Generator or Solar Panel

We have used a honda 3000i since we bought our first camper 11 years ago. We dry camp as much as wet camp and it has served us fine. Last Columbus day weekend the genny had a hick up and we had to power down to get through the weekend. Now Im looking into solar. Our needs would not include the a/c. After searching the net, which you should do as well, Im going to start out with 300-500 watts this spring. I also will make sure that its expandable should we go this route.
Happy trails.

What are your expectations? $500 to $2000 worth of solar power equipment can keep you off the grid if you also have enough energy storage (size of battery bank) and consumption that fits what you use each day. Can you live on 3-5 KWH per day, and do you have the energy storage capacity to take you through a day or two of minimal to no solar power?

Then, do you need mechanical cooling? Air conditioning uses a lot of power, for a quite long time. 1000 to 1500 watts while running, 8 to 30 KWH of energy per day, depending on RV size, climate, your comfort preferences. You will not get that much energy each day from $500 worth of solar panels and 8-12 hours of daylight, no matter how much energy storage. To keep cool, you need a power hookup, or a fossil fuel powered generator sized to your cooling demands.

My experience (I've summered in the Montana Rockies) for where you are, I might pass on the air conditioning, try to live on the energy budget from a 0.5 KW solar source and sleep in the evening air when it gets up to a dry 90 to 100 F with gentle breezes. Where I am now on the southern plains, I need my 4 KW generator, or 3.6 KW hookup to the power grid, to get comfortable daytime temperatures.

Well I am curious how solar works. The last thing I want to do is park in the sun.

Unless, it is separate and the panels can be moved to the best sun location.

Also I would be curious what the kind of wattage you average vs. the peak wattage in full sun.

All that said I would prefer solar to a genny if it can deliver the power.

Here are some to look at to wet your appetite.

Forum Members Solar Installations With Pics

I bought my primary equipment here:

www.solarblvd.com
Find someone local if you can to save shipping.

I have been using a single 100w solar panel for 3 years. I started with one 110 aH battery, and it fully recharged every day, even with indirect sun. That said, I am out west, where sun is much more reliable, and intense. I now have two batteries (not out of need, but I happened to get a second one, and installed it), and both fully charged daily when I have camped this winter.

I would suggest looking at Windy Nation (odd name for a solar source) to get an idea of pricing. These are complete systems, and where I got mine.

Our electric use is apparently much less than most. I have all LED bulbs, but we use the heater when we want. I have camped in 10° nights, and have fully-recharged during the day, even in late December.

If you are not a light energy user, I would recommend two or three 100w panels. If you don't use AC, or energy-sucking appliances (not disparaging, just descriptive), I would think solar would be sufficient. We have never been low on power with ours.

I don't think you would get sufficient-output panels from CW, based on the previous post. It is not difficult to mount panels properly, or to run the wires. Even if you are not handy, you can hire someone who is, and they can do a good job, if they read this forum for solar installation guidance. They could even PM me, and I would be happy to guide.

You must decide how much power you will be using, to decide if you can enjoy your trips without a generator. We have never had one, and I don't see the need, for us. If we must use the AC, we will camp with hookups. That has not happened, yet.

Looking at the camping world website, they have 18w 'system' for $103 without installation or 50W panel for $300 without anything else or installation. i'm guessing you are looking at no more than 50W from the Camping world deal.

There is no way it would charge 220A batteries from 50% in 4 hours under anything less than optimal conditions (maybe from 80%). In my year with solar panels, I have never had optimal conditions. In January, in the Everglades, we only got a total of about 4 hours of good sunlight; with 400W we could replace what we used. With 50W we would have to pull out the generator.

What they are trying to sell you is a solar battery maintenance system for when in storage. You are better off with the generator if you plan on dry camping.

We have both and wouldn't have it any other way. Solar is awesome when weather is neither hot or cold and clouds are minimal, generator is only used for high-current items a few minutes at a time, otherwise it just sits idle. Utilizing a pure-sine inverter we can run our hdtvs, hd satellite, bluray & game players, among other low current-draw items

On the otherhand, we prefer boondocking and find ourselves often camping when weather is pretty cold overnight or quite hot during the day. Add any cloudiness to the equation and solar simply can't keep up. We need and use a generator that can power all the conveniences we purchased our RV for. Being 100% self-contained makes for great peace of mind.

Hi,

I prefer solar.

$500 from Camping World won't get you much in the way of wattage.

Here is a simple flow chart.

Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT. What ever type of controller is chosen, make sure it has adjustable set points and a temperature probe that is on the battery.

One rule of thumb is between 60 and 150 watts of panels per 100 amp-hours of storage. The smaller the battery bank the higher the wattage needed (per 100 amp-hours). Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet which includes an energy audit, that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!

Solar Spread Sheet N8GS

For a nice explanation of solar, try this link:

Golden rules of solar

Assuming the battery bank is 232 amp-hours I'd recommend between 140 and 350 watts of panels.

Costs for DIY are about $2.00 per watt for parts.

I wouldn't own a RV that didn't have solar whether I owned a generator or not. The freedom and quiet is worth every penny.

It depends.... that is the correct answer. Anything else is making some assumptions that may be incorrect.

My opinion, decide what kind of camping you will be doing. If you plan on staying in RV parks with hookups mostly with some occasional boondocking off the grid, then go with a generator and don't worry about it. If you are mostly boondocking, ask yourself, do you ever run the air conditioner? microwave? furnace? If you plan on running those, I would recommend generator as they all take a fair amount of power. If not running high power items, then solar is a good bet, but I would think it will be more than $500 for adequate solar setup. Perhaps it would work for starting point, but likely not easily upgradable, so if you wanted to go bigger later, you would end up ripping the old out and replacing.