160-watt solar battery charger? Opinions?
Good day all, Looking at a used Coach House 271XL on the E-450 chassis. It has two 6-volt house batteries, 1,000 watt inverter, 4.0kw Onan. I can add a 160-watt solar battery charger as a factory ins...
Forum Discussion
Old Plank Road wrote:
I've been truck camping the last 8 years, don't use a generator when boondocking, I don't currently have solar.
Installing it yourself will be several times cheaper. Difficulty of this work is handyman's level. The only tedious part is pulling the cables. If you don't want DIY - then let the shop install. Those shop installs are often 2-pole connector on the roof, and thin wires that won't allow adding more solar later.
If you were able to boondock without either solar or generator, and if your wife can take this level of comfort, then 160W solar will work for both of you for trips up to 3-4 days long. Without having to run a generator. Or longer, if weather is agreeable and you are not running microwave and other high-wattage kitchen devices.
No, you can't "simply run a generator instead". It will take forever to charge batteries fully, and they prefer being charged fully. IMO, the term "simply" is more applicable to solar then to generator. Once installed, solar just works.
You might have to run a generator for an hour every other day, depending on the weather and your energy use, and let solar do the rest.
