Before answering this question, several questions need to be clarified. The final electricity usage efficiency of adding solar panels to the RV is not only the conversion efficiency of solar panels, but also other factors.
First, the conversion efficiency of solar panels.
Currently, solar panels commonly used in the market can be simply divided into three categories: monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, and amorphous silicon.
Monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules are solar panels made of high-purity monocrystalline silicon rods, and are currently widely used in the photovoltaic market. Monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules have the highest photoelectric conversion rate (the photoelectric conversion efficiency of monocrystalline silicon is higher than that of polycrystalline silicon, and polycrystalline silicon is higher than that of amorphous silicon), so most RV riders choose monocrystalline silicon solar panels.
Second, the conversion efficiency of the solar controller.
The solar controller is a solar charge and discharge controller used to protect the battery from overcharging and overdischarging and prolong the life of the battery. After years of development, the technology of pulse width modulation (PWM) charge controller has been very mature. But we found that in actual use, the charging efficiency of the PWM controller is low.
How to improve efficiency?
MPPT controller is a better choice.
MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) is the maximum power point tracking.
Maximum power point tracking is to design a device in the controller that can perform intelligent calculations and implement tracking at any time, so as to realize real-time monitoring of the power generation voltage of the solar panel, and track the highest voltage and current value. By outputting the highest point of electric energy, Make the system charge the battery with the highest efficiency.
We know that in order to charge the battery, the output voltage of the solar panel must be higher than the current voltage of the battery. If the voltage of the solar panel is lower than the voltage of the battery, the output current will be close to 0. Moreover, the output of the solar panel is not fixed, but a curve that changes with various conditions such as radiation intensity and ambient temperature. Whether the solar panel can always work at the maximum value of the power output curve is the ability of MPPT. . Therefore, it is recommended that RV riders must choose MPPT controllers when installing solar power generation systems.
Third, the efficiency of the inverter.
Regardless of the amount of power generated by the solar panels, in many cases, RV riders still have to choose an inverter to convert the voltage into 22v AC for use. So the loss of the inverter is also a very important factor. Try to choose a pure sine wave inverter with high conversion efficiency, which will greatly improve the conversion efficiency.
Based on the above three points, riders should choose solar panels, controllers, and inverters with good efficacy, which is an effective way to improve the overall conversion efficiency of solar panels.