Solar or generator for older camper?
I have an 89 Lance camper and plan on dry camping with my wife and toddler daughter. I'd like to know people's opinions on adding solar versus plopping the dough on a Honda Generator. I'd ultimate...
Forum Discussion
I'll toss in some numbers to muddy the waters.
We bought five 270 watt solar panels last year for $950. I am using four of them and likely will sell or give away the fifth (it was a bundle deal cheaper than four panels).
So 1080 watts for $1000, about $1 a watt.
We purchased a Midnite Classic 150 charge controller which is more than what is needed but it allows future expansion. $610. It came with a whizbang Jr. which turns it into a battery usage monitor.
We purchased $220 of aluminum angle to built the frame for the panels. Because the Classic can run off 150V solar input, we wired the panels 2s2p with an open circuit voltage of about 80V. This means the max current we would see on the wires from the panels to controller is about 15 amps. Because of this relatively low current, I felt comfortable using 10AWG wire, at a cost of about $15 for 20 feet. We also installed a Midnite baby box with 20 amp and 60 amp breakers for the solar and battery side respectively. Cost for that was about $50 total. Other costs were 3 feet of 6AWG red and yellow marine wire from controller to battery (about $10), two combiner connectors for paralleling the two sets of series connected panels ($20) and a short cable with MC4 connectors cut in half to mate to the 10AWG marine wire leading the panels ($10). Misc costs in screws, heat shrink, crimps of about $20.
So total cost for 1080 watts is:
$950 + $610 + $220 + $15 + $50 + $10 + $20 + $10 + $20
= $1905 or about $1.90 a watt
Obv. I have not tested the system in the wild yet, but I did see over 600 watts Monday in the Seattle sun and actually saw 55 watts yesterday at 1pm whie it was actually raining and foggy (that surprised me to get that much during rain). Even 55 watts for 6 hours is something....keeps up with half of the compressor fridge use during a 24 hour period.
Having said all of this, we do have a EU2000i :B
edit: I did not include costs of our battery bank as it is very small and we would have it even if we had no solar. One benefit of over-paneling with solar is we get decent absorption/float charge during the day even when the sun is not directly overhead. This should make the batteries (Lifeline AGM) much happier than running a gen for a hour in bulk and then leaving the batteries 85% charged. To fully charge the batteries you really need to run the gen in eco mode for about 4 to 5 hours. Annoying.
We bought five 270 watt solar panels last year for $950. I am using four of them and likely will sell or give away the fifth (it was a bundle deal cheaper than four panels).
So 1080 watts for $1000, about $1 a watt.
We purchased a Midnite Classic 150 charge controller which is more than what is needed but it allows future expansion. $610. It came with a whizbang Jr. which turns it into a battery usage monitor.
We purchased $220 of aluminum angle to built the frame for the panels. Because the Classic can run off 150V solar input, we wired the panels 2s2p with an open circuit voltage of about 80V. This means the max current we would see on the wires from the panels to controller is about 15 amps. Because of this relatively low current, I felt comfortable using 10AWG wire, at a cost of about $15 for 20 feet. We also installed a Midnite baby box with 20 amp and 60 amp breakers for the solar and battery side respectively. Cost for that was about $50 total. Other costs were 3 feet of 6AWG red and yellow marine wire from controller to battery (about $10), two combiner connectors for paralleling the two sets of series connected panels ($20) and a short cable with MC4 connectors cut in half to mate to the 10AWG marine wire leading the panels ($10). Misc costs in screws, heat shrink, crimps of about $20.
So total cost for 1080 watts is:
$950 + $610 + $220 + $15 + $50 + $10 + $20 + $10 + $20
= $1905 or about $1.90 a watt
Obv. I have not tested the system in the wild yet, but I did see over 600 watts Monday in the Seattle sun and actually saw 55 watts yesterday at 1pm whie it was actually raining and foggy (that surprised me to get that much during rain). Even 55 watts for 6 hours is something....keeps up with half of the compressor fridge use during a 24 hour period.
Having said all of this, we do have a EU2000i :B
edit: I did not include costs of our battery bank as it is very small and we would have it even if we had no solar. One benefit of over-paneling with solar is we get decent absorption/float charge during the day even when the sun is not directly overhead. This should make the batteries (Lifeline AGM) much happier than running a gen for a hour in bulk and then leaving the batteries 85% charged. To fully charge the batteries you really need to run the gen in eco mode for about 4 to 5 hours. Annoying.
