This is my month for updates and maintenance on our Sunline before we head back out on the road again. One of the items we are going to be doing is adding some solar to our power plant to allow us to boondock for longer (just can't get comfortable with a gen set noise, weight and gas) periods of time if we want too.
We are going to be building our own panels like what Norm did and I will include a bunch of pictures of that when I get into it this coming week. I'm still working out exactly what voltage and panel configuration I'm going to go with and what charge controller to feed the panels from.
The one thing I am still not sure on is where the charge controller should hook into the system. The controller will do the job of disconnecting the panels when there is nominal charge being output, but the concern is more about how the charge controller would work with the converter. When boondocking it seems straight forward since the converter would be taking charge off the batteries for any load that is being used. However when on Shore Power I am not sure how the converter will handle things.
I think the converter should see the voltage output by the solar charge controller and will adjust its charging stage accordingly. So if the solar charge controller is getting good voltage out the converter would likely just sit in float charge mode. Then if the solar charger drops off (night or what have you) and the bank is below charge the converter should detect that and kick into charge mode. At least that is the way I would expect it to work.
Here is a simple one-line of how I think the hookup would go.
Does this match how other people with solar in the mix have the controller connected in? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Tom
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