Hi all, Today my solar system replaced all the energy I used in the last 24 hours. It ran: coffee pot (one pot) boiled an egg ran twin cooling fans for the fridge chimney (thermostatically controlled) ran the indicator light that shows the fridge chimney fans are turned on ran a fantastic fan roof vent for 10 hours on low cooked a pork chop in a George Foreman Grill cooked a wiener in the grill ran an led light for 2 hours ran the gas valve in the fridge and the interior light when door was opened recharged and ran my laptop for six hours recharged and ran my cell phone (using it as a hot spot) for six hours serviced the trik-l-start circuit for the chassis battery powered the inverter (1/2 amp) for six hours powered the idiot light on the charge wizard powered the display on the hall effect ammeter I'm well pleased with these results.
QUOTE(pianotuna @ May 13 2013, 08:51 PM) [snapback]33394[/snapback] Hi all, Today my solar system replaced all the energy I used in the last 24 hours. I'm well pleased with these results. I am seriously looking into solar right now. Up until a few weeks ago I was able to keep my coach plugged in so the fridge etc was always on and we could hit the road at the drop of a hat. Not so now. I discovered the the fridge will not run on LP alone. It must have power too. My coach batteries will not last a week as there are too many things that run in the back ground all of the time. All I need is something that will run the fridge, monitor system, a CO2 sniffer and what ever else I can't unplug or shut off. My biggest fear is drilling holes in the roof to mount the solar panels. It is a one piece fibreglass. Is there anything that I need to watch out for? Darrell
Hi, My roof is rubber. I simply used lots of dicor. For fiberglass drilling holes might be better than directly screwing in. Here is a simple flow chart. Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT. Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems! Solar Spread Sheet N8GS
QUOTE(pianotuna @ May 13 2013, 11:51 PM) [snapback]33394[/snapback] ... boiled an egg ... What electric was used for this? Running the exhaust fan over the stove top? Just curious - post sounds great.
The water heating and coffee making can easily be handled by propane. We use a Maleta coffee system and heat up right amount of water on the propane stove. Boiling an egg would be similar. Do you have AGM batteries?
Not on our RV but wanted to post that we recently had solar panels installed on our house (we leased them) and they are cranking away. I can sit at my desk at work and watch their production. When we camp, we always like to be in the shade so even if we had an RV that could handle them, they probably wouldn't do us much good unfortunately. It is very interesting to me to hear they even have them for RVs. I did not know about that. Thanks for posting about it.
Hi, I used a 120 volt hot plate. QUOTE(HappiestCamper @ May 14 2013, 06:50 AM) [snapback]33401[/snapback] What electric was used for this? Running the exhaust fan over the stove top? Just curious - post sounds great. Hi Lindsay, I have 7 flooded batteries. I can see no reason to use propane when I can use the sun for free. QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ May 14 2013, 09:38 AM) [snapback]33405[/snapback] The water heating and coffee making can easily be handled by propane. We use a Maleta coffee system and heat up right amount of water on the propane stove. Boiling an egg would be similar. Do you have AGM batteries?
QUOTE(pianotuna @ May 16 2013, 02:02 AM) [snapback]33449[/snapback] I have 7 flooded batteries. I can see no reason to use propane when I can use the sun for free. Got a friend who has such a set up and he loves it. The sum energy is free, but the cost of the system isn't .
Hi RLM, My cost for solar was $5.50 a watt for parts plus installation, four years ago. Total installed cost was $2300.00 In twelve years of rving I've only stayed in about 60 paid rv parks. In the past I used my rv for 50 nights per year. Even if I say I stayed in 60 in four years, I have 140 nights @ $xx.xx of savings. On the other side of the ledger I've paid $3000.00 for generators. All of them have migrated to generator heaven (or hell). Total hours of run time were well under 300 hours. The cost figure does not include fuel and maintenance fees. I think the costs are at least another $1000.00. I don't count the inverter nor batteries as I would have had both, but even if I do I've paid less for my solar system than for generators. My goal was to be able to run a 540 watt block heater for 3 hours at -40, without destroying the battery bank. There is no place that has powered storage here. In the past I drove a long ways nearly every day, so much of the "heavy lifting" on charging could be done with the alternator--but due to selling the house I'm in a semi-full time situation and the RV might only be driven for 16 kilometers (10 miles) a day. In the first 48 hours I drove 1.6 kilometers (One mile). On both days the solar system fully recharged the battery banks. The only generator I'd consider buying is the Yamaha 3000 seb. It would cost more or less the same as my solar system did four years ago, not counting running costs. I have no place to store it. Costs for solar are now under $2.00 per watt for parts. It is a "no brainer" to go solar at that price, unless there is free power where the RV is stored. My system costs would be about $1300.00 today, including installation. On day 3 I drove about 300 kilometers (180 miles)--and ran the water heater and fridge on 120 volt power from the inverter/solar/battery bank/alternator. QUOTE(RLM @ May 16 2013, 05:57 AM) [snapback]33450[/snapback] Got a friend who has such a set up and he loves it. The sum energy is free, but the cost of the system isn't .
