Quote:
Originally Posted by geoffarias
Was looking at solar panels at harbor freight the other day when I stopped in for a TV bracket and started thinking about why not mount some on the roof of my EZ GO TXT and have some charge rate when it sits outside for hours on end in the South Florida sun when we are out and about?
What I dont know is how to calculate the wattage of the solar panel into charge rate and determine how much charge I am putting into the battery bank over a given period of time?
Ex: If I mount 2 panels that are 100 watts each, and connect to my 48 V bank (6-8v batteries if it matters), what does that look like? Do I need a charging controller/converter between the panels and the bank? And if so, lets say that the panels are in direct full sunlight for an hour, how much charge does that put into my batteries? am I adding 5% of the bank total?
Really learning to not just get an answer but understand how to calculate this type of thing going forward.
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I've had a solar powered cabin for 12 years and use a golf cart battery pack as storage. My cabin is far from the grid and that is the only reason that I use solar. I don't think that one of these kits for a cart would ever pay for itself, and you are much better off with a regular charger. Even living off the grid, I charge my cart with a generator when I have it at the cabin.
Solar at this level of investment works ok for a cabin that is used a few days per month. The battery pack will slowly charge when I am gone and be ready by the next trip, but I don't want to wait a week to run my cart.
Still, you must have a charge controller to shut off the charging once the pack is charged. Good luck with it.