Forum Discussion

Mote's avatar
Mote
Explorer
Feb 02, 2015

will a group 24 and a 50watt panel be enough for 2 week trip

We are taking a two week to Yellowstone this summer taking the truck camper. Our camper has a group 24 wet cell battery and a 50 watt solar panel. I replaced the original solar controller with a sunsaver duo this winter as the old controller was bad.
Daily energy use would be the fridge on propane, interior lights (all are LED), water pump and water heater as we’ll shower each day in the camper. No TV thou.
Our plans are to leave the camper on the truck as we drive from place to place during the day so the truck will recharge the battery somewhat.
Will the current battery and solar panel be enough? I measured by battery compartment. I do not have room for two batteries but I could fit one group 31 or 29. How large of a battery would the 50 watt panel recharge on a typical sunny day in June?
Thanks for the help
Truck Campers
  • BurbMan's avatar
    BurbMan
    Explorer II
    Feb 02, 2015
    You need to do some math.... Assuming the solar panel outputs 12v, 50w/12v= 4.1 amps. If it charges for 12 hours on a sunny day 12 x 4.1 = 50 amp hours (ah).

    Then you need to figure draw...how many lights, how many amps each, how long will water pump run, etc. Don't forget radio, cell phone charging, etc. For the battery to last you must be able to put more juice into it from the solar panel than you use.

    What's the ah capacity of the battery? Since you'll be out 2 weeks, you may get some clouds/rain, so based on usage how many days could you go without recharging?

    I'll guess that you *might* be OK, but 2 weeks is a long time on one battery with only 50W solar...even without TV or furnace. You might consider a small generator just to give the give the battery a full charge a couple of nights and also to run the furnace if need be.

About Travel Trailer Group

44,030 PostsLatest Activity: Feb 04, 2025