.59
Volts) so if the MPPT needs 5 Volts higher than
14.4 Volts, this works out to 19.4 Volts needed
just to get the MPPT to turn on. If the maximum
Voltage that the solar panel can produce is 20
Volts, this means that when there are only slightly
less than absolutely ideal sun conditions (middle
of Summer, midday sun with no clouds) chances
are the solar panels will not produce a high enough
Voltage to get the MPPT to turn on and will not
perform any bulk charging. So this means that
both early and late in the day when the Sun is
lower in the sky, if there is a wee bit of shade
on part of the panel, if there is a bit of dirt
on the solar panels or if there is any cloud in
the sky chances are that you will not get much
if any solar charging.
So
when we have a "clean slate" for everything
- like the solar, we can plan out and execute
the installation in a way that will perform at
the absolute peak that its capable of. In the
case of these 20 Volt solar panels, we will always
recommend that if we have just 2 of them that
we will wire them in Series so that in almost
all daytime conditions, the combined Voltage of
the two solar panels will almost always be above
20 or even 25 Volts - permitting the MPPT to go
into the bulk charging mode even early/ late in
the day, under cloud or part shading and even
when it is raining!
Yes,
on a separate May 2024 solar only upgrade RV project
(also on a Leisure Travel Van/ Sprinter Chassis),
the Client had AGM batteries and just two of the
Go Power 100 Watt semi-flexible solar panels and
a cheap PWM solar charge controller. The RV factory
had wired these in parallel and the Client found
that very rarely would he ever get any solar charging.
After Pinnacle Innovations rewired them in Series,
added a Victron Smart MPPT and added the proper
DC circuit breakers, the Client found that this
made a whole World of difference! In fact, while
the Client was here picking up the RV mid-afternoon
I showed him on the Victron Bluetooth App the
new MPPT and much to his amazement his batteries
were actually charging in bulk mode with almost
7 Amps going in. The amazing thing is that
the Sun was nowhere to be seen - it was actually
fully overcast AND RAINING at the time! Under
peak direct sunlight the maximum Amps these two
panels can produce at the bulk charge Voltage
would be 13.88 Amps - so almost 7 Amps is pretty
good while raining. I can guarantee that when
the solar panels were wired up the original way
that under these conditions there would be zero
charging going on...
A
week later he followed up with me and thanked
me - stating that the solar is now able to fully
recharge his two small batteries each day and
he is no longer having to charge them everyday
with shore power - which is what he was forced
to do every day for the past 3 years. His Son
(whom also has a very similar RV that I installed
an MPPT on in 2021) was so impressed that he decided
to call me and have me rewire his Go Power 100
Watt semi-flexible solar panels in Series (as
well as Parallel as he has four panels - not two).
At the time I initially installed his MPPT I had
recommended that I also rewire his solar panels
that were factory installed by Leisure Travel
Vans strictly in parallel but at the time he was
not convinced it was worthwhile. After witnessing
the huge improvements in his Dad's almost identical
solar system, he called me up and came in to have
me also wire his solar panels in Series. As he
has 4 panels, what I do is wire two together in
Series, wire the other two in Series and then
Parallel connect the 2 sets of 2 wires coming
from each set of 2 solar panels.
Now
getting back to the RV installation featured on
this page, even though this is not a large RV,
the Owner's use of the RV is mostly off-grid and
as they wanted the ability to be able to run the
roof-top air conditioner during the day (to keep
their dogs cool) as well as through the night,
they eventually decided to opt for two units of
the Lithionics
Battery GTX Series 12 Volt lithium-ion internal
NeverDie Battery Management System batteries.
Each battery has 320 "total" Amp hours
of capacity - of which up to 90% or 288 Amp hours
are "usable". This is a great deal of
energy and with two of these batteries and a combined
576 usable Amp hour capacity, most RV Owners will
get anywhere from 6 to 8 or even 9 hours of run
time on air conditioners up to 15,000 BTU. However,
at the time of the initial installation they wanted
to see how they could make out with just the one
Lithionics Battery with 320 Amp hours capacity.
If I recall correctly it was about 2 months later
that they got back to me and had me install the
second battery.
This
particular Client wanted to mimimize the use of
the onboard generator so they opted for two of
the 30 Amp charge output Victron Orion DC to DC
Smart battery chargers that are powered by the
engine's alternator when the motor runs. When
we deal with OEM vehicle alternators we always
have to be careful for many reasons. First of
all, we need to make sure if there is just one
alternator that we properly isolate the two different
chemistry battery banks (the AGM engine start
battery and the lithium-ion house battery) - which
the Victron Orions do. Second, we need to make
sure that the charging Voltage going to the Lithionics
battery is exactly what Lithionics recommends
(otherwise it will Void your warranty and can
cause inadequate battery charging) so the Victron
Orions also accomplish this. Last, we need to
make sure that we do not "burn out"
your OEM alternator which was built to charge
lead-acid or AGM batteries but cannot handle the
amounts of energy a lithium-ion battery can take.
So with the case of Mercedes Benz they realize
that their alternators "have limits as tow
hat they can do" and that they were not designed
nor built for big battery bank charging, Mercedes
Benz actually sets an Amp limit of 80 Amps that
they will permit to go towards charging any secondary
battery system. If you go above this Mercedes
Benz will Void your Warranty on the alternator
(as well as possibly other related equipment).
So here, by connecting two Victron Orions with
a combined 60 Amps maximum draw from the alternator,
we stay within the limits and preserve your Mercedes
Benz alternator Warranty.
The
Leisure Travel Vans have just barely enough space
in the inverter bay to install a second battery
should you want more capacity. This is a little
tricky and requires cutting out part of the metal
support bracket and raising the floor area by
1 1/2". You can see this in one of the photos
below.
Pinnacle
Innovations/ getlithium.com never "cut corners"
on our installations and only/ always use the
highest quality North American made tinned copper
marine rated installation wire cable, connectors,
fuse assemblies, bus bars, control switches etc.
to ensure that our valued Clients have an enjoyable/
trouble-free system years down the road. Safety,
quality and performance are all priority #1!
Feel
free to browse through the images below. If you'd
like a no-pressure quote for your RV or Marine
project just get in touch with us through our
Contact Us page.
