Calling on Solar Techies
I have been thinking of going solar for some time and decided to pull the plug. My wants are a 400 to 500 watt system. I have four 12 volt batteries with 340ah. I am not planning on changing b...
Forum Discussion
OP,
I'm not the first to say it in this thread but I'll repeat it -> ditch the coffee pot and microwave from the plans and you'll be able to install a great off-grid solar setup that is well-within the stated budget. I'm confident that you can use your propane range to do the same tasks that you are envisioning with battery/inverter/AC electricity.
I also started with similar aspirations and researched and purchased/installed my solar system with expansion in mind. I had very similar initial plans as the OP although not the coffee pot because I've always preferred French press/mocha pot. And as someone else in this thread suggested may happen, turns out 280 watts of solar and 2x6V GC batteries meets all of our off grid needs and we don't ever run out of battery while doing our style of camping. I've never felt the need to do the expansion that I had originally planned on. I even quit bringing the generator with for several years, but then installed the Micro Air Easy Start on the air conditioner and suddenly the generator became useful again. That's a different and unrelated topic though.
I'm not the first to say it in this thread but I'll repeat it -> ditch the coffee pot and microwave from the plans and you'll be able to install a great off-grid solar setup that is well-within the stated budget. I'm confident that you can use your propane range to do the same tasks that you are envisioning with battery/inverter/AC electricity.
I also started with similar aspirations and researched and purchased/installed my solar system with expansion in mind. I had very similar initial plans as the OP although not the coffee pot because I've always preferred French press/mocha pot. And as someone else in this thread suggested may happen, turns out 280 watts of solar and 2x6V GC batteries meets all of our off grid needs and we don't ever run out of battery while doing our style of camping. I've never felt the need to do the expansion that I had originally planned on. I even quit bringing the generator with for several years, but then installed the Micro Air Easy Start on the air conditioner and suddenly the generator became useful again. That's a different and unrelated topic though.
