OK - I'm starting to wonder if I'm looking at this wrong.I was planning on solar and starting small with 1 or 2 portable panels and eventually put them (and more) on the roof but now I'm really wondering if that's unnecessary for my needs.I have (2) 6V gc batteries (230AH each), all LED lights, live in NYS so no winter camping, we have a Mr Heater heater to take the chill off in the evening and then again in the morning for spring and fall camping, so no furnace needed, "Navy" showers so pump runs minimum amount of time, fridge/water heater on propane (obviously) and a couple of Maxxair fans that might be used for short runs to cool down if needed .. but we also have a TH so I can just open the back of the rig if it get's too warm, a couple portable fans that move a fair bit of air and use rechargeable D batteries and I plug into a 30A RV outlet at home 24/7 while not using the rig so the batteries get topped off between each trip.We tend to dry camp for 3-4 day "weekends" up to 2 weeks at a time (the long ones only happen 2-3x/year)I know I need to get actual power consumption #'s at some point but with some "back of the napkin" calculations, I'm beginning to wonder if I should just add a couple more batteries and get a different battery charger to use with my (2) Champion 2000W Inverter generators (with parallel kit).The goal would be to go without recharging for 4+ days and then be able to recharge the battery bank within 3 hrs of generator run time. I have space for at least 2 more batteries.BTW: The RV came with the standard WFCO 9855PEC power center thing. I have no problems with switching that to something else or just adding a clamp on style battery charger (like you'd use at home) if it would do what I want. I'd also like to not have to fiddle with power setting on the charger too much.You thoughts please ... besides the fact that I'm nuts.

Solar isn't something that's really "needed" if you have generators. It's just very nice to not have to lug a generator, get gas, pour gas (spilling) and listen to it.For faster charging consider AGMs.

I camp in the shade most of the time, so solar was never consider. From your usage chart, looks to me the Maxair can be the biggest draw, especially if you use them for several hr a day. Still with our use, the batteries you have would last us 2-3 days and that include 1 liter of coffee every morning made on inverter power. Adding more batteries is one of the options, but they cost money to buy and money to carry and since you have good generator, just get one of those computerized battery charger to maximize generator time. Again, with our use, all I would have to do is run generator for 1 hr every other or even 3rd morning when making coffee and charging batteries at the same time.

I would first of all get some sort of instrumentation to accurately measure what your power consumption is and get some idea of where your battery states are at. Something like a trimetric is fantastic, but even just a decent voltmeter and ammeter would be a big help and is fairly inexpensive. You'll use this no matter what you end up doing.I would guess offhand that two pairs of GC2 batteries would very well get you through four days of conservative usage without becoming excessively discharged, and a large converter (80-100A) could bring them back up to 90 percent or so in three or four hours. Alternately, a single pair of batteries and sufficient solar power (maybe 200W or so?) could likely keep you going nearly indefinitely if you have reasonably open skies. I want to emphasize that these are at best very very rough guesstimates, barely better than order-of-magnitude computations.If you find you need more battery capacity than you have space for, you might want to investigate GC12 batteries. These are 12V golf cart batteries, somewhat longer and heavier than GC2s (but of a similar width and height), and a pair of GC12 batteries has about half again more energy storage than a pair of GC2s. If the shape fits your mounting space better, this could give more battery capacity...though unfortunately rather less economically, as the price per watt-hour favors the GC2s.

You should be able to get 2-4 days off of your two batteries, but for two weeks you will need to run your generator. Why do you need 2 generators? With two 160 watt solar panels I can go for ever.

I'm thinking solar might be more trouble than it's worth since we camp in the shade most of the time. I can run portable panels out to some sun but it could be a pain in the rump and maybe not efficient enough for our needs.I never said I needed 2 generators, only stating what I have on hand so people can provide educated answers.

Do I need solar or more batteries and a better charger?

64 Replies

corvettekent
Explorer
May 03, 2016
You should be able to get 2-4 days off of your two batteries, but for two weeks you will need to run your generator. Why do you need 2 generators?

With two 160 watt solar panels I can go for ever.
DrewE
Explorer III
May 03, 2016
I would first of all get some sort of instrumentation to accurately measure what your power consumption is and get some idea of where your battery states are at. Something like a trimetric is fantastic, but even just a decent voltmeter and ammeter would be a big help and is fairly inexpensive. You'll use this no matter what you end up doing.

I would guess offhand that two pairs of GC2 batteries would very well get you through four days of conservative usage without becoming excessively discharged, and a large converter (80-100A) could bring them back up to 90 percent or so in three or four hours. Alternately, a single pair of batteries and sufficient solar power (maybe 200W or so?) could likely keep you going nearly indefinitely if you have reasonably open skies. I want to emphasize that these are at best very very rough guesstimates, barely better than order-of-magnitude computations.

If you find you need more battery capacity than you have space for, you might want to investigate GC12 batteries. These are 12V golf cart batteries, somewhat longer and heavier than GC2s (but of a similar width and height), and a pair of GC12 batteries has about half again more energy storage than a pair of GC2s. If the shape fits your mounting space better, this could give more battery capacity...though unfortunately rather less economically, as the price per watt-hour favors the GC2s.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
May 03, 2016
I camp in the shade most of the time, so solar was never consider.
From your usage chart, looks to me the Maxair can be the biggest draw, especially if you use them for several hr a day.
Still with our use, the batteries you have would last us 2-3 days and that include 1 liter of coffee every morning made on inverter power.
Adding more batteries is one of the options, but they cost money to buy and money to carry and since you have good generator, just get one of those computerized battery charger to maximize generator time.
Again, with our use, all I would have to do is run generator for 1 hr every other or even 3rd morning when making coffee and charging batteries at the same time.
2oldman
Explorer II
May 03, 2016
Solar isn't something that's really "needed" if you have generators. It's just very nice to not have to lug a generator, get gas, pour gas (spilling) and listen to it.

For faster charging consider AGMs.

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Do I need solar or more batteries and a better charger?

64 Replies

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