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NonnaJ's avatar
NonnaJ
Explorer
Jul 18, 2018

Generator vs solar power

Our 2018 Jayco Hummingbird is wired for solar power. Should we buy a solar generator or skip the solar, park in the shade and by a gas generator?
Will it charge our battery so we can turn it off during "quiet times" and still have power?
Which way is cheaper?

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82 Replies

  • We have both. When we are in the sun and the solar is charging, we have no problem with the use of power, limited of course, but we can watch TV, DH can be on his laptop and I can run the vacuum, lights, etc., with no problem. If we end up in a shady site, our power (we have 4 deep cycle batteries) last a few days - probably 4 or 5, with limited use and no TV, no computer, lights only. We end up using our generator, so we always have it on hand just in case. But, we rarely need the generator. Bear in mind that solar setup for what you need will be different than what others may need. We can run everything in our FW on solar except the microwave, ceiling fan, fireplace, and AC, but we set ours up that way. If it's warm enough that we need the ceiling fan, we instead run a Turbo fan that we can plug in to an outlet. We can also plug in the motor for the inflatable hide a bed mattress. It works for us.

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