How much solar?

Can you just mount the panels anywhere? don't you need to hit studs? If so, how can I figure out where the studs are?

Hi DJ,

Given you don't need a huge amount of solar power, and have a pop-up so probably don't want to mount a huge amount of kit up there, I would go with the largest single panel I could get for a good price. I have two 80 watt panels, but you can get larger.

My logic is that there is no more work involved mounting one large panel than one small panel, so you might as well get as many watts for the effort you are putting in.

Clearly I live somewhere where I don't get as much sun as you (52 degrees north, so low sun angle, when there is any sun) and my compressor fridge is a lot more power hungry than an Engel. Hence I have 160w of solar.

This is what I installed:

Steve's solar stuff...

Steve.

We TC folks have a unique problem and that is roof area avail for solar.

First thing to do is get up on your roof and find out how much room you have.
Go to :
http://www.solar-electric.com/solarpanels.html

And :
http://www.solarblvd.com/

Look at the dimensions and wattage.

I wanted over 160watts and 2 panels. I made cardboard templates for the panels I wanted and found how they would fit... I was able to install 2 100watt panels. I wanted to be able to move around on the top of my camper too without crawling over panels. You can see by my pictures that I accomplished that.







I would install a minimum of 120 watts.

Although we rarely use more than 20ah of battery a night even watching a movie and running the laptop we are able to recover the used AH. We like to be up in the mountains and along the coast so there are times that we have reduced sun intensity.... We rarely need to run the genny.

Before we added led lights, got rid of our tube tv and installed an led tv and installed a wave-3 heater we would gobble 30-40ah a day..

I am able to run with only 1 100ah agm lifeline battery now instead of 2 group27's...

We have been running this configuration for 3 years now. We do not think of saving AH any more...

There are several of us in the TC forum that are lean AH users and have less than 150ah of battery.

Jim

Just as easy to mount 120w vs 60w. Controller is same.
A little extra power, priceless.

120w panel $174

10a controller $45

50' MC4 cable $44 Cut this in half. Connectors to panel, cut ends to controller.

Look for similar pricing local to save shipping.

Hi DJ,
Go for at least 120 watts on the roof. I have 240 watts on my roof and I NEVER think about power. I always have enough to run everything in my camper including my inverter and all of my electronics. For what you're planning, 120 watts should be enough. What is the amp draw of that fridge?

I have a 60 watt panel. It puts out realistically about 48 watts with peak summer sun. During winter or cloudy days it drops to perhaps 5 to 15 watts. Winters need shore power. I'd go for at least one but prefer 2 Kyocera 140 watt panels. Mostdays will not be perfect for power production.

I don't think one 60 watt will be worthwhile. We have two and one more is in the future. The angle of the suns rays determine the effectiveness of the panels, for about 3 hours, when the sun is high we get a high level of charge. If the panels can by moved, to follow the sun, they will be a bit more useful. That is not practical for us. In ten years we have never experienced a dead battery.

When our digital volt meter reads 12.2 volts we start the generator or utilize another method of charging. 12.2 volts is about one half of the battery power. When the batteries are allowed to get below halfway capacity, their useful life is shortened.

Hey DJ - I had 100 watt solar panel and controller installed on my camper when I ordered it new at the dealer for $450. When I was at OX 2013' I never started it from the time I arrived on Friday until we left on Sunday. I never seen the voltage go below 12.6v and we ran the furnace every night, quite happy with my solar setup.

if u are always camping somewhere where the top of your camper is getting sun 8hrs a day then 60watts will be great and probably more then enough. But if you are camping in area's receiving a lot of shade and only a couple hours of direct sun 60watts will not be near enough imo. Personally i would buy the largest panel you have room for on your roof. I was able to get away with a 140watt and i can actually still put 2 more 140watt panels up there if i ever wanted to. I am finding with my panel that even on cloudy days as long as the camper is not shaded the panel is still putting out an impressive amount of energy. Sunny days its almost unbelievable how good it works. Shade gives you about nothing so keep that in mind.

Hi DJ,

In one of the great ironies of solar, a 60 watt system may cost more than a 140 watt system.

Best bang for the buck pricing runs about $3.00 per watt (or less) for all components needed for DIY installations.