Gdetrailer wrote:
Itinerant1 wrote:
I don't even worry/ think about the 48ah draw with the lfp's. I could probably make an adjustment within the ME-ARC if it was a issue. The 1,280w solar & 500ah lfp are a pretty good match together. When the day comes and I just need to replace the batteries I'll probably add 100ah more and just about eliminate the generator except for the very rare stretch of bad solar production days, but that might not be for a few more years seeing the batteries aren't showing signs of voltage sag with high draws for long periods of time yet nearing 6 years of daily use.
Not everyone has deep, deep pockets full of money nor does everyone wish to pack 1.2KW worth of solar on their roof and on the sides of their RV. That is why I mentioned using smart technology like inverters with power saving feature.
It is why I can run my home fridge, plus 30K BTU furnace, some lights and yes even some TV and PC for entertainment for 24 hrs without solar or generator and still have power leftover out of one pair of 6V FLA GC2 batteries.
If I really wanted to boondock full time, I can simply add 3 100W solar panels which would extend my time between using a gen to charge the batteries to several days all on one pair of GC2s..
So, $300 in solar panels and my trusty $200 worth of GC2 batteries for $500 in total can easily hang with $1.2K in solar plus $3500 worth of Lithium 500Ahr battery bank..
The key is conservation, I can live like I am on the grid with only a few minor changes like putting things that do not need power 24/7 on power strips with switches, turn items off via the power strip saves a lot wasted energy in phantom loads. Conservation is a lot cheaper than trying to pretend you are still on the grid with wasteful habits.
I don't find solar a waistfull thing at all. Rather I think generators are a waist I did the camper for 600CDN and have never ran out of power and I don't get hookups or stay in campground for that matter, well technicly they are forestry sites and turn offs up in the mountians so some could be considered campground but primitve no hookups , heck some don't even have picknick tables or toilets and you have to bring your own firewood. if you ran a generator in some of these places anyone else up there would probably linch you, and in most normal campground you get two hours in the morning and teo hours around supper that your allowd to run the genny. so 1 to 2000 cdn for somthing you can barley use? plus I now find the peace and quiet is what I am camping for, even the drone of a quiet honda gets on my nerves now.
on my 5th wheel I use about 80AH/day and my 480 watts of solar makes sure I am topped up every day as long as it is nice. I will be upgrading these to 24V panels and a new mppt charger so I will have just shy of 1000 watts. my camper is more primitive, no microwave, only one 120 outlet but no inverter so its 12V life in there. I have a 325watt 24v panel on that with two GC2 batteries for now and I have only been concerned about power after three days of rain and no sun. I will be putting one more panel on that one also to just bump that 3 or 4 amp charge on a dim day up to 8ish, also going from 100 watts of usable battery to 300ish of LFP will make a big difference in my sun dependency.
