Solar and Lifeline
Hi y’all First thanks to all who have tried to help with this project I finally got my Renogy system up and running. 4 -100 watt panels on the roof. 30amp mppt controller, 2000w pure sine wave inve...
Forum Discussion
It's unfortunate that many folks learn the hard way about alternative energy. Battery purchases, then panels, then more batteries, management meters and controls. Expensive leapfrog. "Need a bigger..."
I feel fortunate having grown up in the days when RV's were very scarce.
We horse packed. Bring what'cha got and do the best you can. The sun goes down. Lighting is expensive, too scarce, yet the pots and pans need to be scoured and dishes washed without losing too much cutlery. Oversimplify cooking means eating glop, and the ever present surety of waking up on a dead flat mattress.
So when RVs did evolve aside from being bound to pavement, RV'ing was a novelty. Mattresses, hand pumps for water, and lighting. I immediately saw the pitfalls that lay ahead... They started off like this...
"Gee wouldn't it be nice if...?" The drilling into the bank account was tricky...at first it was small. As the augers got bigger and bigger there was no stopping it. The drills went cordless.
The next step and it was a big one, was when campers drove huge distances to live in their rigs instead of around it. Forget camping. Camping died when a suitable handheld campfire remote proved beyond technical expertise. Then the quest to emulate living in a miniature example of your home began.
"The Morning Show" replaced the sunrise warbling or chattering sound of a woodpecker. Dogs came in for the night instead of acquiring a snout full of porcupine quills. Heaters flared rather than the rustling sounds of folks searching for jackets inside tents. And hysterical screams crying Bear! Bear! started replacing Why did you light the lantern.
And finally the regional BS sessions of "Can't wait to get home and buy more stuff to make it better"
So forgive me if I sound a bit sarcastic about fine tuning a roof of solar panels so Game Of Thrones won't deplete the batteries for tomorrow's special event on The Weather Channel.
I feel fortunate having grown up in the days when RV's were very scarce.
We horse packed. Bring what'cha got and do the best you can. The sun goes down. Lighting is expensive, too scarce, yet the pots and pans need to be scoured and dishes washed without losing too much cutlery. Oversimplify cooking means eating glop, and the ever present surety of waking up on a dead flat mattress.
So when RVs did evolve aside from being bound to pavement, RV'ing was a novelty. Mattresses, hand pumps for water, and lighting. I immediately saw the pitfalls that lay ahead... They started off like this...
"Gee wouldn't it be nice if...?" The drilling into the bank account was tricky...at first it was small. As the augers got bigger and bigger there was no stopping it. The drills went cordless.
The next step and it was a big one, was when campers drove huge distances to live in their rigs instead of around it. Forget camping. Camping died when a suitable handheld campfire remote proved beyond technical expertise. Then the quest to emulate living in a miniature example of your home began.
"The Morning Show" replaced the sunrise warbling or chattering sound of a woodpecker. Dogs came in for the night instead of acquiring a snout full of porcupine quills. Heaters flared rather than the rustling sounds of folks searching for jackets inside tents. And hysterical screams crying Bear! Bear! started replacing Why did you light the lantern.
And finally the regional BS sessions of "Can't wait to get home and buy more stuff to make it better"
So forgive me if I sound a bit sarcastic about fine tuning a roof of solar panels so Game Of Thrones won't deplete the batteries for tomorrow's special event on The Weather Channel.
