Trip Report
I thought I'd post the result of our first trip with the new battery/solar setup. If you missed the first thread on this, this spring I added 4 new 6v Interstate 225 AH batteries (along with 2 new AGM starter batteries - Geez), another 100 watts of solar for a total of 200 watts, and a cheap PWM controller.
The trip was to Assateague NP and a new KOA in Chincoteague. We also did 2 nights at Harvest Hosts locations, so it was 5 nights dry camping and 5 nights with full hookups.
With full sun at Assateague, the solar kept up with the loads during the day and we ran the generator for an hour at the end of the day to top off the batteries. At this point the voltage was down to 12.7. Any big morning loads (microwave, hair dryer) required the generator, which is what I suspected. Our last night of dry camping was cloudy, so I ran the genny a little longer in the evening. Chincoteague was the only place where we needed the air conditioning and we were hooked up there. Assateague was great with a nice breeze. I imagine July and August are not like that.
In general, I'm happy with the setup, but I can see how doubling the solar would help. I'm still getting a funny voltage problem when there's no load on the batteries which I need to figure out. But my fear of toasting the control board on the fridge was unfounded. Full sun, no load the battery voltage as reported by the solar controller (which appears to be reading a half volt high) if 15.9. I haven't had the chance to measure the actual battery voltage in this condition yet. More to come on that.
I kept a very close eye on the water levels in the batteries and it looks like I used just over a quart in the 10 days.
The purpose of spending $1000 on batteries and solar was to be able to dry camp without running the generator several times a day. I feel I've done this now and the length of a dry camp stay will be limited by tank size rather than power.
The trip was to Assateague NP and a new KOA in Chincoteague. We also did 2 nights at Harvest Hosts locations, so it was 5 nights dry camping and 5 nights with full hookups.
With full sun at Assateague, the solar kept up with the loads during the day and we ran the generator for an hour at the end of the day to top off the batteries. At this point the voltage was down to 12.7. Any big morning loads (microwave, hair dryer) required the generator, which is what I suspected. Our last night of dry camping was cloudy, so I ran the genny a little longer in the evening. Chincoteague was the only place where we needed the air conditioning and we were hooked up there. Assateague was great with a nice breeze. I imagine July and August are not like that.
In general, I'm happy with the setup, but I can see how doubling the solar would help. I'm still getting a funny voltage problem when there's no load on the batteries which I need to figure out. But my fear of toasting the control board on the fridge was unfounded. Full sun, no load the battery voltage as reported by the solar controller (which appears to be reading a half volt high) if 15.9. I haven't had the chance to measure the actual battery voltage in this condition yet. More to come on that.
I kept a very close eye on the water levels in the batteries and it looks like I used just over a quart in the 10 days.
The purpose of spending $1000 on batteries and solar was to be able to dry camp without running the generator several times a day. I feel I've done this now and the length of a dry camp stay will be limited by tank size rather than power.
