Solar or Generator??
We are going to have some short boon-docking trips (3-4 days). I do not know my actual energy needs right now, but the DW and I are conservative when it comes to water and power. I really just want ...
Forum Discussion
pianotuna wrote:
Hi,
When I was part time solar covered all my energy needs for 5 to 7 days. Now that I full time, I either have to conserve, find shore power, or run a generator one day per week.
I'd love to pump up my solar by another 800 watts giving me a total of 1056. Doing so will not be easy.
Here is a simple flow chart.
Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT.
One rule of thumb is between 60 and 150 watts of panels per 100 amp-hours of storage. The smaller the battery bank the higher the wattage needed (per 100 amp-hours). Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet which includes an energy audit, that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!
Solar Spread Sheet N8GS
For a nice explanation of solar, try this link:
Golden rules of solar
PianoTuna...
Thank you for passing on N8GS's spreedsheet !
