Forum Discussion
BFL13
Dec 23, 2015Explorer II
Yes the non-propane fridge uses a lot of AH. We have a 3.2 cuft 120v fridge in the TC. The trouble off-grid is the fridge is on 24 hrs a day but the solar is only "on " during daylight hours.
Our fridge draws about 4.5 amps when it is "on" which is about 2/3s the time in 24 hrs. So that is 4.5 x 24 = 108 x 2/3 = 72AH
So add whatever the rest of your things in the rig draw, say 28AH, so you need to find 100 AH a day to stay even.
Here in May, I have measured that 130w lying flat will haul 56AH, so to get that 100 AH a day haul you would need about 100/56 x 130 = 232w lying flat. At 49.3N Lat in May on a perfect no-clouds day.
So the OP's search for more solar than 240 lying flat is understandable. Arizona in January is not the same as here in May. Everyplace is different!
BTW, to go off-grid (often we will have 15a shore power so no problem), I add the 255w panel to the roof of the TC (lying flat) and add two more batteries. There are two T-1275s in the TC and I put two 6s (from the 5er) into the truck bed ahead of the left side wheel well and leave linking wires hanging over the truck rail, then slide in the camper.
Then I bring up the dangling linking wires from the batts I can't get at anymore, to join wires from the house batts inside to make a four-battery bank.
After that it is all down to the weatherman how it goes. (No room for a generator (dog crates instead :) ) The 7-pin charging from the truck is really lame so we pray to the sun god Kon Tiki in hopes the fridge can stay on for the week away off-grid before the batts get down too far.
Lesson is---keep the propane fridge if you can!
Our fridge draws about 4.5 amps when it is "on" which is about 2/3s the time in 24 hrs. So that is 4.5 x 24 = 108 x 2/3 = 72AH
So add whatever the rest of your things in the rig draw, say 28AH, so you need to find 100 AH a day to stay even.
Here in May, I have measured that 130w lying flat will haul 56AH, so to get that 100 AH a day haul you would need about 100/56 x 130 = 232w lying flat. At 49.3N Lat in May on a perfect no-clouds day.
So the OP's search for more solar than 240 lying flat is understandable. Arizona in January is not the same as here in May. Everyplace is different!
BTW, to go off-grid (often we will have 15a shore power so no problem), I add the 255w panel to the roof of the TC (lying flat) and add two more batteries. There are two T-1275s in the TC and I put two 6s (from the 5er) into the truck bed ahead of the left side wheel well and leave linking wires hanging over the truck rail, then slide in the camper.
Then I bring up the dangling linking wires from the batts I can't get at anymore, to join wires from the house batts inside to make a four-battery bank.
After that it is all down to the weatherman how it goes. (No room for a generator (dog crates instead :) ) The 7-pin charging from the truck is really lame so we pray to the sun god Kon Tiki in hopes the fridge can stay on for the week away off-grid before the batts get down too far.
Lesson is---keep the propane fridge if you can!
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