Battery and Solar woes
Long read, so grab a coffee... Rockwood Mini-Lite 2306. We’ve had this generic 100W flexible solar panel which has served us well for several years now. I hate drilling holes in the roof of my RV to...
Forum Discussion
Qwazert wrote:
You've obviously hit the nail on the head.
My problem is that I didn't think that adding "better" batteries would create a problem....if I knew then, what I know now....
Looks like some more panels are in my future.
It isn't the fact of adding "better" batteries, it is about adding more battery capacity in Ahrs which then leads to you to using more of that capacity well past what you were before without really knowing you are.
Without doing an exact energy audit to fully understand how much you are using vs how much you are able to harvest you are just taking a blindfolded shot at a distant target.
Personally, adding an additional 200W of solar will result in you not needing to resort to using a bunch of battery powered flashlights using expensive drycells.. Dump the drycell flashlights, replace the incandescent bulbs that may be in your RVs light fixtures with LEDs.. You get much better lighting and the side result of dropping the cost of drycells you waste money on (doesn't take long to spend $50 on drycells now days). Most flashlights use inferior quality LEDs which have far less lumens per watt and pretty poor color rendition.
Additionally adding more solar may even allow you to take luxurious baths (even if it is a 5 minute "Navy bath") inside your RV assuming you have a tub or shower..
As it is right now, basically your using your RV like a hardsided tent.. Not my cup-o-tea. When I camp, I like to make use of the nice facilities that are built into the rig..
