Planning for solar installation this spring
My TT comes with a single Interstate SRM-24 battery. We camped for one season so far and never really lived off the battery in any of the campground except for maybe an hour where I didn't plug in sh...
Forum Discussion
EnzoColorado wrote:
We have two trips this year without shore power. Both trips will be one week long.
We don't have a TV in the trailer. I've been thinking about usage for awhile ...
If your interior light fixtures don't currently have LED bulbs in them then change 'em to minimize battery draw down due to lighting. Next step is to use portable lights for some of your needs. Third step is to absolutely minimize your use of lights when dry camping - e.g. no need to leave any lights on inside the camper if everyone is outside sitting around the campfire. Teach the kids to turn 'em off whenever possible.
If you're even contemplating inverter use I'd suggest you locate it in the front pass through storage compartment to keep it out of the elements but also mount AGM batteries in there as well and connect to them with short, heavy gauge cables that will minimize voltage drop. That's what I'm doing this spring by replacing my tongue mounted flooded battery with AGM in the pass through and eliminating 6' (12' total) of 4 gauge cable, using at most 18" long 1 gauge or 2 gauge. An inverter can be really handy but IMO hardly worth it if use is restricted to powering just one device. If 200 watts of solar is going to be your only method of recharging I'd forget the inverter, forget any 120 vac devices, and minimize your use of everything powered by 12 vdc, reserving it for those devices you absolutely must power, such as your fridge. Which brings up the question - does your fridge have a climate control heater (probably does) and if so do you know how to turn it off? If it can't be turned off then you want to add your own switch so you can as that heating element will unnecessarily draw down your battery reserve when dry camping. Conservation is the key. ;)
