Almot wrote:
BFL13 wrote:
IMO instead of wasting money on solar for provincial park off-grid "weekend" camping, get more battery bank, a serious battery charger, and a quiet inverter generator to run that ...
There is no such thing as a "quiet inverter generator". Sellers shamelessly understate the noise levels, promising under 55 db when in reality it's over 70 db within 10ft distance.
OTH, with more battery bank they might need no charging at all, for a short stay. 225 AH that they have now, is enough for 40-50 hours of camping with no sources of charging, considering 35-50 AH that they consume daily, estimated from they said. Coupled with 200W portable solar, or even 160W, they should be alright for as long as there is any sun.
Reality check time needed here!
The whole point is you aren't going to get hardly anything from solar in the usual BC provincial park, so why waste the money?
You have to still get by somehow, so once you load up with as many batteries as you can take along, if that isn't going to last you out till you get home and get some shore power for a recharge, you need a gen to do it in the park. Quiet or loud, you need it, and you are allowed to use it quiet or loud, within park "gen hours." So do that.
Meanwhile don't fuss too much about the noise 9-11am when everybody is up and those who are leaving by the 11am check out time are running their truck engines as well.
In winter you might be the only people camping in the whole park! Nobody cares how much noise you make and they do not enforce the gen hours. Meanwhile they have a contractor in there replacing all the picnic tables or fixing the washrooms up and they have chainsaws, generators, back-hoes, whatever, all day, so your puny little gen is the least of it. It's not that bad, you still get to enjoy camping even with some of that going on.
