Forum Discussion
Golden_HVAC
Dec 16, 2014Explorer
I have a E-Meter on my motorhome, and it carefully measures all the power going into and out of the battery bank. This is a $375 accurate meter. It shows that my CO meter, propane detector, and refrigerator combine to consume 35 amp hours daily. This is about what one of my 120 watt solar panels puts out every day.
They are rated at 21 volts and max 7 amps. take the 7 amp output, and multiply by 5 "Peak hours". That is all you get. The panels are in the sun all day, and part of the morning it is less than 5 amps per hour, noon it is near 7 amps per hour, afternoon it is less than 5 amps again, so "rule of thumb" is to take the rated amps X 5 hours.
You can buy larger solar panels for about $1 per rated watt. SunElec.com
As for running the microwave from a inverter, I do not recommend it. I ran mine for about 15 minutes, and had to replace it because it cooks so slowly now. And I have a $750 Trace 1,500 watt inverter/charger, that is wired with #000 wire, and my 4 golf cart batteries can put out 150 amps while it was running. Unless you have so many batteries, and such large wire, it will not work, and investing all that money to just find out that your microwave now cooks really slowly too - well learn from my mistake.
Good luck,
Fred.
They are rated at 21 volts and max 7 amps. take the 7 amp output, and multiply by 5 "Peak hours". That is all you get. The panels are in the sun all day, and part of the morning it is less than 5 amps per hour, noon it is near 7 amps per hour, afternoon it is less than 5 amps again, so "rule of thumb" is to take the rated amps X 5 hours.
You can buy larger solar panels for about $1 per rated watt. SunElec.com
As for running the microwave from a inverter, I do not recommend it. I ran mine for about 15 minutes, and had to replace it because it cooks so slowly now. And I have a $750 Trace 1,500 watt inverter/charger, that is wired with #000 wire, and my 4 golf cart batteries can put out 150 amps while it was running. Unless you have so many batteries, and such large wire, it will not work, and investing all that money to just find out that your microwave now cooks really slowly too - well learn from my mistake.
Good luck,
Fred.
About Travel Trailer Group
44,029 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 21, 2025