What can you do with solar?
Hi, Please reply with what your solar system can do to enhance your RV'ing experience. Please list the number of watts, Charge controller, inverter (if any) and amp-hours of battery bank 256 ...
Forum Discussion
I use solar for 3 things, as I full time in a Truck Camper. I am more than half way through my 4th year Fulltiming and Extreme boondocking, 98% of the time. By this I mean I am in very remote desert and mountain places, set up camp and use various conveyances, Bicycles~(Boots on the ground~Kayaks~Motorcycle~skis) to explore outward to 150 miles around my base camps. I did stay in a campground once in 2012 (Death Valley), to spend time with a friend (no hookups).
As for Solar Power, I wish I had placed a higher priority on this part of my Full Timing plans, due to what I learned later. It actually took 2 years of running a generator, 2 to 3 hours a day, to recharge my batteries. It was literally a life changing experience to install enough Solar, sufficient enough to provide all of my surveyed power demands (150+ AmpH per day). I was not able to utilize my factory installed batteries to provide enough power for my daily use of my lap top and TV in a way a normal person would wish, if they were at home in a stick & mortar home. I literally seeked McDonalds & Public Libraries, as I traveled, to utilize my Lap Top. My days were arranged around a schedule for running my generator. Life is good now and I owe a lot of this to the people here in this forum, for the great information and answers to my questions.
My 3 things;
1. I conserve water every day, due to not moving my RV for long periods of time. I use solar showers for saving my onboard water. This water is gathered from streams, Windmills, ponds and lakes. Through Solar Bags/Bucket Shower, and a few small parts from Home Depot, I am able to extend my extreme boondocking additional weeks and sometimes months.
2. Because of the distance, availability, cost of Coin operated Laundromats I often do my laundry out in my remote locations via a Bucket washing system, just like my great grandparents used to do their laundry. I hang my laundry for the sun to dry, via clotheslines, after my bucket wash or running the clothes through a Laundromat and then save them to hang on the base camp’s clotheslines.
3. Doing an initial personal survey of what my needs would be, I was able to determine the necessary Battery Bank and Solar Panels for 12 months use. Due to my being in remote locations, I practice Redundancy in many important functions, Solar and Generators is one of these. I have two solar systems with similar equipment to ease swapping out important equipment, in the advent of failure of one bank. I also installed one solar bank on my trailer to allow it to be parked in full sun, while the RV can be moved to the shade. (I use my solar/battery banks for all of my power needs, with exception to A/C use and Microwave use in excess of 3 minutes of running.) My main battery bank and solar panels enables me to utilize it as a moving shore power source (excluding the 2 identified exceptions).
(4X150w)=600w Solar Panels
8 Interstate FWC 6vGC2 928 AmpH
Tri-Star 45/4 MPPT
Xantrex 2000W Inverter
(2X100w)=200w Solar(Grape Solar Panels)(100w add before winter 2013)
2 Eagle AGM 6v 240 AmpH
Tri-Star 45/4 MPPT
Xantrex 1500W Inverter
edit: add charge controller for 2nd Solar Bank
edit: Grape Solar Panels
As for Solar Power, I wish I had placed a higher priority on this part of my Full Timing plans, due to what I learned later. It actually took 2 years of running a generator, 2 to 3 hours a day, to recharge my batteries. It was literally a life changing experience to install enough Solar, sufficient enough to provide all of my surveyed power demands (150+ AmpH per day). I was not able to utilize my factory installed batteries to provide enough power for my daily use of my lap top and TV in a way a normal person would wish, if they were at home in a stick & mortar home. I literally seeked McDonalds & Public Libraries, as I traveled, to utilize my Lap Top. My days were arranged around a schedule for running my generator. Life is good now and I owe a lot of this to the people here in this forum, for the great information and answers to my questions.
My 3 things;
1. I conserve water every day, due to not moving my RV for long periods of time. I use solar showers for saving my onboard water. This water is gathered from streams, Windmills, ponds and lakes. Through Solar Bags/Bucket Shower, and a few small parts from Home Depot, I am able to extend my extreme boondocking additional weeks and sometimes months.
2. Because of the distance, availability, cost of Coin operated Laundromats I often do my laundry out in my remote locations via a Bucket washing system, just like my great grandparents used to do their laundry. I hang my laundry for the sun to dry, via clotheslines, after my bucket wash or running the clothes through a Laundromat and then save them to hang on the base camp’s clotheslines.
3. Doing an initial personal survey of what my needs would be, I was able to determine the necessary Battery Bank and Solar Panels for 12 months use. Due to my being in remote locations, I practice Redundancy in many important functions, Solar and Generators is one of these. I have two solar systems with similar equipment to ease swapping out important equipment, in the advent of failure of one bank. I also installed one solar bank on my trailer to allow it to be parked in full sun, while the RV can be moved to the shade. (I use my solar/battery banks for all of my power needs, with exception to A/C use and Microwave use in excess of 3 minutes of running.) My main battery bank and solar panels enables me to utilize it as a moving shore power source (excluding the 2 identified exceptions).
(4X150w)=600w Solar Panels
8 Interstate FWC 6vGC2 928 AmpH
Tri-Star 45/4 MPPT
Xantrex 2000W Inverter
(2X100w)=200w Solar(Grape Solar Panels)(100w add before winter 2013)
2 Eagle AGM 6v 240 AmpH
Tri-Star 45/4 MPPT
Xantrex 1500W Inverter
edit: add charge controller for 2nd Solar Bank
edit: Grape Solar Panels
