Battery/solar questions
Hi all, We have a 19' TT that we take out a handful of times a year. (Would love to go much more often, employer does not agree. :( ) The longest we've been out for in one trip was six days. T...
Forum Discussion
JHFox wrote:
Hi all,
We have a 19' TT that we take out a handful of times a year. (Would love to go much more often, employer does not agree. :( ) The longest we've been out for in one trip was six days.
The only electricity we use is some LED lights (2 watts each), the water pump (50 watts when running?), and our phone charger (5 watts). According to an online calculator I found (http://midsummerenergy.com/solar_panel_information/solar_panel_calculator.html), based on estimates of how long we use each "load", our total amp-hours a day come to a whopping 3! (37.5 watt-hours.) As for our battery, it's an AGM battery that's listed as having 68 amp hours.
Q1: does the fact I use 3 amp hours a day mean I could effectively go about 20 days on my 68 amp-hour battery? (I never would, I'm just verifying that I understand the meaning of these numbers.) Should I even worry about trying to charge the battery on the short trips I take, given how little power I use?
If the answer to Q1 is Yes, then on to Q2...
Q2: the trailer came with a 5 watt panel attached to the roof and they wired in an on/off switch. In direct sun it puts out 19 volts. Can I leave this panel on without fear of overcharging my battery? I've read a few places that have implied a small enough panel doesn't require a charge controller. Is that true? And if so, what would be considered "small enough"? Should I just install a controller to be safe?
Thanks! Hope all of that made sense.
James
You normally would not go below 50% on the battery (but you can get away with going lower to say 30% if required at times)
Don't you have a fridge? On propane, it will use about 15AH a day from battery right there. (the burner uses 12v --half an amp when on, which is about 2/3 of 24 hrs)
No need to pretend you are in a tent on a survival course. You have a TT. You are allowed to have an inverter (say a 300w) attached to the battery so you can plug 120v things into it, like a tv/dvd. Watch a movie on rainy evenings.
Easy to get two batts instead of just the one, and enjoy your TT more.
You could benefit right now from a bigger solar panel with a controller for it, to make up some of those AH you were not counting. IMO no point in getting anything less than a 100w panel.
