Down and dirty solar question.

To answer your question, 40 watts will charge a motorcycle battery, that's about it. And that's only if the sun shine brightly all day.

You won't be running a MW or drip coffee maker with one battery. No, 40w of solar is close to nothing. And it's 'moot' point, not mute.

Mods please delete. I'm not adept at correcting my mistakes.

Thanks for the response. But can you please focus on the question, and answer it as asked. The question is narrow in scope and is a yes/no. Please don't take offense.

You can make coffee fairly easy by boiling water on the stove, and get out three coffee cups.

Put the Mr. Coffee filter inside the plastic holder, and place this on top of one of the coffee cups. Add 2 T of coffee. Pour in a little water - not more than will fit into the cup below.

Add one more T of coffee, and place over second cup, add more water and so on until all is made, then place over last cup, so it will not drip on the counter.

Your engine alternator can supply about 100 amps of power while running the microwave. However the alternator can be damaged by putting out max amperage to often. Also idling the engine can provide less than normal amount of oil to the camshaft, and this can be a problem. So it is best to idle the engine as little as possible.


It is much better to run a generator. You can buy a 2000 watt Honda portable generator at this place for about $1,000. You have to call and get the exact price. They are only about 47 pounds and are used my many RV'ers.

Yes it is possible to run the microwave with a pure sine wave inverter, however they are about $500 more than the modified sine wave inverters. IT would also require a minimum of 200 amp hours of battery storage capacity to supply the 150 - 200 amps to the inverter under load. Also you might want to have 2-3 solar panels in the 140 watt size range. The site listed above, they had 140 watt panels for $229 a year ago.

As for dry camping, the thing that limited me was my 100 gallon fresh water tank would run out in 3 weeks. I could refill my tank with a siphon and hang a 7 gallon fresh water tank from the ladder, letting it flow into the fresh water filler. I would fill up 2-3 of the 7 gallon tanks while out sightseeing. Usually you can refill at a State or Federal campground, or perhaps at a gas station while filling the car with gas.

You might also find this sight helpful. FreeCampgrounds.com

Good luck!

Happy camping.

Fred.

So, off a full battery, I wouldn't have enough amps to run the microwave for 5 minutes?I have an on board inverter.
My 4k Onan can do it directly. Obviously a different situation. But if the answer to the first question is no, the question is mute. And the point of my question is, would a 40 watt solar system allow me to charge the battery and use the systems I described, granted I have a generator. Or would this be a waste of money?

Other than running the microwave or coffee maker, you might be OK to run a few lights.

However the 55 AH battery will not supply the 150 amps required to run a pure sine wave inverter and the microwave.

If you just want to run the coffee maker, then a 1,500 watt modified sine wave inverter might only cost say $200 or less, and would still require 4 golf cart batteries, to supply 1,200 amps to the inverter while making coffee.

Each of my golf cart batteries are 67 pounds, and what you have is probably only 30 pounds max, so much less storage than you will need to run a really large inverter.

As far as the solar panel, 40 watts is not enough to even keep up with the CO and propane leak detectors, let alone anything like the furnace.

It would take a 120 watt solar panel to produce 35 Amp Hours Daily to make up what the CO meter, propane detector would use, and run the refrigerator.

You might want to look for 12 volt 'nominal' panels here. SunElec.com

Then get a 20 amp PWM controller, and mount it to the roof with 2" angle aluminum. Run UV rated grey wire from the panel, down the roof vent behind the refrigerator, to the controller, then to the battery.

For dry camping, I would recommend at a minimum one group 27 or group 31 battery. In reality, a pair of golf cart batteries will run the RV for a long weekend without recharging it, but not a lot of accessories. With a pair of golf cart batteries, and a 120 watt solar panel, you can go weeks at a time without recharging, providing you are using LED lights and not to much else.

Good luck,

Fred.