How much solar do I need?

[marc71]

I’m posting for a friend. Let’s say you have 6-6 volt golf cart batteries and looking for enough solar power to keep the basics in a 32’ trailer going through the winter months. The camper is being used as temporary living space for hunting and the building of a cabin. Lights, heater, fridge water pump will be used, not much in the way of electronics or microwave. They’re trying to keep from having to winterize during off times so the biggest thing is to keep the heat on during down times. Is there a particular kit or package you would recommend?

Thanks you

[wanderingaimles]

Duplicate

[wanderingaimles]

X-2 on construction drop. It's what I did when I built in Mecklenburg county VA.
Another item you may want to consider is use of a lil buddy or a wave heater to save on fan operation. Yes, pay attention to safety with unvented heaters.
Also will help a lot if they skirt the trailer. Eliminating wind blowing under helps
A small Genny, even just a little 1000 watt unit to charge batteries on cloudy days will also be necessary.
Good luck.

[DrewE]

Is the cabin they're building going to be on the grid, or off-grid?

If it's not off-grid, it would seem to me to make the most sense to get a temporary/construction electric panel set up ASAP and hook the trailer up to that. Insulating/enclosing the trailer (while still maintaining safety and preventing the buildup of CO, CO2, water vapor etc. from the combustion appliances) would also be a big help; naturally, any solar installation oughtn't be covered over with a roof or something for it to work.

[BFL13]

There is 830w flat on the roof of our MH and I doubt we could do what the OP wants to do in winter due to so much overcast, but anyway---

You need the Latitude to calculate the optimum tilt up for the panels facing South, assuming no twirling. You need insolation tables for that location during those months to get an idea of how much sunshine vs overcast is likely. (Can get that on-line)

Pick a number for AH used in a day. Say 100, but could be more with the furnace on. Pick a number for time with sunshine on a sunny day there, say 5 hours. You need to average 20 amps, which would be about 600w worth of solar (300 would do 20 at high noon briefly then it is less the rest of the time, so pick a number--I pick 600--YMMV)

Now you still have all those overcast days in winter, so have a generator too. Absolute must! And a decent sized charger that can do 14.4 or so volts for the Bulk stage.

You have them coming and going from the RV, so if it is sunny while not there, solar can catch up a bit compared with the higher AH use when they are there. Luck of the draw if that does any good. Might.

All very chancy, and I don't think we could do that. Winter is not a good time for solar!