Solar ?

[avalen]

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Why, that mention of a gallon of water in the sun reminded me I have this to bring with us...



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we had one of those at our cabin, it held 5 gallons of water and heated up by the sun on the deck, we did the temperature check one time
and it was 120 degrees, ouch, so we had to hang it down in the shade for a little while to cool down. Have a picture somewhere where
we were all getting hairwashes over the deck.

[sunfun]

An excellent point for using propane Snowball, yet I wonder if using solar and wind with batteries can provide reliable power for some campers that don't want to rely on propane fuels.

I can support panels with a frame (do it yourself) and as far as the power requirements goes, I feel like years of research into solar learning leaves me with a few uncertainties nonetheless. It appears that a 1000 watts system ought to cover my needs, yet I am not sure. I don't mind conserving on hot water heater or other items if needed, as long as food storage* stays good. The fridge and freezer (one chest freezer requires .50 kw each 24 hour period, and one chest freezer to fridge conversion .80kw) seem to take 1300 watts total daily. That is running 24 hours.

Therefore the fridge and freezer ought to run on solar during day (6 hours) and run off wind and batteries at night (18 hours). With wind production being an unknown factor to me, I can plan to count on the batteries for reliable night time use. So my query is how much battery amps supports 18 hours of fridge and freezer use?

Can anyone confirm this calculation? 1300 watts / 24 hours = 54 watts per hour I need to support x 18 hours of night time use = 975 watts. Also, I must allow for no sun days and battery charging which I can add in next but first are my calculations correct?

Can anyone agree on this calculation for battery power needed? If 975 watts is the overnight load to be supported by battery, and freezer and fridge use 120 volts, than watts=volts x amps 975= 120 x 8.125 amp, so is 8 amphours the battery power needed to run fridge and freezer overnight for 18 hours? If this calculation is correct, I can add in my other loads to figure out how much battery bank is needed. I just need to know if the theoretical battery amount is estimatedly correctly here.

And if I need 8 amp hour from batteries each night, do I need to double that so I don't use more than 50% of the batteries?

*This food storage system refers to chest freezer and chest freezer conversion to fridge. Both very economical food storage systems for boondcking for seasons at a time.
GE 8 cubic foot chest freezer $400 uses 292 kwh yearly. that is .80 watts in 24 hours each day. The conversion of one chest freezer to a fridge provides economical fridge at less energy use of regular fridge.

[mitch5252]

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I've been using this a lot lately...

http://www.supercircuits.com/resources/tools/volts-watts-amps-converter


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[mitch5252]

GE 8 cubic foot chest freezer $400 uses 292 kwh yearly. that is .80 watts in 24 hours each day. The conversion of one chest freezer to a fridge provides economical fridge at less energy use of regular fridge.

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What am I missing? A KILOwatt is 1,000 watts. So wouldn't your calc be 800 watts in a day? Therefore, 67 amps per day?

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[BirdbyBird]

I suppose I should be busy doing the math here but the frig sips so little propane I think I will pass and step up and buy the propane. It seems to last forever as long as you aren't trying to run the furnace and heating water. The solar water heater sure would reduce the need for that.....

[JoanE]

I suppose I should be busy doing the math here but the frig sips so little propane I think I will pass and step up and buy the propane. It seems to last forever as long as you aren't trying to run the furnace and heating water. The solar water heater sure would reduce the need for that.....

My propane lasts forever! I have gone to the propane dealer to fill up thinking my gauge must not be working, and I get hit for a minimum charge since I hardly need any.

[Bethers]

I wouldn't pull the power to run my fridge on my solar ... silly to do so. Will continue to run it on propane. Remember, when the sun goes down you need to have your batteries charged. And everything you run while you have sun will be pulling them down. Turning them off after the sun goes down is too late - your batteries are already partially drained, and you'll have to be even more careful at night. Your batteries will not be able to run too much at night unless you have a bunch of them and a 1000 watts of solar isn't a lot - plenty for most needs, but you aren't talking what most use them for.

[mitch5252]

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For those of you looking into solar, I haven't checked out this site in detail, but their prices seem quite reasonable.

http://www.solarblvd.com/Solar-Panels-&-Systems-12-Volt-Solar-Kits/c1_272/index.html

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[JoanE]

One issue not addressed in this thread (I don't think so anyway) is air conditioning. You do not run your ac off batteries, so you still need your genie, shore power or cooler weather. Correct?

[Bethers]

One issue not addressed in this thread (I don't think so anyway) is air conditioning. You do not run your ac off batteries, so you still need your genie, shore power or cooler weather. Correct?

Yes.

[snowball]

One issue not addressed in this thread (I don't think so anyway) is air conditioning. You do not run your ac off batteries, so you still need your genie, shore power or cooler weather. Correct?

Yes.

And you need to make sure that the genie is large enough to run the A/C ours isn't large enough to run the living room a/c and were always going to get a smaller one for the bedroom...never did probably won't unless I start traveling to hotter climes
sheila

[JudyJB]

Would solar really power my TV? What about the satellite dish and box for my TV, or would I only be able to use antenna TV? Does the size of the TV make a difference in terms of power? My front TV is a 30".

I had not thought of getting solar because I thought it would not power much, but I guess that is wrong. I manage to power everything with batteries that I really want except my TV and maybe a couple of minutes here and there with the microwave.

[mitch5252]

I'm definitely planning to have the 100W solar panel power the tv and directv box. I just recently learned that the set top boxes use a LOT of power, so you'd want to power it down when not using it. Wish I still had the article.

Te power consumption on ur tv is on the back of the unit. If I wasn't being lazy, I'd go look at my box.

[Bethers]

The batteries would power the tv - using the inverter. The solar would keep the batteries charged, so the more you want it to handle, the more batteries you need, and the more solar power you need.

[mitch5252]

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I just went and looked at a tv/Directv receiver combo in the guest room.

TV = 1.60A (192W @ 120V) (30" diagonal flat panel)

Receiver = .50A (70W @ 120V)

So, a little over 2A to watch satellite tv for an hour.

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