Solar Question......

[astroboy18]

Or maybe its really a BOONDOCKING question. On our AS trip last month (rented 2016 23D with solar) we were dry camping for 3 consecutive nights in Sequoia and the battery stayed recharged thanks to solar but it never really got perceptibly low per the readouts. My question is can a 3 day dry camping actually DRAIN the battery without solar? Assume standard use of fans, lights, pump, radio but zero during the day while hiking/touring. It seems to me that the added expense of the solar panels (as I shop to purchase my own AS) is just not justified if you never dry camp for more than 3 days at a time. Input appreciated.

[rodsterinfl]

The cost question! In what you describe, if the batteries were charged up prior to the stay, you did not run the furnace fan, most likely a three day stay would not require a solar charge. Even in my more limited stays without power I have never run out of battery without solar in nearly a week and I used my fantastic fans too.

You bring up a good point, that not everyone needs solar. It is expensive, especially when you consider the batteries. Green? Yes, costly? Yes.

[lsbrodsky]

There is no standard use of the stuff you mention, everybody is different. Does your wife like all of the lights on? How much water do you pump, showers, dishes, dog wash? The only certain thing is that your refrigerator and water heater control boards will be powered. The max you should take out of the standard battery bank is 80 amp-hours, over 3 days that is 27 per day or only 1 amp per hour, constant. Simple logic says, because things like the pump and lights use more, you are not going to make it for 3 days.
If you are worried about the expense, buy one good portable panel, which allows you to point it better anyhow. One 80-100w panel should give you enough charge to make it 3 days with minimal usage of electricity.
Larry

As an aside, we cannot make it 3 days without filling up the gray tank, but that is a different story.

[NorCal Matt]

The Interstates on our 25' were pretty bad from day 1. I'm sure I could have had them replaced under warranty, but instead I just upgraded to 6v agms. I also had a cheap single panel I mounted legs to so that I can have some solar. I'm hoping we can get 3 days/2 nights with just the batteries, but I'll bring the generator and solar panel along until we have a couple trips under our belt. My wife doesn't like it when I'm a battery or water Nazi, so I'm learning to care less!

[rodsterinfl]

Like Larry says, everyone has different needs. I CAN go a week with no issue. Consider that although you will run the water pump, fridge and other items, they are not continuous run. I have all LED lights. It is all about amp hours and length of use. The water pump uses like 5 amps D.C. but in amp hours for a 15 min shower it is something less than an amp since it does not run continuously during that 15 min time in most cases. I shower navy style in the stream so the 20 or so 3-4 second pump cycles are only during the outset and rinse cycle! My guess is maybe 10 pressurizing cycles each time which is in total a fraction of an amp per shower.

When I did the research on solar sizing a super nice guy, a solar engineer from Canada called me and told me to divide all electrical component energy draw into amps D.C. then to estimated minutes used to determine need (amp hours). My pump requires 5amps DC so in my case it uses about 4 min of run time total or .06 hours = 0.3 AH for a shower. The fridge uses 27 amps DC but I do not know the cycling time.

[Silver Otter]

The Number One KEY use for solar panels for us is keeping the AGMs charged during storage. I used to have to remove the heavy batteries and bring them back to the garage for placement on the trickle charger for Jan/Feb if we weren't on the road. Now I leave them in place and have 13.7. or better all the time (so long as I keep the snow off the top of the panels, of course).

[astroboy18]

Originally Posted by rodsterinfl

The cost question! In what you describe, if the batteries were charged up prior to the stay, you did not run the furnace fan, most likely a three day stay would not require a solar charge. Even in my more limited stays without power I have never run out of battery without solar in nearly a week and I used my fantastic fans too.

You bring up a good point, that not everyone needs solar. It is expensive, especially when you consider the batteries. Green? Yes, costly? Yes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That is EXACTLY what I suspected!!!!!!

[astroboy18]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

There is no standard use of the stuff you mention, everybody is different. Does your wife like all of the lights on? How much water do you pump, showers, dishes, dog wash? The only certain thing is that your refrigerator and water heater control boards will be powered. The max you should take out of the standard battery bank is 80 amp-hours, over 3 days that is 27 per day or only 1 amp per hour, constant. Simple logic says, because things like the pump and lights use more, you are not going to make it for 3 days.
If you are worried about the expense, buy one good portable panel, which allows you to point it better anyhow. One 80-100w panel should give you enough charge to make it 3 days with minimal usage of electricity.
Larry

As an aside, we cannot make it 3 days without filling up the gray tank, but that is a different story.

Yes, the gray tank got full by day 3 but that is easy to dump. You are correct that one good portable panel, if we ever find it necessary, would be the best and most cost effective solution! Thanks

[astroboy18]

Originally Posted by Silver Otter

The Number One KEY use for solar panels for us is keeping the AGMs charged during storage. I used to have to remove the heavy batteries and bring them back to the garage for placement on the trickle charger for Jan/Feb if we weren't on the road. Now I leave them in place and have 13.7. or better all the time (so long as I keep the snow off the top of the panels, of course).

Your need for solar to keep the batteries charged during non use/storage time is a valid reason for solar, except that we live on some acreage and have a plug in. I am not seeing, for us, the need to buy an AS with installed solar. Thanks

[Mattirs]

I brought a flexible 100w solar panel, pwm solar charger, 30' of 10 gauge MC3 connected wire (2 one red, 1 black) for just under $300 and built mine. Works great even through I have a liberal arts degree.