Solar power

jumper cables : Heavy Duty 12 foot
2 good batteries in your rv
2 good batteries in your pickup.
we camp off the grid
we leave home with fully charged batteries
we turn our pickup around and run off of all 4 batteries .
the pickup moves every 2nd or third day .
when we return we hook up all 4 batts again .
we do not run the pickup just to charge the batteries.
not mandatory but you can switch to exide Edge AGM batteries in your pickup.
and you can switch to two 6 volt GC2 for your rv .
we do 9 days with this method for the last 15 years .
no solar.
no gennie .
i disconnect the fully charged rv battery cables when i store the trailer.
that extends battery life .

Hi,

Zamp costs about $5.00 per watt. Thanks, but no thanks!

It's always nice having your batteries charged up so I say go for the solar panel (at least 140 watt) with an MPPT Controller.

WoodGlue

Thanks everyone, appreciate your input. Will consider all you shared.

I agree with the others. Add a battery and a few LEDs in the lights you are most likely to use and you should be fine for a few days. We can make it a weekend on a single grp 27 battery including running the furnace at night in freezing temps.

A bit of solar would make it so that you could stay out longer, dry camping/boondocking is addictive after all. You could pick up 120w in a panel along with the wires and controller for less than you think if you buy them separately. Left portable they can be set in the sun while the trailer is in the shade, mounted will mean your battery will be charged and ready to go whenever you are. We spent $200 thru craigslist and ebay on the solar we take with us.

Another option is a portable solar panel. Zamp makes a good one that folds, has an excellent case for traveling, has high-quality monocrystalline panels from Germany, and contains its own digital charge controller. All you have to do is connect it to the battery. Zamp

We have the 120 watt portable Zamp unit and it works great. One advantage of portable is that you can move it to track the sun and avoid shade. Works so well that we leave the generator at home.

Bruce

If your only looking for two days, maybe an occassional 3rd day, I would make the investment in a better battery bank first and see how that does for you. Switching to a couple higher group 12v batteries like group 29's or higher or 2-4 6v golf cart batteries will increase your Amp Hours significantly. Switching to LED bulbs in your light fixtures for a couple bucks per bulb will reduce your battery use for lights by about 70%-80%.

Both of these steps would be wise and required as part of upgrading your camper to off grid use for extended timesframes. You may find that doing these Two things gives you plenty to mean your modest needs of only a couple days off the power cord. If not, your ready to do the solar thing and in a much better position to store more energy (bigger AH battery bank) and use less (LED lights).

Golden_HVAC wrote:

...
Pick a 12 volt nominal panel, and you could use a switch to turn it on the days you are camping, and turn it off the other days, not need to spend money on a solar controller.
...

If you go that route, be careful to turn it off at night, as without a controller, a panel in the dark can draw backwards from the battery.

Hi,

I have a larger than average solar system, purchased a little bit at a time. Started with a pair of 45 watt panels back in 94 that worked great to keep all the batteries full. But the newer class A, the battery would still go dead while camping, so we expanded with a 75 watt panel, then a pair of 120 watt panels in 1999 for $429 each (on sale!).

Now days you can get a 100 watt panel for very close to $100. Pick a 12 volt nominal panel, and you could use a switch to turn it on the days you are camping, and turn it off the other days, not need to spend money on a solar controller. Mount it on the roof, and leave it there.

SunElec.com

However I would highly recommend installing a PWM solar controller. Many are only about $65 for a 10 amp rated controller.

What I did was install gray UV rated direct burial wire (home Depot 10 gauge - they sell 25' rolls). Down the refrigerator vent, to the closet, the controller there, then to the battery.

Start with one panel, then expand as you need more power. The CO meter, LP gas detector and refrigerator use about 35 AH daily, about what a 120 watt solar panel will put back in a sunny day.

For panel mounts, I used 6" long peices of 2" angle aluminum with 3 - 3/16" holes and #10 screws into the roof, and 5/16" hole for a 1/4-20 bolt with nylo nut into the solar panel, takes two wrenches and time to remove the panel, so safer.

Good luck!

Fred.

ddrueckh wrote:
Though I have solar and love it, I don't think it would be worth the investment for you. We are aff the grid from 5-7 days at a time. With 2 days max, I think you would be just fine with 2 batteries. If you only have 1, add a second. You should be able to run everything you need for 2 days with 2 batteries..

Dave

I agree. If you add a battery and switch your lights to LED's, you should last two days without solar.