Question How much does solar help you?

[Werner VonGlampington]

We're planning stages right now but like to be prepared for expenses and down time.
Looking at mostly park stays but want to be able to be comfortable without overnight genny running travelling or boondocking if possible.

 

[AbdRahim]

Depends on how much solar you get and your battery bank. I just switched to Li batteries have not gotten to solar yet. with a sizable battery bank, I drop about 1% per hour or so. Gen set to come on at 30%. That is just with refrigerator and phantom draws. If A/C needed, that is another story. With a sizable Li battery bank and enough panels you can be totally off grid.

Depends on how much you are willing to spend. Btw battery switch increased my insurance by $300/ yr, but I've got the power.

 

[Diesel Pusher]

When we were still working, most of our motorhome vacation time was plugged in at the destination RV park. Our only dry camping was 2 or 3 nights on the road to and from our primary destination so 400ah of FLA batteries and 400 watts of solar served us well. Fast forward to retirement and no longer slaves to the clock, I changed the 4 FLA batteries to 4 LiFePO4 and added another 1200 watts of solar for 1600 watts total. We can only use AC off-grid with the generator and the only other limitation is our holding tanks which gives us about 15 days off-grid. The most we've used is about 30% of our 400ah of lithium capacity daily to power 12v compressor fridge, 12v basment freezer, TV, salelite radio, ham radio, Keurig coffee maker, all the lights we might need, recharge phones, laptops and have the house batteries fully recharged by noon the next day. If I do it over again with a new MH, I would only go with 600 - 800 watts of solar for 400ah of LiFePO4 batteries and be fully recharged by 3 o'clock instead of noon.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

The must haves, the weather in your camping area have a lot to do with it.
I don't do A/C but have a fridge and chest freezer. I have 200ah 24volt battery pack. 1500w of solar and don't use a generator. On a good solar day I cook mid day with electric.

For someone that watches solar output, like myself, it helps! By nature of the beast, a DP would only be helped by solar of the same 1500 watts.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Btw battery switch increased my insurance by $300/ yr, but I've got the power.

Thats interesting. It makes you wonder what a Tesla insurance cost is.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Thats interesting. It makes you wonder what a Tesla insurance cost is.

The fad is almost over!

 

[B52Bombardier1]

Small solar and small battery capacity allow me to power the control boards for my propane refrigerator and to run the blower fan for my propane heater. I converted all lighting to LED which also preserves stored battery power. And finally, I can pump stored water at the toilet, sinks and shower.

But air conditioning?? No way.

Rick

 

[AbdRahim]

Thats interesting. It makes you wonder what a Tesla insurance cost is.

Expensive upgrade 6% of what I paid for MH.

 

[Rollin Ollen]

We're planning stages right now but like to be prepared for expenses and down time.
Looking at mostly park stays but want to be able to be comfortable without overnight genny running travelling or boondocking if possible.

We have two potable solar panels (about 400 wattz) that charge our two deep cycle wet cell RV Batteries. They allow us to run the propane fridge and use 12 V power liberally throughout the day and evening (during full sun), I cannot use the microwave or A/C (we use the genset for these items sparingly) but keeps everything running including our two laptops. By the time the sun rises in the AM we are usually down to about 12.6 volts but normally by 10 AM we are back to 13.1. We have not spent a lot on our solar but it works for us.

Darrell

 

[House Husband]

We manage to spend the winter off grid with 860 watts of solar and 4 6 volt golf cart batteries. I don't see a reason to make the expensive change over to Li. We have the laptop and satellite TV on most of the day. Refrigerator is absorption, on propane. Still a little chilly at nights in the desert. We warm the foot of the bed with a 12 volt electric blanket, before turning in.

Richard