Solar Help
I have an older Class B motorhome and have been thinking about solar. I can boondock now for 2 days before I have to recharge my 125ah battery. The only thing that draws power is the 12V fridge whic...
Forum Discussion
HiTech wrote:
I take the energy audit to be a minimum of 3.5Ah*12=about 40 Ah and a maximum to be about 60 Ah (battery lasts two days).
We don't know the actual draw. I gather, the OP doesn't know either. 3.5A is taken from the nameplate. In "normal" DC fridges the actual current is anywhere from 1/3 of the current shown in compressor specs to slightly higher than compressor says. Since Norcold is not "normal" - they make their own compressors - I simply don't know. Then, there are other things besides the fridge and light - he says there aren't any, but 9 times out of 10 there are other loads, even if they are small.
Then, we don't know how low he lets his battery drop before charging it.
Very roughly, assuming there is really nothing but 40-50 Ah fridge plus 2AH light, I would say that 150W is "almost enough" on a sunny day. Since he is running a generator once a day and apparently is going to continue, "almost enough" is good enough.
10 amps for 5-6 productive hours plus shoulders should cover sunny days.
150W panel with PWM controller will not generate 10A. It says 8.7A MPP current in specs. But, given the generator, this issue becomes rather academic. Too bad. He is really close to a generator-free boondocking.
