100 watt Solar decision
I'm planning on Boondocking for a few months, plan to run my phone, some lights and hopefully my refrigerator on a 100 watt solar panel charging the Travel Trailer Battery for a short time job. Aft...
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Brett, your head must be spinning with all of the conflicting advice you have gotten so far -- hang in there!
I'll try not to add to the confusion and will just describe our setup, which might work for you. We have two group 31 NAPA deep cycle batteries. They are each rated at 110 amp hours. We have a 120 watt suitcase style portable solar panel. (It is a knock-off of a Renogy -- I bet that Renogy is better made than my panel.)
We do a lot of boondocking, for days at a time. Unless the weather is really cloudy for days on end, our solar panel tops up our batteries every day.
Our fridge runs off of propane, not batteries. And we are pretty minimal users of electricity. We run the lights (LED, of course). And we run the furnace for a short time every evening. But no coffee grinder, and no haircuts. ;)
Someone mentioned a concern about theft of the portable solar panels. I suppose that could be a problem. When we are in a crowded campground (as seldom as possible), I use a long cable to lock the solar panel. When we are boondocking, I generally don't bother to lock up.
Hope this helps!
I'll try not to add to the confusion and will just describe our setup, which might work for you. We have two group 31 NAPA deep cycle batteries. They are each rated at 110 amp hours. We have a 120 watt suitcase style portable solar panel. (It is a knock-off of a Renogy -- I bet that Renogy is better made than my panel.)
We do a lot of boondocking, for days at a time. Unless the weather is really cloudy for days on end, our solar panel tops up our batteries every day.
Our fridge runs off of propane, not batteries. And we are pretty minimal users of electricity. We run the lights (LED, of course). And we run the furnace for a short time every evening. But no coffee grinder, and no haircuts. ;)
Someone mentioned a concern about theft of the portable solar panels. I suppose that could be a problem. When we are in a crowded campground (as seldom as possible), I use a long cable to lock the solar panel. When we are boondocking, I generally don't bother to lock up.
Hope this helps!
