How much solar to stick on a 22-24 foot "C"?
I am looking at class "C" rigs, but at best, they might have 100 watts on a panel. Realistically, for a shorter "C", how many watts should I be expecting to shoot for, on the roof? The battery bank ...
Forum Discussion
Once again - do your energy audit.
BFL13 doesn't believe in statistics or other people experience :)... Though when dense forest is your daily scenery and the weather is 60% rain, 20% low overcast and 20% clear, I understand reluctance to plan.
There is a nice planning tool to estimate your daily solar harvest: PVWATTS calculator. Enter the watts, tilt=0 (for flat install), and you get KWH for any given month. Multiply this by 1000, divide by 30.5 days and by 13V to get daily AH. Consider that this will be an "average" daily harvest, can be 50% less on a rainy day and 50% more when it shines again, you should plan for this by either getting more battery capacity or by not taxing your solar up to its maximum output.
The only thing PVWATTS doesn't consider is shade. The OP is in Tx though.
This is one side of energy balance sheet. The other side - daily consumption - can also be planned and estimated.
Assuming that one always wants to use as much energy as possible would be wrong and not productive, leading eventually to dead end. One wants to relax, this means different things for different people. Extensive energy use is not as popular today as it used to be. Going out for a few weeks with your solar will be an ultimate test - and yes, you might have to make some corrections and adjustments to your real solar harvest numbers and the consumed energy, this could mean either adding or removing some items. RV equipment is not anything sacred, you don't have to use all of it, some things are poorly suited for offgrid living.
There aren't too many 6V AGM, or they are expensive. There is nothing wrong with getting same bank of 12V AGM.
Not sure about benefits of heating via the generator. As to the Platinum Cat, - he turned his furry tail to me and retreated when I was trying to lure him in. Small company. For almost a year the guy didn't make any units, being busy with warranty repairs, and then didn't return my email. I've bought Olympian Wave 5, works for me.
At the very least, 100W will replenish that much. Propane fridge consumes less than a half of what a 100W panel would harvest on a sunny day. Don't know how tossing the propane fridge would help at this point, given a small size of solar. An order of magnitude = 10 times more, i.e. 2,500W - seems like unrealistic size for RV.
BFL13 doesn't believe in statistics or other people experience :)... Though when dense forest is your daily scenery and the weather is 60% rain, 20% low overcast and 20% clear, I understand reluctance to plan.
There is a nice planning tool to estimate your daily solar harvest: PVWATTS calculator. Enter the watts, tilt=0 (for flat install), and you get KWH for any given month. Multiply this by 1000, divide by 30.5 days and by 13V to get daily AH. Consider that this will be an "average" daily harvest, can be 50% less on a rainy day and 50% more when it shines again, you should plan for this by either getting more battery capacity or by not taxing your solar up to its maximum output.
The only thing PVWATTS doesn't consider is shade. The OP is in Tx though.
This is one side of energy balance sheet. The other side - daily consumption - can also be planned and estimated.
Assuming that one always wants to use as much energy as possible would be wrong and not productive, leading eventually to dead end. One wants to relax, this means different things for different people. Extensive energy use is not as popular today as it used to be. Going out for a few weeks with your solar will be an ultimate test - and yes, you might have to make some corrections and adjustments to your real solar harvest numbers and the consumed energy, this could mean either adding or removing some items. RV equipment is not anything sacred, you don't have to use all of it, some things are poorly suited for offgrid living.
ctilsie242 wrote:
I either will have two AGM batteries at minimum, or if there is more room, my ideal is three sets of two 6 volt AGM golf cart batteries
There aren't too many 6V AGM, or they are expensive. There is nothing wrong with getting same bank of 12V AGM.
ctilsie242 wrote:
I may look at a vented Platinum Cat in addition to a Cheap Heat system. This way, when boondocking, heating is covered via electrical, propane, and gasoline (via the generator.)
Not sure about benefits of heating via the generator. As to the Platinum Cat, - he turned his furry tail to me and retreated when I was trying to lure him in. Small company. For almost a year the guy didn't make any units, being busy with warranty repairs, and then didn't return my email. I've bought Olympian Wave 5, works for me.
ctilsie242 wrote:
100 watts won't even replenish what the propane fridge consumes from its control board. 250 watts is -minimum-, but ideally, I want an order of magnitude more, which allows me to have enough power, so tossing the propane fridge is feasible.
At the very least, 100W will replenish that much. Propane fridge consumes less than a half of what a 100W panel would harvest on a sunny day. Don't know how tossing the propane fridge would help at this point, given a small size of solar. An order of magnitude = 10 times more, i.e. 2,500W - seems like unrealistic size for RV.
