Solar Panels for battery charging

Roy - why can't you be my next door neighbor so you can help me with set up?:) I'm very much a hands on learner and much of this is all greek to me. But I have the idea, so just need to take your notes to someone who will understand completely and can help me get this set up.
We use our camper while on the road with a winter seasonal business and are not set up for long in any one place. The camper is in use most of the time between October and end of Dec.
This summer I want to do some tweaking so things are easier and work better - this battery issue being one of the things.
Thanks again everyone for your great ideas. I already have a little portable Honda generator that came with the camper, but where we stay is in parking lots of businesses and we never used that due to noise at night. Didn't want to tick anyone in the area off since it is in the city and not a campground.

RoyB wrote:
........it is now the time for us to add some solar panel system to keep us from running the generator so long each day............

Now that sounds like a nice plan. :)

I think you are finding out what alot of us have gone through already. You just can't do much with a single 12VDC battery. You can put in two 6VDC golf cart batteries in series and get 12VDC at around 220AHs. I have been using a 255AH battery setup here and can do alot of good camping off the power grid.

My setup works great running all of the 120VAC items we want to run off an inverter and the 12VDC items connected directly to the battery bank. with this I can run a whole bunch of things between 6PM and 11PM and still have enough juice left to make the parasitic drain until 8AM the next morning when my 255AH battery bank drop down to around 12.0VDC or appx 50% charge state...

This is when I connect my 30AMP system to my 2KW portable generator and recharge my 255AH battery bank back up to it 50% charge state in a quick three hour generator run time. Now we can do all of this all over again for the next day/night run off the batteries.

We actually run just about everything we would want to run at campground with electric hookup except the air conditioner.

We got away from flashlights and candles along time ago.

Now that we have it all planned out doing it this way it is now the time for us to add some solar panel system to keep us from running the generator so long each day. For us the solar panels will be be used after we use our 2K Generator to get past the high current demand that has tapered down from over 50AMP DC current down to around 8AMP DC current after an hour or so. The solar panels will continue my battery bank charge while in high Sun and get my battery bank back to it 50% charge state before dark.

I am using three 12VDC 85AH Interstate batteries that were installed in 2008 when I got my off-road POPUP trailer. They are just now starting to drop off in performance.

It takes some planning to make it work. You just can't show up with one 12VDC battery and expect it to make though the night. You also cannot expect the solar panels to be your source of power with just one panel. I would make my system work best by upgrading the converter/charger setup and more batteries. Then add solar panels to work in conjunction with a small generator to always start your day/night run off the batteries with at least a 90% battery bank charge state.

This is what works for us at any rate - After doing this since 2009 it is all second nature camping off the power grid now. We know what to expect now and don't even think twice about it anymore...

Replacing my battery after every couple of trips would not be an option for me... Once you drop them below 12.0VDC and not recharging back up to the 90% charge state right away your batteries will be history in a short time.

Just my thoughts here -

Roy Ken

Some here to compare prices:

https://www.solarblvd.com/index.php?cPath=1_269

Figure 100 to 240 watts. Measure before you click and buy.
I also recommend LED lighting to effectively double your battery size.

**IF** you have enough roof space, I felt this was a killer deal and bought 6 of them, 136 watt flexible, roll out/stick on solar panels. You need a controller of course, but the panels themselves are only $99.
Note the dimensions though, they're very long but narrow. I already bought 6 of them, just no controllers yet. 2 will go on my TC, 4 more on my car trailer when I get around to doing it.

Peel n Stick solar panels on sale

Hi,

Start with a big battery. Add 150 watts of solar for every 100 amp-hours of battery bank, with a good controller. Cost is currently under $2 per watt for materials.

We are thinking of getting some solar also to charge our batteries. However, our two 6-volt batteries (220ah total), can take care of our electrical needs for about 6 days before it's time to recharge.

You may want to see if your current battery can still hold a full charge, or you may want to consider additional power reduction.

Renogy.com carries a 'solar suitcase' Compact, folds up, portable. What I am doing this year is using their 'bendable' panels (3 pounds each) to make my own suitcase. No need to park in the sun since you can put the panels anywhere. We camp in forests most all the time, WA,BC, AK. If you want to charge rather than just maintain a battery you'll need at least 100w panel, more is better. Monocrystaline panels work better in low light.

What solar kit from Costco are you interested in ?

From your post, I assume you have a single 12 volt deep cycle lead Acid battery, correct?

You should never allow your battery to get below 50% SOC. You are shortening the overall life of the battery

Minimum 100 watts of solar, more is better + controller and/or THIS SET UP