Solar Requirements - Confirmation
I'm taking a 3 month mountain biking trip through British Columbia this summer. Most of the time will be spent camping at National/Provincial parks without access to electric. When I really break it d...
Forum Discussion
Thanks for the further comments, especially those on the generator. The temptation to upgrade is there, not just for faster charging times but because I could have more use for a larger generator. I love that little 1000w generator, but it has it's limitations. I currently live in rural New Brunswick, and while that 1000w has done some good work for me, something larger could be beneficial at times.
I'm also not going to get myself all worked up about power. I don't live my life that way. I know we are, and can be very conservative users. If we get a stretch where solar is just not viable, I'll use the generator if/when I can. But I'm not going to let this all dictate the trip. I have no issues switching off/unhooking the batteries, putting some ice in the fridge and using head lamps for a couple days if I had to.
But in general, we typically don't have to be gone from the site too much every day to mountain bike if I needed to be there for generator run times. I like to camp as close to the best biking to minimize driving and even riding 3 hours per day, 6 days a week for 2-3 months is a HUGE volume a riding.
For the weather extremes, I think we can deal with that without the need for more power. I've spent plenty of nights at or below freezing camping. And if we can handle camping in the summer on the east coast without using the AC, we can handle the west coast. If all those people booking all those BC parks sites without services can deal with 'weather' extremes, I think we'll be just fine.
And as was mentioned, if things ever really got so bad, we can pack up and find a private campground with services. We aren't going to spend this entire trip without services, I just want to be prepared as I know there will be 7+ days without it, which to me is being electrically self-sufficient.
I think if I set myself up with at least 200w/200ah of solar/batteries, plus upgrade the charger/converter we are going to be OK. Seems like there are people in this thread getting it done with that under similar conditions.
I'm also not going to get myself all worked up about power. I don't live my life that way. I know we are, and can be very conservative users. If we get a stretch where solar is just not viable, I'll use the generator if/when I can. But I'm not going to let this all dictate the trip. I have no issues switching off/unhooking the batteries, putting some ice in the fridge and using head lamps for a couple days if I had to.
But in general, we typically don't have to be gone from the site too much every day to mountain bike if I needed to be there for generator run times. I like to camp as close to the best biking to minimize driving and even riding 3 hours per day, 6 days a week for 2-3 months is a HUGE volume a riding.
For the weather extremes, I think we can deal with that without the need for more power. I've spent plenty of nights at or below freezing camping. And if we can handle camping in the summer on the east coast without using the AC, we can handle the west coast. If all those people booking all those BC parks sites without services can deal with 'weather' extremes, I think we'll be just fine.
And as was mentioned, if things ever really got so bad, we can pack up and find a private campground with services. We aren't going to spend this entire trip without services, I just want to be prepared as I know there will be 7+ days without it, which to me is being electrically self-sufficient.
I think if I set myself up with at least 200w/200ah of solar/batteries, plus upgrade the charger/converter we are going to be OK. Seems like there are people in this thread getting it done with that under similar conditions.
