solar power for dry camping & cpap machine
***Link Removed******Link Removed***Hello, I recently purchased a 2006 Thor Wanderer 30' travel trailer. I was disappointed that I could only run my cpap machine when the trailer is plugged in. I al...
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A typical 100WATT Solar panel only will produce around 5-6AMPS DC current. This is not a whole lot of DC current especially if you are thinking about using the panels onlys only. You have to still upgrade your battery bank to run all the things you want to run and use the Solar panels to give your batteries a good top off charge during the high sun part of the day...
Without the larger battery bank you not be happy with what you have.
Also keep in mind a 3000WATT PSW Power Inverter will want to demand 250 DC Amps PLUS whenever you have it it loaded down with appliances. This is alot of DC Current and two 100WATT Solar Panel will not be much help keepinig up...
I'm sure you can imagine how long a couple of 12V batteries is going tolast providing 250AMPS of DC Current... Only a few minutes at best when loaded down with appliances...
ALot of folks camp all the camp with the CPAP units and having one with DC Mode is best. Most of them have that capability...
We camp all the time off road with around 255AHs of Battery capacity and are able to run just about everything we do at regualr Electric sites with the exception of the Air Conditioner and Highwattage Microwave units. Everything else is pretty much usable. Having LED lights is must do thing. Each 12V incandescent automotive bulb will draw around 1 AMP of DC current. Add all of your up and you see the advantage of having LED lights installed.
We draw around 20-AMPS of demand from out batteries from the 6PM to 11PM time frame and our setup has about 1-2AMPS of parastic drian on the battery all the the time. In our situation we use a 2KW Generator connected to the Trailer at 8AMP each morning to charge up our Battery bank which has dropped back ot its 50% charge state by this time and this will take three hours of generator run run time to bring them back to their 90% charge state. Having two 100 Solar Panels to top off the batteries during the high sun day will decrease the use of the generator in our case probably down to one hour of generator run time.
This is what works for us and been doing this since 2009...
You will have to have a high solar panel farm to do what you are wanting to do. The best back up plan for you IMO is to have a 2KW Generator around along with at least 220AHs of battery capacity to run your needs including the CPAP unit. You know this is going to work. Solar panels only work when in high sun... Got to have the batteries to run when the Sun goes down...
Just sending all this along for your information on how we deal with camping off-grid...
Camping OFF-GRID at Doris Camp in Wichita Mtns Wildlife Refuge at Medicine park, OKLA
Roy Ken
Without the larger battery bank you not be happy with what you have.
Also keep in mind a 3000WATT PSW Power Inverter will want to demand 250 DC Amps PLUS whenever you have it it loaded down with appliances. This is alot of DC Current and two 100WATT Solar Panel will not be much help keepinig up...
I'm sure you can imagine how long a couple of 12V batteries is going tolast providing 250AMPS of DC Current... Only a few minutes at best when loaded down with appliances...
ALot of folks camp all the camp with the CPAP units and having one with DC Mode is best. Most of them have that capability...
We camp all the time off road with around 255AHs of Battery capacity and are able to run just about everything we do at regualr Electric sites with the exception of the Air Conditioner and Highwattage Microwave units. Everything else is pretty much usable. Having LED lights is must do thing. Each 12V incandescent automotive bulb will draw around 1 AMP of DC current. Add all of your up and you see the advantage of having LED lights installed.
We draw around 20-AMPS of demand from out batteries from the 6PM to 11PM time frame and our setup has about 1-2AMPS of parastic drian on the battery all the the time. In our situation we use a 2KW Generator connected to the Trailer at 8AMP each morning to charge up our Battery bank which has dropped back ot its 50% charge state by this time and this will take three hours of generator run run time to bring them back to their 90% charge state. Having two 100 Solar Panels to top off the batteries during the high sun day will decrease the use of the generator in our case probably down to one hour of generator run time.
This is what works for us and been doing this since 2009...
You will have to have a high solar panel farm to do what you are wanting to do. The best back up plan for you IMO is to have a 2KW Generator around along with at least 220AHs of battery capacity to run your needs including the CPAP unit. You know this is going to work. Solar panels only work when in high sun... Got to have the batteries to run when the Sun goes down...
Just sending all this along for your information on how we deal with camping off-grid...
Camping OFF-GRID at Doris Camp in Wichita Mtns Wildlife Refuge at Medicine park, OKLA
Roy Ken
