This past week I finally got around to installing my Bogart Trimetric Battery Monitor and Solar Controller. Over all, the install was not complicated, but more time consuming than anything else. First thing to accomplish was to identify and measure all of my cabling requirements. This meant I had to order up some 0 gauge battery cables to connect the 500 amp shunt to my Battery and my negative cables to the Shunt. I also had to order some 10 gauge wire to do the wiring of the solar controller. I also required a 500 amp Bus Bar in which to attach all of my negative cables to so that I could just run one 0 gauge cable from the bus bar to the shunt. This made cabling the shunt more efficient and tidy.
The materials I required for this project are as follows:
- Bogart Trimetric 2030RV Battery Monitor
- Bogart SC-2030 Solar controller
- 500 amp Buss bar
- 500 amp Shunt
- 6’ of 0 gauge battery cables x 2 - Black
- 10’ of 10 gauge wire in Black and Red
- Two 40 amp in-line circuit breakers
- Assortment of screws
- Cable Ties
Once all of my materials arrived I was able to start the project. First off I needed to find a mounting spot for my battery Monitor. I selected a spot on the inside wall just inside of my coach door next to my inverter control panel
Next I had to find a route for the cables to travel from the monitor through my coach and out to my exterior battery box. In order to do this, I needed to remove my outside stereo and the drawer beneath my oven. This allowed me to route the cables from the battery monitor around the hot water tank and into a hole through the floor under the oven drawer. Once the cables were outside of the coach it was an easy path to the battery compartment.
I needed to drill a 1” hole in both of my battery compartments (I have two) to allow cables entry into the spaces. Once in the compartments with all the cables it was time to wire it all up. First, I mounted the shunt and solar controller and then Connected all of the positive wires and line breakers to my external solar port and to the positive end of the batteries. Next, I connected the battery monitor wires to the shunt and ran the positive line to the battery.
The last step here was to connect the two negative cables to the shunt. The negative load cable coming from the bus bar where I attached all load bearing negative cables that were on the batteries, and the negative return side of the shunt to the battery.
The overall Wiring schematic for this job is below and though it may look complicated it is very easy and straight forward.
The hardest part of this install was routing the wiring to the locations where i mounted the equipment.
Now that all of the wiring and mounting was done it was time to deal with the solar panels. Now the solar panels needed to be setup with a 32 degree angle which is the best angle for latitudes above the 48th parallel. In order to do this so that my panels did not lay flat on the ground. I developed a solar panel frame made out of PVC pipe.
This frame was designed using a PVC Bike rack design I found on the internet and then modifying it to fit my four panels and provide a 32 degree slope
When putting this together I first dry fitted all pieces and then attached the solar panels to the frame to ensure it was a good fit. Then I strategically glued certain parts so that the whole frame could be disassembled and stored in a Tupperware container. In the end my panel frame looked like this once the panels were attached.
I have yet to test this system out, but will be able to test it on my first camping trip of the season to Medicine lake Alberta on June 4th 2019. Once I have tested this system out I will update this post.
Happy Trails,
The Glampurs
July 11, 2019 - Update
Hi Everyone, so as promised i am updating this post with my solar experience. Over all it worked! I was impressed with myself and the equipment that I purchased. Once it was all setup in my campsite and I had a sunny afternoon I was able to judge the performance of the solar panels and see finally how they all worked.
Overall the setup was as easy as I expected. it only took 10min to piece together my solar frame and then attach the panels and plugin the transmission cable to the RV and in turn to the solar controller. Immediately upon connection the solar controller started working as advertised and it power light began flashing to indicate it was metering power from the panels. When I went inside to look at the battery monitor the Solar indicator showed 9 to 10 amps of charge going to my batteries. At this point my batteries were at 85% of full charge, and on this particular day at Medicine lake the clouds and rain stayed away for a full 6hrs, so I was able to use the solar array for the entire time.
At the end of 6 hrs the battery monitor showed that my batteries were at 98% of full charge. so using the solar array for 6 hrs at 10 amps gave me a full 13% charge. This was above my expectation for a 200 watt solar array. I think if the day had been full sun and no clouds I would have charged the battery bank to a full 100%. Over all the Dokio solar panels exceeded my expectations, and the Bogart PWM solar controller and battery monitor worked as expected and advertised. If I expand my solar array I may decide to swap out the solar controller and go to an MPPT controller which they say is better for higher wattage, but for my 200 watt system the PWM worked just fine, and it was cheaper. In the end that one day of solar bliss allowed me to only run my generator once and that was first thing in the morning. This is what I was hoping for. Lorraine was also very happy that she did not have to hear the noise of the generator as she sat outside enjoying the sun and sipping her wine. Chalk one up in the win column for me!
Happy Trails
The Glampurs