Solar upgrade to Dry Campers Dream

Thanks all and keep ideas coming. So far I'm leaning towards a pure sine wave inverter. I'm thinking 4 - 6v bats, 2 - 400w panels (maybe only need 1?), not sure of size of inverter and then the 3 stage charger/converter. Plus I will need an installer. And I have to decide best manufacturer.

Hi,

There are some larger PV suppliers with wharehouses in Phoenix. You might check the local Craigslist.com and see if anything is listed for solar panels. Most are for installations in homes, but some might be RV installers.

You might check RvSolarElectric.com in Scottsdale. I bought my first solar system from them many years ago.

SunElec.com also has a huge wharehouse in Phoenix. You might be able to pick up some panels there, and either install them yourself, or consider having it done in Quartzsite. They have great prices on solar panels.

Your RV will use about what 1 120 watt panel will make in a day - to run the refrigerator, CO and propane detectors. A couple more 100 - 120 watt panels will run the TV and can be enough to run a microwave.

However I never recommend running the microwave from a inverter unless you have a much more expensive pure sine wave inverter. My microwave was damaged by my modified sine wave inverter, and I had to replace it. Now I only run the microwave from shore power or generator.

400 watts of solar is normally plenty of power. I rarely needed to run my generator or charger while full timing - except a small amount of time in January. If I had been driving that week then the engine would have made up the power, but I was parked all month.

Fred.

Hi,

You need to know a little about solar before you walk in the door.

Here is a simple flow chart.

Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT.

One rule of thumb is between 60 and 150 watts of panels per 100 amp-hours of storage. The smaller the battery bank the high the wattage needed (per 100 amp-hours). Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet which includes an energy audit, that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!

Solar Spread Sheet N8GS

For a nice explanation of solar, try this link:

Golden rules of solar

Nope but you are in luck.. The Quartzsite rally starts I think next week and it's only 130 miles west of Pheonex as I recall. (if that). Take I-10 west. Take the RV, stay a couple of weeks.. Enjoy. It's crazy.

But they have 2 or 3 solar dealers and if you park on BLM land say 3 miles south of town (Tyson's wash) there are folks there who are downright good at Solar.