NV200 Solar Panel

Description

I wanted a separate electrical system for camping and other uses so I put in a Solar Panel Kit. Total cost was about 350 Canadian dollars. This included a 100 watt Sungold solar panel, wiring, Controller, and brackets. I purchased items at Battery World in Vancouver BC. I and was very happy with their good selection of in store items and their service.

The solar panel just happened to fit nicely between the roof rack rails so I mounted it crossways and had to add a little extra angle bracket to make it fit. I mounted the solar panel near the front so I could still use the back roof rack area when needed. The Solar Panel has a low profile on the vehicle and you can hardly notice it.

It was a hot day when I bought the solar panel so I tested it before installation. I connected the 2 wires directly to a 12 volt automotive brake light and to my surprise it lit up brightly when placed in direct sunlight. I was also pleased with lamp brightness when holding the solar panel at various angles to the Sun.

Wiring everything up was quite straightforward. I just mounted a regular car battery, (totally isolated from the engine battery) in the rear of the NV200 just on top of the right rear fender. I put a 10 amp fuse in the positive battery wire to the controller. Strangely enough, the controller said it was a positive ground in the manual so I mounted it on plywood in case the heatsink metal was at ground potential. This would have been a dead short as I grounded my negative battery terminal as is usually done in automotive applications. The Sungold Solar Panel + and – wires are floating when connected and running. The + was at 15 volts and the – was at -6 volts giving a reading of 21 volts on the display and when measured with my meter. I’m not sure why they don’t tie the – solar panel terminal to ground at the controller and make life easy but I guess they have a good reason for letting it float. The Battery – and Load terminal – were both tied to vehicle ground so that was good. Anyway, I’m quite pleased with the EPEVER Controller. It shows real time solar panel output voltage – output amps, battery voltage and charge level. Normal battery voltage is about 13.7 volts and solar panel normal output voltage is about 18 volts at 2.5 amp charge rate in daylight.