How much solar power needed for?

icanon wrote:
Now I'm a little confused. Some say ok others are saying the opposite.
Remember it's just to keep the propane fridge, propane water heater and for the water pump for the shower. No lights, microwave, a/c and no furnace just the bare minimun.

Another question: do I put the batteries in series or hook up the battery to the TT one at a time?

Thanks

You are also powering the co and propane detector and while not a lot most people figure it takes 15 to 25 amp's a day to power a trailer just to run the detectors and fridge. Propane water heater is very minor power usage.

So I assume you probably have a group 24 deep cycle battery which at best has 80 amp hours of juice. To get the best battery life you should only run the battery down 1/2 way so your looking at 40 amp hours of battery life. If you figure it takes 20 amps a day to keep your trailer alive you have 2 days on one battery with no water pump or lights and 4 days with 2 batteries and no water pump or lights. Now you might say well I will just run the battery until its dead and recharge it, well that's fine but once you get below 12.0 volts some things start to wig out in the trailer and you just might be awaken in the middle of the night to your propane or CO detector going off due to low voltage.

The 40 watt panel will help and if you have good sun might just get you through the 4 days but in the reality of things 40 watts of solar isn't much.