Reddit reviews RioRand LCD Digital Volt Voltage Panel Meter Voltmeter 7.5V-20V

Hi there,

I had this exact setup for over a year while I lived in a camper while going to school. They were nice enough to just let me park in the school's parking lot. Not sure they knew I was living there, but whatever.

Anyway, I had a BP 150W panel and two 6V deep cycle golf cart batteries hooked up in series to an automotive inverter. I also got a voltage isolator hooked up between the truck's alternator and the rig batteries. This allowed me to charge all the batteries without letting any voltage difference wreck the battery I use to start the truck.

My uncle is a sheet metal worker, and came up with a way to mount the panel flat on the roof and make it permanent and water proof.

Everything was controlled by a SunSaver 20 solar controller. I hooked up the house lights to the rig's built in 12v transformer in parallel to the solar panel.

I also bought an altoid tin voltage display and hooked that up. I could then keep an eye on how much I was using to make sure I could scale it back or feel safe with an all-night gaming session on my laptop without worrying about frying my batteries.

Anyway, I figured out based on my usage that I could run the batteries for about 11 hours before reaching redline voltage.

Connections between batteries and the line from the alternator to the controller was all 00 gauge wire. and 10AWG everywhere else.

If all you're hooking up is a 12V water pump, you can hook the leads for it directly up to the solar controller's hot bus. You might also consider breaking the hot bus out so you have more places to attach 12v appliances, like a fan.