Solar vs generator
Have a new 25 ft. Rockwood Mini-Lite TT with 2 batteries. We dry camp and want to know is solar panels worth a try? Unit is set up for solar but concerned that it will take a lot of time to bring batt...
Forum Discussion
If you don't have a generator yet, that should be your first purchase. The little champion 2k inverter generators can be had for under $500, are quiet and reliable, but won't run your AC unless you parallel two of them. One of them might not run your microwave either at high altitudes. A 3,000 watt inverter generator will of course cost more, but is probably a better option if you don't want paralleled generators. With a generator, you have more options than with just solar.
I much prefer solar to a generator when possible, simply because it can be virtually "automatic" when it comes to charging the batteries, it's quiet, and other than battery maintenance which you need to do anyways requires only the occasional cleaning of the panels for maintenance. Because I didn't want to use portable panels, or even deal with the hassle of tilt brackets etc I somewhat overbuilt my system, and now have 10 100 watt parallel wired panels on the roof of my fiver that handle shade pretty well all things considered. This last week, even in a fairly heavily pine forested area, with afternoon clouds and thunderstorms, we went the week without ever having to run the batteries, even though we were running them down about 150ah a day. Several hours of satellite TV, about 45 minutes a day of furnace blower, drip filter coffee pot, whole house inverter on all night for CPAP, Cell phone charging etc. and of course the wife's hair drier in the morning. It's really nice how automatic it all is when you get enough sun to make it work.
I much prefer solar to a generator when possible, simply because it can be virtually "automatic" when it comes to charging the batteries, it's quiet, and other than battery maintenance which you need to do anyways requires only the occasional cleaning of the panels for maintenance. Because I didn't want to use portable panels, or even deal with the hassle of tilt brackets etc I somewhat overbuilt my system, and now have 10 100 watt parallel wired panels on the roof of my fiver that handle shade pretty well all things considered. This last week, even in a fairly heavily pine forested area, with afternoon clouds and thunderstorms, we went the week without ever having to run the batteries, even though we were running them down about 150ah a day. Several hours of satellite TV, about 45 minutes a day of furnace blower, drip filter coffee pot, whole house inverter on all night for CPAP, Cell phone charging etc. and of course the wife's hair drier in the morning. It's really nice how automatic it all is when you get enough sun to make it work.
