Solar Panels (why are people going small?)

I am not sure solar is the answer to power large draws like multiple AC's. I just don't think the power is there. More to the point, solar doesn't really supply the power, it charges the batteries which supply the power. Large high end coaches like MM's Prevost have HUGE battery banks and can run AC's off of them but these banks are EXPENSIVE, and heavy and take up a lot of space. I am also not sure lining your entire roof with solar panels is a good idea. How will you get on the roof to fix anything or the annual check and caulk? I like solar, don't get me wrong, it's a cheap way to get power, but it takes a lot of panels to produce a lot of power.

I suspect that how much electricity you need to generate depends on how you want to live and how much battery capacity you wish to add. More panels would necessitate more batteries to store the power. First thing would be to make an energy budget for your lifestyle that add panels and batteries to make that happen. AC units are particularly power hogs..figure 140 amps DC each so 280 amps or roughly 1700 AH.

I have 300 W of solar and 6 batteries. On a bight sunny day with nothing running I have a constant draw of 13 amps just powering the inverter and electronics in sleep mode. 20 odd amps when the fridge kicks on. If I shut off the inverter I see a net positive charge of a few amps.

To me, going off the grid would also mean I would have to find a way to handle waste products, no or minimal propane use and etc. In other words pretty much a tent camping lifestyle....not what I bought a MH for. So settling for the solar panels to extend the time between gen set operation is all I hope for.

We've got two 315w panels on the roof of a 30 foot rig, and space to walk around. It all depends on the layout of your existing roof penetrations. I've seen plenty of larger roofs where small panels would be necessary.

What you are missing is about 5000 watts. Why did they put a 7.5 KW generator in it.

Even if you line the roof with solar but only four 6V batteries, you're not going to run even one 15,000 BTU AC for long enough to worry about it.

Why go with smaller panels, because you can get more wattage on the roof. You're not going to get 300W panels around air conditioners or vents or other protrusions in the roof. Even where you have nothing, most of the time if you put two 300W panels side by side, their width together eliminates any room to walk on the roof.

Bill

This is a size vs available area thing. Not EVERYONE is going small. I know lots of folks with 200W and 300W panels. It all depends on what kind of acreage is available on the roof. Simple, if you don't have the square footage, you simply tuck smaller ones where they'll fit. Eventually I'll get some but, not a "top" priority for now.
Scott