Solar powered generator

ya that's what I thought but was just wondering if anyone had used them

djg wrote:

https://www.armorysurvival.com/product/inergy-solar-ultimate-combo-kit/

HOLY CRAAP that system is expensive.

djg wrote:
Has anyone used or looked into these solar powered generators they look interesting

The term is "marketing hype" to describe a box that has a battery and an inverter in it, which doesn't have any "solar" component to it - AKA the Goal Zero Yeti series units.

srschang wrote:

RTCastillo wrote:


Works for me too, although, rarely that I use my a/c as most of my camping are on high elevation NP/National Forests. And I'm always out of the campsite anyways...

.

I don't agree. I installed 4 100W panels, a charge controller, 2000W inverter, two 125aH Lifeline AGM batteries, and a 12v compressor fridge last year. We spent 6 weeks traveling from Western NY to Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Northern California, Utah, Colorado, and back home. In a typical day we used the Keurig to make 4 or 5 cups of coffee and the wife drying her hair, both off the inverter. The compressor fridge obviously ran around the clock. Plus all the typical daily electricity usage, lights, TV, waterpump, etc. We plugged into electricity at campgrounds 3 times in the 6 weeks, other than that the solar took care of all our electric needs.

To your economically feasible comment, you're probably correct, I probably had $2500 in the upgrades, although the fridge was half of that. It's not economically feasible. But, the solar took care of all our electrical needs during the trip.
Not just trickle charging the batteries during storage. We spent most of our time at some altitude, so we only needed A/C a couple times during the trip (that's why we stayed in campgrounds a couple nights)

Thanks for confirming my economics.

You did not mention a/c and/or whether the generator is also running in tandem during the day usage of ALL your appliances.

And have you run your a/c after quiet time and had to rely only on stored solar energy?

Am not here to dispute you, just checking my math, lol. And at any rate, I'm happy for you if you are happy with your solar system.

In fact, I'm dreaming solar too as I find the generator annoying even if I'm not sleeping (am in camping for the peace and quiet) but my calc says a long way to go in the leap of technology in size vs wattage output/energy storage,

So you don't agree that everybody has different needs and requirements?
Even I would not need AC (what is not possible in western/southern states, the $2500 buys me gasoline for my 1000W generator for next 2000 years.

RTCastillo wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
People are toying with the ideas for decades.
Everybody has different needs and requirements.
Solars are expensive and lot of RV owners use them for quiet and environment protection, so the cost is not an issue.
For me - I need AC 90% of the time and solar rv systems that could power AC don't exist.
Since I have to run generator whole day, the solar only for battery charging makes no sense.
Even then, the latest addition of $150 inverter generator who runs most of the day on cup of gasoline makes solars very uneconomical.

Works for me too, although, rarely that I use my a/c as most of my camping are on high elevation NP/National Forests. And I'm always out of the campsite anyways.

I was told of that early on and not from my son who works for Musk/Tesla/Solar City. That solar at current technology makes economic sense only for home and large scale commercial applications.

From a long time RVer, solar panel is good only for trickle charging of battery either while on storage on charge maintenance or when the generator is off.

I don't agree. I installed 4 100W panels, a charge controller, 2000W inverter, two 125aH Lifeline AGM batteries, and a 12v compressor fridge last year. We spent 6 weeks traveling from Western NY to Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Northern California, Utah, Colorado, and back home. In a typical day we used the Keurig to make 4 or 5 cups of coffee and the wife drying her hair, both off the inverter. The compressor fridge obviously ran around the clock. Plus all the typical daily electricity usage, lights, TV, waterpump, etc. We plugged into electricity at campgrounds 3 times in the 6 weeks, other than that the solar took care of all our electric needs.

To your economically feasible comment, you're probably correct, I probably had $2500 in the upgrades, although the fridge was half of that. It's not economically feasible. But, the solar took care of all our electrical needs during the trip.
Not just trickle charging the batteries during storage. We spent most of our time at some altitude, so we only needed A/C a couple times during the trip (that's why we stayed in campgrounds a couple nights)

Kayteg1 wrote:
People are toying with the ideas for decades.
Everybody has different needs and requirements.
Solars are expensive and lot of RV owners use them for quiet and environment protection, so the cost is not an issue.
For me - I need AC 90% of the time and solar rv systems that could power AC don't exist.
Since I have to run generator whole day, the solar only for battery charging makes no sense.
Even then, the latest addition of $150 inverter generator who runs most of the day on cup of gasoline makes solars very uneconomical.

Works for me too, although, rarely that I use my a/c as most of my camping are on high elevation NP/National Forests. And I'm always out of the campsite anyways.

I was told of that early on and not from my son who works for Musk/Tesla/Solar City. That solar at current technology makes economic sense only for home and large scale commercial applications.

From a long time RVer, solar panel is useful though for trickle charging of battery either while on storage on charge maintenance or when the generator is off. And that's a less than $50 type.

People are toying with the ideas for decades.
Everybody has different needs and requirements.
Solars are expensive and lot of RV owners use them for quiet and environment protection, so the cost is not an issue.
For me - I need AC 90% of the time and solar rv systems that could power AC don't exist.
Since I have to run generator whole day, the solar only for battery charging makes no sense.
Even then, the latest addition of $150 inverter generator who runs most of the day on cup of gasoline makes solars very uneconomical.

Thanks for all the replies I now figure on looking to build my own

Dave

djg wrote:
I was looking at the kodiak ultimate solar kit

https://www.armorysurvival.com/product/inergy-solar-ultimate-combo-kit/

just looks very interesting and was wondering if anyone has been using one

Pretty expensive and you still have to make mounting brackets !