How much Solar do you have?

How much solar do you have?


  • Total voters
    130

JIMBO

Expedition Leader
:sombrero: Nothing, my 60W/contr. hard panel is more than enough for my small trailer and Engel fridge and the hard panel makes it pretty easy for transportation and setup !!

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:costumed-smiley-007:wings: JIMBO
 

tdesanto

Expedition Leader
I'm not sure I understand the 300W+ choices in the poll. That's a lot to drag around or set up. Even if you get the 60W rolls, that's 5 to set up just to get to 300W.
 

Hill Bill E.

Oath Keeper
I'm not sure I understand the 300W+ choices in the poll. That's a lot to drag around or set up. Even if you get the 60W rolls, that's 5 to set up just to get to 300W.

It could be for the 'get away' cabin!:coffeedrink:

We run 12V lights and an inverter at the cabin, and I'm looking into solar for charging the batteries, instead of having only the generator.

300 seems to be good for cabins, but might be overkill. I'm just starting to do research on it.

(so this thread will be helpful for me!:coffeedrink:)
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
60 watts is what Martyn suggested I go with to keep the battery topped off running the ARB fridge and the Maggiolina AirLander light inside.

Like Jim, I do not feel I need anymore than that.
I could power the fridge alone off of it when enough sunlight, but I like having it run to the rigs battery.

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R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
Well yeah, but sometimes you have to choose between camping in the good campsites, or staying in town where you can get good sunlight... ;)
 

dzzz

I'm not sure I understand the 300W+ choices in the poll. That's a lot to drag around or set up. Even if you get the 60W rolls, that's 5 to set up just to get to 300W.

Perhaps take a look around the site and see the variety of vehicles people drive. 4 x 250w fits on even many small campers.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Exactly, there is a huge variety of different types of overlanding/camping vehicles on this site.
 

dzzz

If a camper is using 100 ah a day, it's not unreasonable to have 600 ah of storage. So three days of camping in deep shade. Then the honda eu2000 gets run for a couple hours. No reason to pass up a nice campsite. A drive into town mid day puts some power back too.
It's more of a challenge for you guys with small camping trailers.
 

R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
FWIW, I had decided not to buy a solar panel, but instead would have a generator. Since I'm normally under heavy tree cover... yeah, solar panels just wouldn't be effective enough. The problem is, most small generators only put out 10A DC. I've seen details of people who have built a DC generator, just a simple 1-2hp motor turning a standard GM alternator. Output of say, 90A, charges a battery really quick. Inside a soundproofed box, it could be quiet if you build it right.

But in the end, I bought a propane powered cooler, and don't have to worry about that at all. My battery only runs some lighting, and the water pump. Should have no problem lasting a week.
 

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