Solar Help
I have an older Class B motorhome and have been thinking about solar. I can boondock now for 2 days before I have to recharge my 125ah battery. The only thing that draws power is the 12V fridge whic...
Forum Discussion
BFL13 wrote:
The OP has only a small battery bank and low daily AH usage, so IMO he could get by fine with just the one 90w panel.
We don't know his daily AH usage, to begin with.
As to the bank size, I would say - it is TOO small for boondocking, considering 12V fridge. With solar one could live without running a generator on some trips IF the bank is big enough. Solar is highly dependent on weather. With a bigger bank he could ride out a couple of rainy days and then solar kicks in again, and then having 180W is much better than 90W because he has to compensate for 2 lost days of charging.
Small 125 AH bank takes this advantage away - he has to run a generator the next day, if it rains. 90W panel also will result in running a generator after a few days no matter what weather, because it will never collect enough for his daily needs so the bank will go lower and lower.
OP: Whether $1.20 per watt (before controller cost) is high or low, depends on shipping. Note that 24V panel does require MPPT that costs $50-90 more than PWM. I think I saw cheaper panels under 100W, but shipping was expensive. The smaller the panel, the more it costs per watt, generally. Check Solar Blvd, Blue Pacific Solar, Arizona Wind and Sun etc. Most places have a warehouse with free pickup, so it depends where you are.
The single 190w panel weighs 37lb the two 90w weigh 35.28lb
It's not about total weight of 2 panels VS one bigger panel. When total watts are the same, total weight will be close too. It's about one single item that weighs 37 lb, and is so big that you can't see anything around and can't maneuver with it on the roof, and then wind comes and off you go.
