using solar power
Anyone here use solar panels to power their rvs when set up in a campground?
what do you power? And how many watts do you?
what do you power? And how many watts do you?
Forum Discussion
17 Replies
- how many watts for running the rooftop a/c?
- When there is no electric at the campsite I use solar power. Solar power for everything except the a/c and the microwave. I have one 120watt solar panel.
- I used a 75W panel. I used lights, fan, water pump, and occasionally (one warm-up in the a.m.) the furnace. Also charging phone and camera batteries. 75W was plenty for my needs.
- Our solar is always connected no matter where we are camped
- This thread on solar setups by members of this forum should give you a few ideas. There is a ton of solar info available. Do a LOT of research before you start to set up your own system. If you have the system installed by "professionals" you should know at least as much as they do.
Here is the link.
And yes we do: 420 watts of panel, 484 AH of battery, Blue Sky controller, Xantrex Prosine 2.0 inverter/charger.
I thought I knew enough. For the additions and changes I learned some more. Still not quite right, I really need to relocate the controller. :S
And yes, we use it in campgrounds, particularly in Zihuatanejo,Mexico where the owner is a friend and power is expensive. To save him a few bucks we almost never need to use the Xantrex Charger. We do charge from shore power about once a week just to make sure the batteries get to 14.8 for a real top charge. To get the solar to always do that I have to set the controller output to almost a volt higher since when charging at 20 amps or so there is a full volt drop between the output of the controller and the batteries. This means that as current decreases so does voltage drop and we end up with batteries passing 15. I now have the controller set at 14.8 when in Zihuatanejo.
Full story with photos here. - If no hookups, then yes.
Everything in the RV. TV, residential refrigerator, 2-PCs & printer, microwave, garbage disposal,lights,appliances.
860 watts of solar.
