House/solar battery opinions
My current battery space is 20"L x 14"w x 10"H Going solar, and want to packs as much AH in there as I can (reasonably). Currently looking at 250 - 300. Price is not THE deciding factor, unless ...
Forum Discussion
seraphim,
It looks like you are getting lots of great suggestions on this forum.
However, before you spend money on panels and a controller, you might want to consider taking your rig (outfitted with your new battery monitor) camping. (Besides, it's fun to camp.....)
This will give you a better idea of how much power are using for the conditions that you are camping in.
Armed with this information, you can better size your battery bank for how many days without sun that you are willing to camp (remembering to plan for a maximum of ~50% discharge on the batteries).
Then you can size your solar system to recharge whatever size battery bank you wound up with.
Lastly, you can now determine your wire sizes based on the above requirements.
If you want to dry camp in the winter and/or run the microwave, then you will have to increase battery and solar capacity to compensate.
If you haven't already, I suggest that you switch your lights to LED's.
Have fun,
Steve
It looks like you are getting lots of great suggestions on this forum.
However, before you spend money on panels and a controller, you might want to consider taking your rig (outfitted with your new battery monitor) camping. (Besides, it's fun to camp.....)
This will give you a better idea of how much power are using for the conditions that you are camping in.
Armed with this information, you can better size your battery bank for how many days without sun that you are willing to camp (remembering to plan for a maximum of ~50% discharge on the batteries).
Then you can size your solar system to recharge whatever size battery bank you wound up with.
Lastly, you can now determine your wire sizes based on the above requirements.
If you want to dry camp in the winter and/or run the microwave, then you will have to increase battery and solar capacity to compensate.
If you haven't already, I suggest that you switch your lights to LED's.
Have fun,
Steve
