Allpowers foldable solar panel Q

[Scoutn79]

Likely only an issue if you are keeping their built-in SC.

If using your own, that will be mounted at the battery bank, you're not leaving those out in the rain are you?

Not sure what a "SC" is you are referring to. If you are referring to a charge controller, then no, none of my other controllers are waterproof but my other panels are. The ad makes me wonder if their panel isn't waterproof.

Darrell

 

[dwh]

The MPPT doesn't "want more voltage". It sweeps up and down over a voltage range to find the sweet spot.

But in your example - say a PWM on the solar. That is not going to allow the MPPT to find the sweet spot of an 18v panel. The PWM charge controller is going to have a pre-programmed limit to prevent battery overcharge. Most likely it won't go over 15v.

Plus as the PWM switch chatters, connecting/disconnecting, it'll most likely keep jerking the MPPT around causing it to just continually sweep. And it doesn't put out power to the battery while it's running a sweep.

Stacking PWM into an MPPT would most likely be an exercise in futility.


Most laptops can handle a range of voltage on the DC input, like 17v-22v. At a lower voltage, it just charges a bit slower.

But again, if that panel is setup to charge a 12v battery, the voltage will be too low, requiring a 12v laptop power supply. Most of those are like "10v - 15v input, 19v output".

 

[john61ct]

Not sure what a "SC" is you are referring to. If you are referring to a charge controller, then no, none of my other controllers are waterproof but my other panels are. The ad makes me wonder if their panel isn't waterproof.

Solar controller.

Theirs is built right into the "folding blanket" case. That would be the bit susceptible to water damage, so if you're bypassing it less of an issue.

Of course you won't get much power in the rain anyway

 

[Scoutn79]

Solar controller.

Theirs is built right into the "folding blanket" case. That would be the bit susceptible to water damage, so if you're bypassing it less of an issue.

Of course you won't get much power in the rain anyway

I want a panel I don't need to babysit.
If I wanted to do that I would just run the truck for a few minutes each day.

If I am away on a hike on the bike or taking a nap I don't want to have a destroyed solar panel if I don't get to it in time.

Your right their isn't much charging going on when it rains but the sun will come back out then I have to put the panel back out then put it away if it "might" rain again. No thanks I'll just buy a properly designed piece of equipment instead of dealing with a halfa$$ design.

Darrell

 

[Scoutn79]

The MPPT doesn't "want more voltage". It sweeps up and down over a voltage range to find the sweet spot.

But in your example - say a PWM on the solar. That is not going to allow the MPPT to find the sweet spot of an 18v panel. The PWM charge controller is going to have a pre-programmed limit to prevent battery overcharge. Most likely it won't go over 15v.

Plus as the PWM switch chatters, connecting/disconnecting, it'll most likely keep jerking the MPPT around causing it to just continually sweep. And it doesn't put out power to the battery while it's running a sweep.

Stacking PWM into an MPPT would most likely be an exercise in futility.


Most laptops can handle a range of voltage on the DC input, like 17v-22v. At a lower voltage, it just charges a bit slower.

But again, if that panel is setup to charge a 12v battery, the voltage will be too low, requiring a 12v laptop power supply. Most of those are like "10v - 15v input, 19v output".

Gotcha, that puts it a little more into perspective.

Thanks for the help. It looks like I am going to need to go in a different direction on this.

Darrell

 

[WSS]

I have a couple of panels rated at 20w/18v with a usb output (5v). In a recent build, I took the connector block apart to change output wires and found the usb simply had a resistor inline to choke voltage to 5v. I left it in but will not use it just the 18v output is what I use. I have used this controller in two builds now with acceptable results. An MPPT controller is not a "cure-all", the cure for "not enough power" is more or higher output panels.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/IP68-Water...var=452793394675&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

I use the 10amp as my panels are not huge. Here are the panels I used in my last build:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/20W-18V-Ba...var=423574730185&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649