Solar Sanity check (SSC?)
Fellow drivers of the Fonzie-Class RV, Hopefully sooner than later I plan on adding some boondocking worthy solar panels to the roof of my RV. I've done a ton of research, called a dozen or so comp...
Forum Discussion
Ivylog wrote:
First thing I'd do is measure your power usage. You probably have 1 amp DC of parasitic loads (I have 3 24/7) and your 1-3 amps AC for a residential is hopefully only 1 and then only 40% of the time. The 21 CuFt Whirlpool I installed draws 8 amps DC (96W) measured before the inverter and 1.2KW/day or 16 cents. I agree you can turn the inverter off for 8 hours at night (temp will not rise to much in the refer) but I would run the generator for 30 minutes to make coffee and power the refer while it gets back up to temp. If you use your generator in the evening and morning, 100W of solar panel/battery is all you need... 400W of panels for 4 batteries. If you are a purest (solar only, no generator) then you need to double the number of panels.
I recently installed 900W (9 100W panels) into a 60 amp mppt controller. Cost was $550 for the panels and $450 for the controller. Made my own tilting mounts so $250 in misc parts and cables...$1.40/watt. I have 9 batteries although the 9 panels was more what would fit on my roof and leave room to walk on one side.
Nice! Yeah, I need to pick up a battery monitor to see what parasitic draw might be there from stuff. I wouldn't say I'm a purest, I just don't like the noise of the generator. Part of that might be a little paranoia too. I don't like people sneaking up on me, and with the generator I could be surprised pretty easily. I also like the idea of not using my gas. Although, if I need to run the generator, I'll let er' rip. I just try not too.
Heck of a setup you got there. I think that would be my ultimate goal. 900 - 1000 or more if I have the space.
Thanks!
