Solar power

Op here.

I am doing a test. Just the furnace on, started with 12.7V. 24 hours later and now it is 11.5V

Housted, on June 30, the sun is slightly south of the northern tropic. I think you meant March 20 or Sept 20. Those are the days the sun is directly over the equator.
Time of year (hours of daylight) has a LOT to do with how much charge you are getting as well as angle of the sun.
By the way, our Victron monitor once indicated a max of 1204 watts out of our (at the time) 1200 watts of panels. That was late May at an altitude of nearly 8000' in west central Arizona.
Unfortunately, with our residential fridge at this time of year, we don't get a full charge and need to run the genny about every 3 days. We pull about 20 amps per hours (480 ah per 24 hours that the solar has to put back into the batteries).

swimmer_spe wrote:

I haven't been on the roof yet, but the end at the front that I can see that it looks about 2 feet wide. I figured it was rectangular.

Haven't actually taken a tape measure to it. Just looking from the edge as I check the rubber roof from a ladder, so it might be 2ft.

If it's 2ftx2ft, no way it's anywhere close to 250w.

I think the rule of thumb is around 14w/sft (unless very high end panels), so figure around 15-20sft to get 250w.

valhalla360 wrote:

swimmer_spe wrote:
Thank you.

For some reason, I thought the panel was a 250w one.

Maybe they upgraded for the 2023 models.

It would certainly make more sense except, 250w of solar is a lot for a single 12v battery.

How big is yours? Ours is around 18" x 18".

I haven't been on the roof yet, but the end at the front that I can see that it looks about 2 feet wide. I figured it was rectangular.

Dusty R wrote:
I read once that Michigan rank 47th out of the 48 continental states of available sunshine. Which makes me wonder if Solar panels are worth using here in Michigan?

If you are talking year round numbers, not so great.

In the winter, you have short days and Michigan tends to be particularly cloudy.

In the summer, when most people are camping, it's actually pretty good with 14-16hr of daylight (assuming you aren't camped in the woods).

swimmer_spe wrote:
Thank you.

For some reason, I thought the panel was a 250w one.

Maybe they upgraded for the 2023 models.

It would certainly make more sense except, 250w of solar is a lot for a single 12v battery.

How big is yours? Ours is around 18" x 18".

Dusty R wrote:
I read once that Michigan rank 47th out of the 48 continental states of available sunshine. Which makes me wonder if Solar panels are worth using here in Michigan?

At best out of date.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Michigan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Insolation.png

I read once that Michigan rank 47th out of the 48 continental states of available sunshine. Which makes me wonder if Solar panels are worth using here in Michigan?

valhalla360 wrote:
We have the same model but a 2021.

With a single battery and the fridge, expect it to be running low by morning.

We picked up a second battery and that handles the fridge overnight usually at 50-60% state of charge by morning.

The 50w panel won't replace that so if you are stationary for multiple nights, plan to break out the generator in the morning to top up and the panel can do the last few %.

You will likely need around 150w of panels if you want to run the fridge. If you are also running the furnace and it's running a significant percentage of the time at least double that. This assumes you are judicious with other power consumption.

Thank you.

For some reason, I thought the panel was a 250w one.

We have the same model but a 2021.

With a single battery and the fridge, expect it to be running low by morning.

We picked up a second battery and that handles the fridge overnight usually at 50-60% state of charge by morning.

The 50w panel won't replace that so if you are stationary for multiple nights, plan to break out the generator in the morning to top up and the panel can do the last few %.

You will likely need around 150w of panels if you want to run the fridge. If you are also running the furnace and it's running a significant percentage of the time at least double that. This assumes you are judicious with other power consumption.