Solar Sanity check (SSC?)

Acampingwewillgo wrote:

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.

I love this set up too. For the last several years I've said this is the year I'm going to do it(Solar) but just have never pulled the trigger. The 12 Volt Panels would fit the profile (size wise) of my roof and running the panel similar to the above would work best. My place of choice for all Solar is Solar Blvd since I live close enough to go pick them up and on occasion the have 180 watt 12 volt panels that would fit well....maybe this year.

PS.... Wow, so much for Solar Blvd... it appears they are NO LONGER in Business. Guess I waited too Long!!!