Add another battery?

ottor wrote:
WOW - you guys are great - this many replies in such a short time ... I can be pretty conservative with my lighting, and I almost always take an ice chest with me for ice and meats - but I'm a freelance photographer and take the trailer out in the boonies for photoshoots.. I have a mobile hotspot for Internet, and shoot photos in the day and using my computer, process them in the afternoon/evening and upload to Dropbox almost nightly. I don't 'surf' the net, but sometimes those uploads take a couple of hours .. so it appears my main concern is the heater fan and computer useage. "IF" I were to go the Solar route, what would be a good size? I'd like it to be portable, so I can park in the shade and run the panels out to the sun. Would I also need to upgrade to an additional battery, or should the solar unit keep the one I have charged for usage each day? Thanks again for the input - it appears a solar rig would cost less than a battery upgrade and/generator!

A little bit of charging monitoring will tell you a lot about when your batteries are getting close to topped off. This would be the time to run the laptop and do your processing, while excess amps are being made by the panels that the battery can not take on and store, being close to being topped off. This is probably, if sized correctly, a 1 or 2 in the afternoon type of scenario, if your solar panel selection is large enough, to your battery usage over night, etc.

Most travel trailers are set up for full hook ups at a RV trailer park, it requires extra's and extensive modifications for power management when you start using them in dry camping applications.