rctour wrote:
Solar is a great topic and I think we motorhomers are just at the beginning of a trend to use them. I just started my journey in solar.
An alternative? I did a little research and think I came up with a good starter package; 2-250W 24v mono panels, breakers, breaker box, 60amp MPPT controller, monitor, heavy wire, brackets, all top quality stuff for about $1,300, that's before any delivery costs.
Then I decided for me a better alternative was a 200W mono folding portable panel with built in controller and battery clips for $475 including delivery. Trees will be much less an issue and more watt for the buck!
I can afford to experiment with $475 (I can sell it pretty quickly if things change).
My knowledge is minimal as is my watt needs, I think? I want to subsidize my power needs, not try and fa-fill them. It's an experiment, we'll see how it works out.
You can get a 200w folding portable from Eco-worthy or windynation for $300 shipped.
We used our 230w 24v panel as a portable last year and boy was it nice. The first trip we tried to use as much power as we could, the only time the batteries voltage dropped at all was at night. The next trip I left it flat on some logs for a week to simulate it mounted. Again we never ran out of power even though it clouded up by noon daily. The last trip was cold, cloudy and rainy most of the time. We were inside running the furnace more and watching DVDs to drown out the neighbors Honda 3000. Even though the output was minimal, it kept us off the generator.
