Kayteg1 wrote:
So next question would be how much heat you can get from solar system?
I have a 110v in-wall house heater I mounted in with a digital thermostat. I went with a Braun 110v heater because the heating element can be split with a switch, 750w and 1500w. I rarely have had to set it to 1500 watts, 750 has been sufficient down to upper 30's.
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So-- "could" I run it off battery at night, and solar charge back up during the day, ya, I suppose I could, but I haven't tried. It'd be tough - I'd kill most of my battery potential, and it'd have to be pretty darn sunny out to make up for it the next day. It was slightly overcast when I ran the roof air Saturday, enough to knock my output down by about a third. I was getting 45-ish amps out of the TC, 30ish amps out of the Shotwagon. In 'ideal' conditions I've max'd out both solar controllers, 60a and 45a respectively, but that's pretty rare to get max power.
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The two biggest reason I went through all this--one, I got all the batteries for free. Long story... But two, I absolutely hate generator noise when I'm camping. And even though my Honda 2000 can now run the roof air with the Soft Start installed, I hate the noise and dislike the hassle--unpacking it, gassing it, bringing extra gas, securing it, packing it back up... And didn't want to chance leaving my dog in the TC when I'm not close to camp and the gen running out of gas and/or dying. As long as I got good sun, I have a roof air. If there's no sun, I likely don't need the roof air.
