reed cundiff wrote:
We only turn heat with propane as required. It only takes 10 minutes or so to heat the water and can see no reason to leave it on overnight.
We do run the Dometic fridge on AC from battery/solar 24 hours a day on these great solar days at our older son's place in mountains of northern NM. Was not sure about using the solar/battery suite to heat the water but decided to try it and as Pianotuna noted, it does not take that many kW-hrs to do this. The power rate is fairly large, about 1.7 kW but it does not take more than 15 minutes to get to temperature.
Running both water heater and fridge, plus extensive use of microwave runs us 7 to 8 kW-hrs a day. If days are not sunny (it is supposed to be thunder storms tomorrow) than we change back to propane. Propane is not expensive but it means 1 1/2 hour round trip to Las Vegas, NM to fill tanks (we have 6 x 20# canisters) and photons are free.
Life with solar means changing energy management to suit the sun.
2006 Chevie 4 x 4 diesel (dualie)
2013 Open Range 337RLS
1.4 kW of solar (90 V from roof)
8.6 kW-hr of LFP (at 48 V nominal)
4.0 kW Magnum PSWI
TriStar MPPT-45
Boondocking is whole different animal. You have to manage your electricity quite diligently.