Alternator With A Solar Panel

Example you have 300 watts of solar panels on your camper s roof and two 12 volt batteries.

Alternator with a solar panel.

An alternator works by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. In order to calculate this you just have to divide the watts provided by your solar panel by the number of volts in your battery bank. So far this 445 watt solar panel setup combined with the alternator has worked perfectly. Most rv s have a way of isolating the power coming from the alternator or another source like generator or solar charge controller.

The charge controller should not be hooked up in line between the alternator and battery. Solar panel costs fell 53 percent in 2012. Outside van estimated that in ideal sunny conditions my solar panels can pull up to 30 amps per hour. For simplicities sake think of it as power going from the alternator or the charge controller to the batteries but not the other direction.

Your solar panel s and charge controller are coming from an entirely different path. In two months we haven t had to plug in a single time and i haven t seen my battery voltage drop below 12 4 which is about 75 full. One method of doing this is to use the alternators to recharge storage batteries. These batteries could then be used to power an inverter which would produce the ac voltage needed to run the house.

You can use car alternators to power a home. If you have two devices tied directly to the battery and each can provide a way to charge the battery at the same time you may end up with an overcharged battery or backfeeding one charging system with the other. Solar controller except for small trickle charge systems all solar systems should have a solar controller. This kit is ideal for van conversions and skoolies with older alternators or lithium batteries with input current limits under 100a.

The purpose of a controller is to prevent batteries from being overcharged apply the optimal charging current to the battery bank and prevent current from back flowing from the batteries to the solar panel at night.