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Symbol Replacement Solar Panel

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Symbol Replacement Solar Panel Empty Symbol Replacement Solar Panel

Post by Baggiecamper Wed Oct 30, 2024 5:52 pm

Yesterday I completed the last part of my electrical upgrades.
Having fitted a 1500 Watt inverter, a Victron 30 amp B2B, a Victron 15 amp MPPT and a Battery Master I decided to increase my solar capacity.
Solar panels have become more efficient and less expensive recently. So rather than adding another 80 watt panel I decided to replace the existing one with a Renogy 175 Watt panel which was pretty much a perfect fit between the two roof bars and the two skylights. For space reasons I made my own aluminium angle mounting brackets.
A big benefit of replacement rather than addition is the existing cable was used reducing the installation work required.The Autosleepers installed 1.5mm² although not ideal is adequate. I have calculated the volts drop on the cable to the MPPT is less than one volt when producing maximum power. The voltage drop would have been more had I not eliminated the excess cable at the solar panel and behind the EC500 that Autosleepers installed.

This is the new panel installed:

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Old and new panels compared:
They both have similar electrical specifications other than output current. Both panel have an optimum Operating Voltage of 18.1V

Autosleepers installed Victron 80W panel
Size 1195x545x35mm (0.651m²)
Renogy 175W panel
Size 1262x699x35mm (0.882m²)

So for a 35% bigger footprint I have a 219% increase in maximum output power.


Last edited by Baggiecamper on Wed Oct 30, 2024 6:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Post by Paulmold Wed Oct 30, 2024 6:25 pm

Something wrong with your size calculations.

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Post by Baggiecamper Wed Oct 30, 2024 6:31 pm

Paulmold wrote:Something wrong with your size calculations.
Well spotted. I have corrected the Renogy Panel size

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Post by 2024Kim Fri Nov 01, 2024 11:15 pm

Tidy
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