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BurbMan's avatar
BurbMan
Explorer II
Sep 16, 2015

How much Solar for fridge in storage?

Moving again and the TT is headed out to a storage yard. The yard is priced right, but is basically a big field at the local airport with a fence around it that they lock at night. I have about 6 weeks of camping left before I winterize, so was thinking of a small solar set up so I can keep the fridge on until I winterize.

I have 2 6v batteries, would 100w panel keep them topped off enough to run the fridge on gas for 2 weeks?
  • Expect about 17AH per day draw from the fridge and other little stuff.

    100w panel Isc is about 6 amps aimed and maybe 4 amps flat mid-day if sunny (not likely this time of year?) say 6 hours of good sun = 24AH plus a bit in the shoulder hours, so it could work, but not much slack to make up for a few cloudy days.

    Then it is a race to see if you can stay above 50% before the storage time is over.

    If the weather forecast is available out to 14 days, and you believe it at all :( that might help figure your prospects for solar intake.
  • 100 watts minimum for the effort. I would probably just get the largest 12v panel in the 140 to 160 watt range for a few $$ more. Should keep the fridge on and battery charged in normal conditions.
  • I agree with BFL13 and smkettner. But make shure you have a solar controller that will output correctly all day. Some of the cheapo units will drop to float to soon
    and have to low bulk charge voltage and no absorb time. In fact BFL13s favorite controller the solar30 set at 14.8 would give it the best chance of working. But that being said the weather will play a large roll in how well it works.......