Solar Requirements - Confirmation

SoundGuy wrote:

CptSydor wrote:
From what I've figured out, I should be designing my battery system to be in the 150-200 amp hr rage with panels in 150-200w.

Does that seem reasonable for what I've described?

The most common recommendation for a good starter system seems to be calculated as 1 watt of solar for every AH of battery reserve, so yeah if you have a pair of 12 volt G31s or pair of 6 volt GC-2s on the tongue you'll have ~ 210 to 220 AH capacity, in which case a couple of 100 watt panels would be about right. However, since you'd presumably be away from your campsite much of the day that suggests you'd want to mount these panels on the roof rather than run a portable system that could easily disappear while you're absent from the site. That in turn virtually guarantees there'll be times you won't get much out of those panels and will have to rely on your genset anyway. It's easy for forum solar pundits to spend your $$$ on solar when they're not paying for it, keeping in mind also that prices here in Canada aren't anywhere near as attractive as they are in the US. I guess the answer depends on the depth of your wallet but since you already have a genset I'd be inclined to pass on (sometimes unreliable) solar and just run the genset as needed and when permitted. As mentioned though, you're greatest limitation when running on genset may be your trailer's converter which may not actually be able to deliver a maximum charge to the batteries in the minimal amount of time. Details on exactly what you have would help others offer ideas for improvement in this area, if needed.

Regardless, with any system the key is conservation and you seem to be on the right track here. However, you can probably still reduce your consumption rate by installing a kill switch in the radio circuit so it's memory circuit isn't wasting power ... also make sure the television wall plate that supplies 12 vdc power to the antenna is always off. You plan to run your fridge on gas but as you know it still requires 12 vdc power to run the circuit board, not much you can do about that ... however, what you don't need is to have the fridge's climate control heater powered when you're running on battery. Turn it off, but if your fridge like many these day doesn't have a switch then add your own, just as I've done. Pics are in my gallery.

Thank you. Very informative post and suggestions. Yes, ideally my wallet is not endless. Definitely need to look more into my generator/trailer combination. Best investment, given where I'm camping might be to trade in the 1000w for a 2000w-3000w and run when needed.

Any idea how much run time per day on a generator you would need to top up a battery pack 210-220 amp hour based on the approximate needs?
Can it generally do it on running 2 hours a day?