Solar Panels: How many watts?

hedgehopper wrote:

RedRocket204 wrote:
200W will get me by with limited usage of 12V items in the CO mountains, late fall boondocking. That includes 2-3 hours of some LED lighting, USB phone charging, CO detector, fridge running on propane, some water pump usage and the big one, heater fan kicking on with the thermostat set at 52f and outside temps dropping into the teens f. My TT is considered a 3-season trailer with decent insulation but I don't have separate tank heaters. With two Group 24 12V batteries, I do get pretty close to 50% discharge rate by the time the sun comes up.

This pretty well describes our situation except that we have a truck camper not a trailer.

Chances are then the "big one" of heater fan will be somewhat reduced for you since your TC is heating a smaller space than my 26' cabin with a slide-out. I also carry a 2000W Champion generator with me as a backup but you probably know that at 9,500', the generator doesn't produce the same amps as if I were camping thousands of feet lower. I did use it one day last fall when it was raining in the mtns, fired up the Plex server and TV and watched a couple movies. Per the mention of my preference for mounted panels, I am usually gone all day and return early evening so I like the security of having the panels bolted on top. I would not be around during the day to follow the sun with portable panels so it is of no benefit.

I still feel 200W of solar gets me by just fine and really believe two GC2 6V batteries will make a nice difference for my intended use. I will need to see if my battery usage will fully charge with the 200W solar and then make a choice. My charge controller can handle 400W which was intentional in the event I want to add some panels. If planed right, these systems can be somewhat modular so you don't have to go all out at first.

Boon Docker wrote:
My scenario is about the same as above except my trailer is not 3 season.
I have 200 watts of solar with 2 GC2 batteries (225 AH total). They are usually at 70% in the morning and fully charged by mid afternoon.

Yep, I really feel a couple of GC2 batteries will make a nice difference for my setup. My current Grp 24 batteries are getting on in age so time to replace this year. Actually just checked pricing for GC2 batteries at Costco today but will hold off until the season officially starts for me.