formulas for energy audit?
Getting ready to a long trip next summer with a few nights boon docking and thinking generator, battery bank, inverters etc and know I need to do an energy audit for my trailer. Trying to put togethe...
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Not clear, yes. Meaning - what stage are you on, or it's all just "thinking"? :)
Do the audit math anyway. Know thy daily draw. There is no recipe that works for everybody.
You can make it work with a genny 3 times a day, during meals and coffee.
Or you can re-think your meals and coffee arrangements, can be with or without use of MW and electric coffee maker, or with MW and stove-top coffee, and then increase the battery bank to 400-500 AH, no solar. The bank will last, say, 3-5 days with occasional genny runs or without, and then you will go home. People usually don't like to listen when they are being told that they can't take all their "shore" habits with them into the boons without inconveniencing themselves in some other way. Westend wrote about that 1000W coffee maker already, and I agree - powerful 120V devices make boondocking very energy-dependent. You either have to carry a lot of batteries, or cut your stay shorter, or run a genny longer.
Another solution is to increase the bank to 200-400 AH and install a solar. Smaller solar will let you stretch the bank for a few days without genny, and then you will go home. Bigger solar will let living off solar indefinitely or almost indefinitely.
Depends on what you want.
Do the audit math anyway. Know thy daily draw. There is no recipe that works for everybody.
You can make it work with a genny 3 times a day, during meals and coffee.
Or you can re-think your meals and coffee arrangements, can be with or without use of MW and electric coffee maker, or with MW and stove-top coffee, and then increase the battery bank to 400-500 AH, no solar. The bank will last, say, 3-5 days with occasional genny runs or without, and then you will go home. People usually don't like to listen when they are being told that they can't take all their "shore" habits with them into the boons without inconveniencing themselves in some other way. Westend wrote about that 1000W coffee maker already, and I agree - powerful 120V devices make boondocking very energy-dependent. You either have to carry a lot of batteries, or cut your stay shorter, or run a genny longer.
Another solution is to increase the bank to 200-400 AH and install a solar. Smaller solar will let you stretch the bank for a few days without genny, and then you will go home. Bigger solar will let living off solar indefinitely or almost indefinitely.
Depends on what you want.
