Generator vs Battery/Inverter/Solar

I have had it all...2 cents worth. If your going to have batteries use a solar charger, at least 100 watts. Keeping your night time power consumption to a minimum is a challenge. Heating and cooling is an issue if you have an air conditioner or a fan in your heater unit.. If your going to have a genny use a Honda 2000 or better. They can be converted to use LPG but overall they are extremely quiet compared to anything out there. Most generators are loud and you will piss everyone off around or close to you.

Thank you! This is all VERY good information. I appreciate everybody's detailed answers. We really would like to go with a battery/inverter/solar system and will price it out. I really like Beagle's system - thank you! The one battery that they're giving us is not a good battery - I think it's just a starter battery so we'll probably want to upgrade that at the very least.

some here mentioned LED lights. Saves a ton of energy! But if you buy them look fro the ones marked with a voltage range like 12V-28V. some times a good charger might go into desulfate mode and the plan Jane 12V led's get real hot and or burn up.

example

HMS Beagle wrote:

chobe2 wrote:
Thank you everybody. What I'm thinking is to install a very small 600-700w microwave, maybe a 1500w inverter and at least one more battery. We would only use the microwave for a minute or two at a time. The AC would be a luxury for when we have shore power. Does that sound feasible or do you think we should get a built in generator, see what our needs are and go from there? I've done a lot of reading online and it seems like everyone is going more toward beefing up their batteries, adding solar and using a generator less.

The best way to annoy your camping neighbors is to run a generator.

For what you are contemplating, a solar/inverter setup will work just fine, especially backed up by the fact that you (like me) keep moving. A microwave uses a lot of power for a very short time, the impact on batteries is usually small. The battery bank must be large enough to source the current, but capacity usually isn't an issue. Even a hair dryer isn't on that much, and can be run from an inverter. The AC is impractical without a very large solar array or generator (or plugged in).

What I would do (and did, in exactly the same situation): Put in two high capacity batteries, 6V golf cart batteries in series are perhaps the best choice in price/performance. Install a 1500 - 2000W inverter, for most things a "modified sine wave" is OK, "true sine wave" better but costs more. It is useful to get one with some battery State Of Charge monitoring features. Put two 100 - 150W panels on the roof through a good charge controller. Change out the light bulbs for LED replacement bulbs - buy one first and make sure you like that brand/color before buying a bunch, they vary in light output and color temperature. Upgrade the charge capability from the truck. This involves running a larger charge cable separate from the 7 pin, through its own connector (a lift gate connector works well). There are many threads on how to do this. The reason for this is it will allow a much quicker charge when you begin driving, if the batteries have been discharged more than 20% or so. The wiring in the 7 pin cable does not allow for a heavy charge.

I have just this sort of setup. Even without any charge from the truck at all, since putting the solar in place I have not plugged the camper in anywhere, and it stays charged. I used it for a year that way with no other source of charge. If parked or driven in the sun, after a sub 30 degree night with the heater on, by 11 AM the batteries are topped up again. This is running lights, charging the phones/laptops, running the furnace, etc. without particular care. I normally do plug in the truck charge cable, and you would need it for a series of cloudy days or parked under trees.

Once installed, the system is maintenance free and silent. Your camping neighbors will like you. You don't need to think about starting the generator because you want to dry your hair or pop some popcorn in the microwave, or charge your laptop. The 110V is always available just like home. When the camper is stored you do not need to worry about periodically charging the batteries, they will be automatically topped up and maintained. It is really a much better solution than a generator, for every purpose except running the AC.

I agree with everything Beagle has to say. We are in season 6 with 330W solar, 2000W inverter 4 Agm batteries and an all electric fridge. Almost 100% of our camping is dry/boondocking and although we carry a 2000W genny, never use it. The only thing we have changed over the years is started at 190W, now 330W solar. We do not have A/C. Our fridge is the largest daily draw of battery power. We use micro very little, hair dryer every day, small appliances, electric toaster ,charge all electronics, electric roof, sometimes jacks when removing TC, radio, heater to take chill off in the morning, LED's everywhere and 2 fantastic fans if it gets really warm at night.

If you were always in the shade or you used the same amount of electricity in your RV as you would if you were at home, or boondocked in a lot of places where you needed A/C then an all solar/ truck alternator system may not work all the time and a generator would be needed.

For us, this system has worked very well even though it was a bit pricey at the start. (we already had the generator from another TC). Good luck on whatever you choose.

Dave

Lots of good comments.
To go solar you are going to want to have lots of solar and lots of batteries. One battery will not do it.

Next question is where and when you are camping. If you camp in winter (low elevation sun, short days, running heater a lot), in the forests, in rain or in clouds, we find out solar system doesn't do much. Summer, bright sun, long days, out in the open is a different story.

I was going to say that you CAN do a lot with solar as long as you have a lot of solar to do it with.

Truck campers are limited as to how much roof and battery you can have. That limitation will keep you from having a system like the poster above or even my own. We cook, heat water, even run a small A/C off of out solar and bank, then again we have the room for both the panels and batteries to do it too.

So in this instance and most I'd say, it's both a generator for the heavy loads and a small solar system for everything else. We can run a 19 inch TV and satellite system off of a 150w inverter, no generator needed.

BTW Look at my signature and you will see we have plenty of solar and batteries. You will also see a generator, it's part of a balanced system even if we haven't used it in years.

Eu 2000. I'm not a tc owner. See profile.

2oldman wrote:

chobe2 wrote:
Ya...I'd sure like to avoid generators. That's one of the reasons I'm trying to find an alternative.

It's hard to avoid one.. for me anyway.

I'm a big power user.. lots o' solar, batteries and inverter. Gens are for the heavy lifting of a/c and battery charging on cloudy days. Inverter/solar for those usually nice days and everyday power use.

Do you use a built in generator or portable? We actually have a Honda generator but we just don't know where we'd store it in the camper.

I can geek this subject forever. Basically:

-- Is it possible to have a camper that runs an induction cooktop, microwave, and air conditioning without a genset? Of course, I own one and you can read all about on my website. You can also download some white papers on various aspects of this - those papers, in turn, include links to good resources on the web, i.e., people who really know what they are talking about.

-- Can you do this with your used Lance? Probably not, at least not without spending some serious money.

The problem is that most of the RV industry designs their electrical systems for folks who plug in every night, not for folks like us who go months without plugging in.

The cost of converting an industry standard RV into an expedition/overland camper can be high. You will probably need to purchase:

-- A lot of 1/0 to 4/0 wire.
-- 200w or more of solar panels. (I have 500w)
-- 400Ah or more of batteries. (I have 600Ah.)
-- At least one 3000w inverter if you want air conditioning. (And even then, you won't be able to run a typical RV rooftop unit.)

For most folks, a 2000w genset is more cost effective, if more annoying for the neighbors.

However, not having a genset is wonderful and I would never change! ;)

chobe2 wrote:
Thank you everybody. What I'm thinking is to install a very small 600-700w microwave, maybe a 1500w inverter and at least one more battery. We would only use the microwave for a minute or two at a time. The AC would be a luxury for when we have shore power. Does that sound feasible or do you think we should get a built in generator, see what our needs are and go from there? I've done a lot of reading online and it seems like everyone is going more toward beefing up their batteries, adding solar and using a generator less.

The best way to annoy your camping neighbors is to run a generator.

For what you are contemplating, a solar/inverter setup will work just fine, especially backed up by the fact that you (like me) keep moving. A microwave uses a lot of power for a very short time, the impact on batteries is usually small. The battery bank must be large enough to source the current, but capacity usually isn't an issue. Even a hair dryer isn't on that much, and can be run from an inverter. The AC is impractical without a very large solar array or generator (or plugged in).

What I would do (and did, in exactly the same situation): Put in two high capacity batteries, 6V golf cart batteries in series are perhaps the best choice in price/performance. Install a 1500 - 2000W inverter, for most things a "modified sine wave" is OK, "true sine wave" better but costs more. It is useful to get one with some battery State Of Charge monitoring features. Put two 100 - 150W panels on the roof through a good charge controller. Change out the light bulbs for LED replacement bulbs - buy one first and make sure you like that brand/color before buying a bunch, they vary in light output and color temperature. Upgrade the charge capability from the truck. This involves running a larger charge cable separate from the 7 pin, through its own connector (a lift gate connector works well). There are many threads on how to do this. The reason for this is it will allow a much quicker charge when you begin driving, if the batteries have been discharged more than 20% or so. The wiring in the 7 pin cable does not allow for a heavy charge.

I have just this sort of setup. Even without any charge from the truck at all, since putting the solar in place I have not plugged the camper in anywhere, and it stays charged. I used it for a year that way with no other source of charge. If parked or driven in the sun, after a sub 30 degree night with the heater on, by 11 AM the batteries are topped up again. This is running lights, charging the phones/laptops, running the furnace, etc. without particular care. I normally do plug in the truck charge cable, and you would need it for a series of cloudy days or parked under trees.

Once installed, the system is maintenance free and silent. Your camping neighbors will like you. You don't need to think about starting the generator because you want to dry your hair or pop some popcorn in the microwave, or charge your laptop. The 110V is always available just like home. When the camper is stored you do not need to worry about periodically charging the batteries, they will be automatically topped up and maintained. It is really a much better solution than a generator, for every purpose except running the AC.