Solar
Caravan Solar replenishes the energy used with "all electric" caravans.
High efficiency air-conditioners consume around 800W per hour after allowing for cycling. Although the batteries supply this energy overnight, they need to be replenished the next day.
In the video on the right, 1710W of solar is installed in this ZONE RV caravan. It will produce a staggering 10,000Wh per day in summer. Thats enough to replenish the batteries for air-con running for 10 hours overnight.
Safiery has mastered solar design to achieve this:
- High Panel Voltage as close to 120V as possible (This is 100% legal)
- DC DC for Solar allowing mixed panel sizes and technology
- High quality solar panels in both glass and lightweight flexible.
Simple maths but you have to work in watts not amps:
- Typical couple use 3500-4000Wh/day no aircon
- Aircon adds 800W/hour
- Safiery systems generate the nameplate value x 5 Watt hours/ day in Summer in Qld perfect weather.
- So 1500W of solar x 5 = 7,500Wh. Thats about 4 hours aircon without deleting batteries every day.
DC DC for Solar Changes the Game for High Performance Caravan Solar
Although a Caravan roof is generally a dis-jointed space, Safiery solve this problem by combining solar panels of different sizes and technologies with our DC DC for Solar.
These are a "1/4 brick" high frequency planar transformer that pass the current through a looped circuit to the solar MPPT controller AND add the solar power of each attached solar panel.
However, these units have to be cleverly designed so they don't fight the solar MPPT controllers like Victron.
Its took Bruce 3 attempts in design with failed products before the secret sauce was perfected. Safiery extend full 5 year warranty of these products and all the roof solar panels sold.
DC DC for Solar Changes the Game for High Performance Catamaran Solar
Although a yacht or catamaran roof is generally a dis-jointed space, Safiery solve this problem by combining solar panels of different sizes and technologies with our DC DC for Solar.
These are a "1/4 brick" high frequency planar transformer that pass the current through a looped circuit to the solar MPPT controller AND add the solar power of each attached solar panel.
However, these units have to be cleverly designed so they don't fight the solar MPPT controllers like Victron.
Its took Bruce 3 attempts in design with failed products before the secret sauce was perfected. Safiery extend full 5 year warranty of these products and all the roof solar panels sold.
Portable Solar High PV for Long Stays
Portable solar is a great way to extend replenishment energy when camping for a longer time.
In the video on the right is 175W of portable copperflex solar.
Safiery has mastered portable solar design to achieve this:
- High Panel Voltage of 42V per portable.
- Two of these portables in series will produce 84V Voc which will charge 48V systems.
- Optional DC DC for Solar allows combining this portable with the roof solar.
- High quality lightweight flexible panels in a manageable size.
Sunpower is No 1 but Copperflex is No 2 in performance Spec No 1 in Yellow. No 2 in Blue
Sunpower 400W | Copperflex 100W | Victron 115W | Enerdrive | Sunman eArc 100W Solar4RVs | |
Size | 400 | 100 | 175 | 180 | 100 |
Cell Efficiency | 0.726 | 0.679 | 0.670 | 0.669 | 0.638 |
Temperature Co-efficient | -0.29%/C | -0.36%/C | -0.45%/C | -0.37/C | Not Quoted |
Watts/m2 | 226.3 | 183.2 | 179.2 | 178.3 | 144.2 |
Weight | 19.0 | 1.4 | 11.0 | 11.5 | 2.1 |
Watts/kg | 21.1 | 71.4 | 15.9 | 15.7 | 47.6 |
Three Things that give Outstanding Solar Performance on a Sailing Cat
1. High Solar Panel Voltage (PV)
Popular DC to DC /& Solar Combo controller's (Redarc, Enerdrive and Intervolt) suffer from limited Panel Voltage because they mix solar with vehicle charging. Professional Solar controllers from Victron or Morningstar operate at 98% efficiency and accept high panel voltage up to 450V. Safiery strives for a Panel Voltage approach 100V to a max of 150V
1) Early Start, late finish. Because of the higher PV, solar yield is higher early in morning when panels are cool. Likewise in late afternoon when you want that final topup.
2) The cable from the solar panels has 1/4 or less of the curent compared to low voltage solar panels. Lower current means less losses. Alternative run a longer cable with portable solar.
2. Mixed Panel Sizes to get Maximum Solar on Roof Area.
To achieve a High Panel Voltage requires a series string of panels. When the Solar panels are natively connected in series, shading of one panel in a series string dramatically affects the whole string.
RV/Marine roof areas can be a hotch potch os different sized spaces. Mixing different panel sizes and even technologies can be fraught with performance problems.
Safiery have solved both of these problems with a DC to DC solar string that supports individual panels.
1) The DC to DC string will support panels of mixed sizes from 80W up to 400W.
2) The DC to DC string will support panels of mixed technologies: Add Copperflex and Glass on same string.
3. Ultra-Fast Victron Smart Solar Controllers
Victron Smart Solar operates at 98% efficiency. In addition to this very high efficiency is the gain from "ultra fast MPPT control". Experience is Victron Smart Solar yields 120-130% more energy per day than DC/DC Combo systems.
Victron Smart Solar Controller can:
1) Recover a flat battery. Victron use the solar PV to power the microprocessor. This cant be done with other brands like Redarc and Enerdrive with spiking the battery capacitor.
2) Safiery use "Expert Mode" that can shift the Solar controller back into bulk charge mode in the afternoon.