Forum Discussion
srschang
Sep 28, 2019Nomad
I don't think I use power the way you're planning to, but I now have lots of experience with 4 100W solar panels and 2 Battle Born 100aH batteries. I also have a compressor fridge (Isotherm 4.6 cuft) and a Xantrex 2000 watt inverter. I do not have the camper hooked to the 12v feed from the truck.
My wife and I just got back from 5 weeks on the road to Alaska from Buffalo, NY. Although we stayed in campgrounds every night, about half the nights we were in a non electric sight or chose not to plug in because we didn't need to run the A/C and the batteries were fully charged.
We now run everything but the A/C on the inverter, or directly from the batteries for twelve volt items like the fridge.
The biggest battery hog by far is a 12" fan Merry bought at Walmart to run all night off the inverter. Can't sleep without the noise & air movement. Between that and the fridge, the batteries dropped from 100% to 76% overnight. Then running the Keurig for 4 cups of coffee, Merry drying her hair, and then flat ironing her hair, the batteries dropped from 76% to 68% (136aH of the 200aH left). If we microwaved something for dinner the night before, it may have dropped a few more AH, but not much. Although the wave uses a lot of watts, it only runs for a few minutes, so not a lot of AH.
We found that if the batteries were at 68% in the morning, and it was sunny, the 400 watts of solar would charge the batteries (provide 64aH of charge) back to 100% by noon or 1:00. If it was cloudy, it would take all day to recharge the batteries, or maybe even only get them back to 95%. Still very acceptable for the way we use the camper.
I guess I really didn't need to spend the extra $1000 for the second Battle Born battery, as one battery would have met our needs. But a single battery would have been very close to depleted most mornings. I console myself by thinking the extra Battle Born battery ensures that I have lots of juice available if we want to brew more coffee sometime. (Though that's some pretty expensive coffee!)
My wife and I just got back from 5 weeks on the road to Alaska from Buffalo, NY. Although we stayed in campgrounds every night, about half the nights we were in a non electric sight or chose not to plug in because we didn't need to run the A/C and the batteries were fully charged.
We now run everything but the A/C on the inverter, or directly from the batteries for twelve volt items like the fridge.
The biggest battery hog by far is a 12" fan Merry bought at Walmart to run all night off the inverter. Can't sleep without the noise & air movement. Between that and the fridge, the batteries dropped from 100% to 76% overnight. Then running the Keurig for 4 cups of coffee, Merry drying her hair, and then flat ironing her hair, the batteries dropped from 76% to 68% (136aH of the 200aH left). If we microwaved something for dinner the night before, it may have dropped a few more AH, but not much. Although the wave uses a lot of watts, it only runs for a few minutes, so not a lot of AH.
We found that if the batteries were at 68% in the morning, and it was sunny, the 400 watts of solar would charge the batteries (provide 64aH of charge) back to 100% by noon or 1:00. If it was cloudy, it would take all day to recharge the batteries, or maybe even only get them back to 95%. Still very acceptable for the way we use the camper.
I guess I really didn't need to spend the extra $1000 for the second Battle Born battery, as one battery would have met our needs. But a single battery would have been very close to depleted most mornings. I console myself by thinking the extra Battle Born battery ensures that I have lots of juice available if we want to brew more coffee sometime. (Though that's some pretty expensive coffee!)
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