My solar strategy when on metered power

[Rich W.]

Since we are at our current location long term (only one month but a record in one place for us) we are on metered power for the first time. Since we have pretty good solar, I’m trying to maximize the “free” power and minimize the metered power.

So what I’ve concluded is that I should have shore power off as much as possible (obviously) and wait to turn on it on for laundry or whatever until I’m in Float on the batteries. That way I won’t be paying to charge the battery bank which is the biggest draw right now.

If I were in a climate where I needed/wanted AC, things would be different since this system won’t support an air conditioner, unlike previous versions. For heat (which I also don’t need here) I’d just use the Oasis, but the climate here this time of year requites no heat or AC.

So that’s my strategy - seems to be working to keep that meter from spinning any more than necessary. I haven’t check to see what they charge here, but I’m guessing it isn’t cheap. What is a common long term park cost per kWh? What do you do?

Right now I’m still bulk charging from solar:

 

[LMHS]

I haven’t check to see what they charge here, but I’m guessing it isn’t cheap. What is a common long term park cost per kWh?

Parks aren't allowed to resell power for a profit. That would make them a utility company. So it's whatever the going rate is. The catch is if they are being charged "business" rates or "residential" rates. Residential rates tend to be lower.

I currently pay $0.11 cents per KWH. My last bill (DEC) was $64.68 for 588KWH. The NOV bill was $43.67 for 397KWH. The big difference was the electric space heater running more because the skinny greyhound was "freezing" in bed. Even with a sweater on.

If you ask at the park office, they have to tell you what the rate is for electricity. How much you use is up to you.

 

[Rich W.]

I’ll ask next time I’m talking to them - I have a few other questions anyway. We are on Southern California Edison here which appears to be a whole .02 cheaper than PG&E at home.

 

[Neal]

When I was at Palm Creek for an extended stay where you are billed for power I too figured I'd use my solar. I set my ME-ARC50 to use shore power based on TIME so that for example at 9 AM I switched to solar and it went back to shore power at 5 PM. In the end, it wasn't worth it so I stopped the nonsense and just enjoyed the shore power without worry.

 

[Rich W.]

I don’t mess with it at home because I have solar there, so when I’m plugged in its still solar. But here I want the solar energy dividend so I’m just turning off the breaker at the pedestal in the morning and turning it on at night if needed. Typically I can easily get throught the night and then start charging again in the morning but tonight for instance I’m doing laundry so I’ll turn it on for a while. But your point is well taken - I saved about .87 today. Wow!

 

[Neal]

If you have the Magnum ME-ARC50 (not the RC50) you can set shore power to power the inverter circuit based on various parameters one of which is TIME as I described. Also by doing this it does not affect your NON-INVERTER items such as AC, Washer/Dryer, induction cooktop (if you have one) etc. Solar is on your INVERTER setup i.e. it's charging your house batteries, your house batteries power the inverter and hence inverter circuit. Your above items are not on this circuit so you can still be on the SOLAR demand for the inverter side and still use your washer/dryer etc.

Make sense?

 

[Neal]

You also need a BMK in the above scenario, if you don't have one.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DG5SSH8/?tag=rvf01-20

 

[Rich W.]

If you have the Magnum ME-ARC50 (not the RC50) you can set shore power to power the inverter circuit based on various parameters one of which is TIME as I described. Also by doing this it does not affect your NON-INVERTER items such as AC, Washer/Dryer, induction cooktop (if you have one) etc. Solar is on your INVERTER setup i.e. it's charging your house batteries, your house batteries power the inverter and hence inverter circuit. Your above items are not on this circuit so you can still be on the SOLAR demand for the inverter side and still use your washer/dryer etc.

Make sense?

Yeah it does. I have the RC-50 btw. My only apreciable draw on shore power right now, other than the big appliances, would be charging the batteries if I turned on power at the pedestal while in bulk, so I’ve been trying to avoid that, only turning on shore power when actually needed (washer, dryer, etc) AND not in bulk charging. Trying to make the solar earn its keep since its really just an auxiliary battery charger but does the job without spinning the meter.

But after @LMHS pointed out that they can’t jack up the cost per kWh, and you made the point that it wasn’t really worth the effort, I’ve sort of re-thought the whole thing. Just stay plugged in, don’t worry about it, and concentrate on important things like finding good bourbon out here.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

In our travels we have paid between $0.09 and $0.14 per kWh

 

[templeton]

Just stay plugged in, don’t worry about it, and concentrate on important things like finding good bourbon out here.

I agree that it's really not worth it.

It doesn't seem to happen as often lately, but years ago there would be posts by people who said they slashed their electric bills by using solar when hooked up to shore power. That never made sense because I was a pretty early adopter of solar (1,050 watts in 2006), and I've kept extensive records and I'd generally get like 4 kwh/day out of them on an average day. At 15¢/kwh, that would be 60¢ a day, and that's only if you're actually using all of the solar production, which isn't a certainty.

Invariably, it would turn out they'd also switched their water heater to gas, and maybe even their refrigerator, which is an enormous electricity hog. But they wouldn't report how much extra they were paying for propane to run them. It would drive me bats.

To "use" our excess solar when boondocking, the resident electrical engineer moved the water heater to the inverter circuit and installed a solid state relay that, once the batteries are in float mode, turns the water heater on and off hundreds of times a second, which makes it run without taking the batteries out of float.

I extended that to when we were hooked up to shore power and paying for electricity. I'd flip the inverter/charger breaker inside during the day and make hot water using the solar, so we really were gobbling what the solar was producing.

But at 15¢/kwh, even that's not going to be that much, so I haven't done it in a long time.

 

[Rich W.]

My findings as well but I do regret not reading the meter when I got there. First time on metered power after more than 100k miles of rv’ing. From now on I’ll read the meter and take a picture before connecting. $112 for the electricity usage “since the last meter reading” and about $45 for various utility company fees which I find questionable, but whatever. A lot less than at home so there’s that.