confused on inside power source !

[magicman]

Ive been part time for 2 years (6 months ) each year , but spread out.  Want to eventually go full time, have a Chevy Express extended van with bed , fridge, stove, etc. Problem has been maintaining Jackery 500 with 100 watt portable solar. I cant seem to keep it juiced enough because of fridge. Recomendations for more efficient electric cooler and the type of battery to also juice the jackery. Should i now go to a marine type. On a budget.  Thanks in advance.

 

[jonyjoe303]

my recommendation is get a bigger panel. Last year I had a similar problem of trying to keep my 220ah lifepo4 (powering a fridge) charged with a 240 watt panel. I couldnt do it in the summer while powering the fridge and running my swampcooler. At first I tried to upgrade my batterybank by adding another 312 ah of lithium to just run the fridge.
But now I had 2 batterybanks (total over 500ah of lithium) and the 240 watt panel couldnt keep both batteries charged especially in winter, by november they where both limping along at less then 10 percent for weeks at a time.
I was going to buy a generator to just try and top off the batteries every once in a while but I had no room for it, I finally decided to buy another larger panel 365 watts. 2 weeks after I bought the panel both battery banks were at 100 percent, this was in the december timeframe, where the sun was still low on the horizon.
I have one of the smaller astrovans and the panel easily fitted on the roof, on your extended van it should easily fit, you can probably fit one of the 400+ watt panels.
Getting another battery won't help, it will only be another battery that the 100 watt panel won't be able to charge especially in winter. My fridge set to 27f uses about 30 ah in the summer, during winter it uses about 20ah.
A 365 watt panel (laying flat on the roof) maxes out at about 15 amps in winter, in summer it maxes out at 27 amps. Thats enough to keep any battery topped off.
Without the 365 watt panel, I would have needed a generator or find somewhere to plug-in to charge my batteries. I don't drive enough time for the alternator to be an option. After a year of use, the 365 watt panel has kept both battery banks at 100 percent, I havent had any more low battery situations.
I bought my panel off craiglist for 250 dollars, you can sometimes find good deals. Right now I see 380 watt panels going for 230 dollars. The only drawback is then you need a bigger mppt controller, but those are in the 130 dollar range.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

Ive been part time for 2 years (6 months ) each year , but spread out.  Want to eventually go full time, have a Chevy Express extended van with bed , fridge, stove, etc. Problem has been maintaining Jackery 500 with 100 watt portable solar. I cant seem to keep it juiced enough because of fridge. Recomendations for more efficient electric cooler and the type of battery to also juice the jackery. Should i now go to a marine type. On a budget.  Thanks in advance.

I need to know more about your system to give you answers.  Is the fridge DC or AC?  How much more solar can the Jackery accept?  Can you charge off the alternator?  How are you deploying the solar panels?

 

[Ikigai]

Another battery will only delay running out of power if you don't increase the charging ability. I currently have 200 amp hr batteries and 175 Watt panel which don't keep up with my 73 qt ARB fridge. Especially when it's hot out. Are you able to add a solar panel to the jackery? Or if you plan to drive a lot, charge while driving. Of course a smaller or more efficient fridge would work too. You could also have a DIY solar system, but I didn't find it to be very budget friendly (at least in the short term). Good luck.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

Jonyjoe and Ikigai are both right.  Another battery isn't your answer.  Batteries just hold power, they don't create power.  You need more power coming in, a more efficient fridge wouldn't hurt either.

 

[DLTooley]

The first question is what sort of fridge do you have now? You want a 12v compressor fridge and definitely not the thermoelectric type. I would put a priority on the solar panel. The big 24v 60/72 cell panels are great, but expensive to ship. A lot of people use SanTan solar in Phoenix, picking up directly over the winter. I don't know the max power on that Jackery. They say you can overpanel by about 30% on watts which helps with lower light production, never go over the voltage.

At some point you will want to upgrade your battery. LiFePo4 has become competitive, but the market is still new. Ask again on that one when you are ready. The cheaper 12v fridges seem to be ok at least for the mid-term. I had one that I thought conked out last winter and bought another - later I double checked the busted one and it had started working again. It had bounced around on the roof for awhile and presumably shaked loose some dirt out of the compressor. Now I have two cheap 12v fridges.

 

[ldsreliance]

You have a power generation problem. Don't worry, almost everyone that attempts to live off of solar experiences these growing pains.

I have extensively tested and reviewed numerous solar panels, including the portable, semi-flexible ones that are popular on this forum, and you will NEVER, EVER get 100W out of them. As you probably know, they are rated under perfect test lab conditions. In the real world, if you get 80-85W out of it you are doing excellent. And, to keep generating at least 60-70W, you would have to be moving the panel to track the sun at least once per hour of the day.

You need about 8 hours to fully charge that Jackery in real world conditions, which is not possible in a single day for most areas of the country except in the middle of summer. And, again, that would be with you manually moving the solar panels throughout the day to track the sun and maintain at least 60-70W.

Bottom line is you need at least one more solar panel to even think about keeping up with mobile device charging and a small refrigerator. An air conditioner, heater, cooking appliances, and other uses are out of the question for you at this point.

 

[maki2]

I have a 150 watt panel, a 160ah AGB Lifeline true deepp cycle marine battery. I have an mppt controller.
My fridge is a 17 liter older Engel that I bought used. It was rebranded as a Norcold when it was imported into the USA.

Not sure why jackery types of batteries are so popular but I suspect it is primarily a fear of doing electrical wiring. Plus advertising telling you that you open a box and all your electrical needs will magically be met by an undersized battery which trickle charges over many hours of time and sounds much more powerful than it is.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

Not sure why jackery types of batteries are so popular but I suspect it is primarily a fear of doing electrical wiring. Plus advertising telling you that you open a box and all your electrical needs will magically be met by an undersized battery which trickle charges over many hours of time and sounds much more powerful than it is.

If the main website was up I would say you should check outage dollar articles.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

If the main website was up I would say you should check solar power articles. Maybe Youtube. There's a lot going on here. Amps, volts, charge control, electrical wiring, circuit protection.

 

[Cammalu]

I wish JiminDenver would write a comprehensive article on why you shouldn’t buy a jackery or any other so called “solar generator”. We could refer people to it every-time this comes up. You pay wayyy more for your power and if one thing goes wrong with it you have to ditch the whole thing. I don’t know much at all about solar but have gleaned this from the experts. Jim has been installing solar for years and years and used to do the seminars at the rtrs.

I think Bob made a video about them somewhere also. I understand you need much more panel power that your battery will hold or you will kill that battery.

In any event you will need a panel. Santan solar has them for $50 up to 250 watts. They are good.

 

[abnorm]

^ BUT San Tan panels are "usually" Too Big for the power generators

 

[Scorpion Regent]

I wish JiminDenver would write a comprehensive article on why you shouldn’t buy a jackery or any other so called “solar generator”. We could refer people to it every-time this comes up. You pay wayyy more for your power and if one thing goes wrong with it you have to ditch the whole thing.

You're right.  If you are going to be dependent on solar power indefinitely off the shelf "solar generators" probably aren't what you really need.  They are good as a auxiliary system to do secondary things: lighting, charging phones, laptops, tablets, cameras and other electronics.  “Solar generators”  are kind of "the solar system for dummy's", basic, simple, safe, and limited.  Understanding how solar systems work takes a bit of learning, but it's worth it.  If you really understand what you are doing the system you build yourself is going to be well designed, so you know how works and what to do if it doesn't.

 

[gizmotron]

Here is an example of planning ahead. I wanted to be able to tilt my four 100 watt panels in the kit I purchased. So I'm mounting the extra long rails for the tilt bases to the roof all end to end tight, like in a long continuous row on each side of the top of the van. I'll still have to cut the solar panel mount portions to a shorter length to match the 100 watt panel's width. But my rails with holes will be permanently located for newer longer mounts for bigger panels in the future. So I now have 400 watts that can tilt. But I could change them out for three 200 watt panels some time in the future and still use the existing van mounted rails already in place.

I recommend getting a system that you can upgrade modularly.