Determing my solar power needs/ split from: Keeping warm in sub-freezing weather, using only a tiny amount of fuel for heat.

[Debrajoy54]

All this stuff is so confusing to me. I'm just trying to figure out what I need to turn my 2003 Honda Odyssey minivan into a little camper to full time in. When I did this before I had a big camper van, much easier lol I did mean how much the unit costs thank you for answering. From what I've read about them they are really nice. I live in southern California so I don't have to worry too much about the cold I only need some a little in the evening and a little in the morning after that I'm good. But trying to figure out how much solar I need and do I need one of those little daiquiri , I meant Jackery things or do I need a lithium battery or what the wattage, voltage and all that stuff it's just crazy to me! The harder I try to learn about it the lesser I know, so I think I'm just going to, I don't really know at this point but eventually I will figure it out thank you again for your answers sweetie!

 

[afblangley]

From what I've read about them they are really nice. I live in southern California so I don't have to worry too much about the cold I only need some a little in the evening and a little in the morning after that I'm good. But trying to figure out how much solar I need and do I need one of those little daiquiri , I meant Jackery things or do I need a lithium battery or what the wattage, voltage and all that stuff it's just crazy to me! The harder I try to learn about it the lesser I know, so I think I'm just going to, I don't really know at this point but eventually I will figure it out thank you again for your answers sweetie!

I live in south Florida, so heating wasn't at the top of my list. But 8 months later, I feel differently. It is now winter in most places, and traveling out of state requires a heat source. A diesel heater is safe, produces dry heat, is cheap to operate, and fairly inexpensive to install if you have skills (or know someone who does). Getting a diesel heater installed is now at the top of my list.

There is no good reason to build out an electrical system unless you doing a sophisticated build with high power draw fixtures like air conditioning or hot water heating. There are advantages to power stations beyond expediency and the simplicity of being an all in one unit, including its portability, warranty, and multipurpose use. I do not have solar and so far haven't missed it. Most of the time, the driving around I do is enough to keep the power station charged up. Vanners who boondock for a week at a time in the same location, will probably have a different opinion about the usefulness of solar.

Sizing a power station doesn't have to be complicated. Get one with an inverter large enough to handle your biggest fixture. It will have a corresponding battery that is likely to be sufficient to power all your other fixtures for several days. I bought one that could handle my 1100W microwave, it has a 1300Ah battery. The biggest (and only continuous) draw is my fridge. If I needed more capacity, I would not buy a bigger unit, I would buy a duplicate. It only weighs 30 lbs, and I find great utility in being able to easily yank it out and use it outside the van or charge it quickly via AC while on the road (ie. at a gym, restaurant, rest area).

 

[Editha]

I used to be super-befuddled by solar and energy calculations..."saving energy" meant adjusting a thermostat, right? Living off-grid and learning to understand what my power needs were taught me a lot.

For me, the easiest way to calculate how much energy you need is:

1. Look at the appliance you want to run. It will typically say "2000w" or "24w" or something like that.
2. Think about how many hours a day you want to use that appliance or device.
3.Multiply the hours you think you'll want to use the device by its wattage.
You now know how much electricity in watts you need in 24 hours for that device.
4. Add up all your totals...laptop, lights, hob, etc.
5. This number is how many watts you can expect to use in a (typical) 24 hour period. This also gives you a number to work with when shopping for solutions.

As an example, I know I will use about 2000 watts of power in a typical day. My Delta Pro is a 3600w battery/inverter combination. Even taking into account some fluctuations in my usage, I know I will be safely under its limits.

If you're not sure of the wattage, you may be able to get volts and amps from the machine somewhere. Just multiply: Volts x Amps = Watts.

If you're really unsure, a Kill-o-Watt ($25-30?) is very handy for understanding how much a particular device uses in terms of wattage and other measurements.

This is the simplest way I know to get a rough electricity-usage number - I hope it helps.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Good explanation except once you have multiplied the watts consumed times the hours in use, then the result is no longer expressed in watts, the result is in watt-hours (or kilowatt-hours, kwh).

(It is common to see it expressed as watts per hour or watts/hour and these are both provably wrong even when you see it on the youtube!)

For example:

An electric device using 200 watts, operated for 2 hours, is 400 watt-hours of consumed power. ( 2 hours times 200 = 400)

If you are powering this load with a 1200 w-h (100ah) battery, it would operate for about 3 hours, approximately. (1200 divided by 400 = 3 hours)

An electric space heater might be rated at 1500 watts. If it was operated for 2 hours, this would result in 3000 watt-hours or 3 kwhs.

Once you make this correction, all the rest of the math is very easy.

 

[thebarefootbadger]

All this stuff is so confusing to me. I'm just trying to figure out what I need to turn my 2003 Honda Odyssey minivan into a little camper to full time in. When I did this before I had a big camper van, much easier lol I did mean how much the unit costs thank you for answering. From what I've read about them they are really nice. I live in southern California so I don't have to worry too much about the cold I only need some a little in the evening and a little in the morning after that I'm good. But trying to figure out how much solar I need and do I need one of those little daiquiri , I meant Jackery things or do I need a lithium battery or what the wattage, voltage and all that stuff it's just crazy to me! The harder I try to learn about it the lesser I know, so I think I'm just going to, I don't really know at this point but eventually I will figure it out thank you again for your answers sweetie!

Lots of good advice here. I will just say that a Jackery or Bluetti is basically paying A Lot per watt for the convenience of having the whole set-up in one portable device - a place for the power input, a battery, a charge controller and an inverter. They don't actually provide that much power, and they're a lot more expensive than doing a DIY setup. Their plusses are the portability and the plug-n-play element of it all, they're cute, neat and compact with no calculating or wiring needed, but setting up a cheap system with twice as much power for half as much money really isn't that difficult, it is literally just those four elements.

 

[maki2]

The portable all in one units are a great space saver in minivan and car living situations. Something that many people forget to mention when talking about them. Space saving is a truly high priority when living in a small vehicle.

A lot of such setups in smaller vehicles are being done using a no-build build meaning without installing any cabinets that can contain batteries, controllers, wires, fuses, switches etc. Without a cabinet to contain all those individual components it can create a very cluttered looking living environment and that is another thing people forget to mention when talking about decision making to use them or not.

I do not have one as I had the space and the ability to build cabinets and also do my own wiring. But there are times when I would still like having one as an auxillary setup to keep in my tow vehicle or use under the shade tree in a popup screen room.

 

[VanFan]

Maki makes a good point about portability. I have used my old school AGM power pack to run the 12 volt shower pump and to power a fan to keep mosquitos at bay.

 

[Taj]

All this stuff is so confusing to me. I'm just trying to figure out what I need to turn my 2003 Honda Odyssey minivan into a little camper to full time in. When I did this before I had a big camper van, much easier lol I did mean how much the unit costs thank you for answering. From what I've read about them they are really nice. I live in southern California so I don't have to worry too much about the cold I only need some a little in the evening and a little in the morning after that I'm good. But trying to figure out how much solar I need and do I need one of those little daiquiri , I meant Jackery things or do I need a lithium battery or what the wattage, voltage and all that stuff it's just crazy to me! The harder I try to learn about it the lesser I know, so I think I'm just going to, I don't really know at this point but eventually I will figure it out thank you again for your answers sweetie!

I had a dodge caravan that at the time was perfect, but I had a friend install a 1000 watt inverter, hooked to a marine battery, that was then hooked into my alternator with a stinger to keep it from harming my car battery on startup and it was excellent, I powered everything without one bit of trouble, it was enough to run my laptop and charge my phone, or use my slow cooker… now I have a promaster high top and will get solar put into that because I don’t want to run it off my engine simply because of the wiring setup.
My portable power banks have both solar charging and plug in charging, but their smaller and the solar panel will fit on my dash board.heating in sub degree temps is more interesting now because of that difference, with a built in power source you will rarely have to worry about heating cause, electric blankets at travel America stops sell them that are designed for truckers… and cooling off minivans work great, and as long as you have a separate storage battery you will always have power.

 

[Happy Camper]

ower all your other fixtures for several days. I bought one that could handle my 1100W microwave, it has a 1300Ah battery.

I just wanted to point out that your power station has a 1300wh battery, not 1300ah. The battery inside would be around 100ah.

I would hate for you to find that out at the wrong time. I am glad it's working well for you though

 

[Debrajoy54]

I live in south Florida, so heating wasn't at the top of my list. But 8 months later, I feel differently. It is now winter in most places, and traveling out of state requires a heat source. A diesel heater is safe, produces dry heat, is cheap to operate, and fairly inexpensive to install if you have skills (or know someone who does). Getting a diesel heater installed is now at the top of my list.

There is no good reason to build out an electrical system unless you doing a sophisticated build with high power draw fixtures like air conditioning or hot water heating. There are advantages to power stations beyond expediency and the simplicity of being an all in one unit, including its portability, warranty, and multipurpose use. I do not have solar and so far haven't missed it. Most of the time, the driving around I do is enough to keep the power station charged up. Vanners who boondock for a week at a time in the same location, will probably have a different opinion about the usefulness of solar.

Sizing a power station doesn't have to be complicated. Get one with an inverter large enough to handle your biggest fixture. It will have a corresponding battery that is likely to be sufficient to power all your other fixtures for several days. I bought one that could handle my 1100W microwave, it has a 1300Ah battery. The biggest (and only continuous) draw is my fridge. If I needed more capacity, I would not buy a bigger unit, I would buy a duplicate. It only weighs 30 lbs, and I find great utility in being able to easily yank it out and use it outside the van or charge it quickly via AC while on the road (ie. at a gym, restaurant, rest area).

Well, here I am again in February of 2023! I just bought a 14 ft aristocrat low liner. Since I don't really travel it will suit me much better because I am able to stand up in it. It is pretty much empty. I'm not looking to get a solar panel yet. I do have friends That would allow me access to their AC. So charging it would not be much of a problem and I also have a couple of small bricks that I can charge my phone and tablet off of. I plan on getting one induction burner $1,500 w and I don't need a large refrigerator, I don't cook! I've watched all kinds of videos and looked at all the models of these solar batteries or generators. And of course just like last year, I'm a bit confused. The one thing that I got out of watching all the videos was that most people regretted not getting something larger.
Thanks for any direction you can give me

 

[Debrajoy54]

Well, here I am again in February of 2023! I just bought a 14 ft aristocrat low liner. Since I don't really travel it will suit me much better because I am able to stand up in it. It is pretty much empty. I'm not looking to get a solar panel yet. I do have friends That would allow me access to their AC. So charging it would not be much of a problem and I also have a couple of small bricks that I can charge my phone and tablet off of. I plan on getting one induction burner $1,500 w and I don't need a large refrigerator, I don't cook! I've watched all kinds of videos and looked at all the models of these solar batteries or generators. And of course just like last year, I'm a bit confused. The one thing that I got out of watching all the videos was that most people regretted not getting something larger.
Thanks for any direction you can give me

I forgot to add that I live in Oceanside California!

 

[afblangley]

Congratulations on your new rig! Post some pics so we can see your baby…

My original post was written a year ago, and my setup has changed a bit. My electrical needs increased. I grew tired of taking my power station out of the vehicle to charge it. So I upgraded to a EcoFlow Delta Pro*. I also connected an inverter to my vehicle’s starter battery so that I could charge the Pro rapidly (800W/hr) while driving. I can also charge it rapidly (3000W/hr) by plugging it into an EV charging station. It is continuously trickle charging at ~85W/hr via the cigarette port whenever the engine is running. I still have no yearning for solar.

I determined the size of my system based on my desire to be able to last at least 3 days under heavy use, without charging. This is the longest amount of time that I would normally ever go without driving (and thus charging). For me, this meant continuously powering a fridge, running a diesel heater 8-10 hours per day, 10 minutes microwave use, 20 minutes of hot water creation. The Pro has a 3600Whr battery and my total usage rarely exceeds 1000W per day. The anxiety over choosing the right size power station has lessened nowadays, with the advent of the ability to add external batteries.

Induction cooktops require a large inverter, which means having at least a medium size power station. It will by default be larger than your anticipated needs. Sufficient to charge electronic devices multiple times and a cooler style fridge for several days. You may find a fridge is nice even if you don't cook. Having readily available cold beverages always on hand is quite the luxury (much of the time my fridge only contains bottles of water/juice/pop). I use my microwave much more than my induction cooktop (reheating restaurant leftovers is preferable to my culinary creations).

In my opinion, Ecoflow makes the best power stations. The newer models have LiFePO4 chemistry, super fast (and user controlled) charging speeds, X Boost, and need no external charging brick. The mid sized model is the Delta 2. There are many reviews of it on YouTube. If you’re willing to forgo induction cooktop capability, the Bluetti EB3A is a great small power station. If modularity is important, Bluetti's external batteries have standalone utility, EcoFlow’s external batteries are useless when not connected to a power station.

 

[Debrajoy54]

Thank you for your reply! I can certainly do without an induction, and I have decided that I should have some kind of decent refrigerator. Miracle whip, a tub of land o lakes real butter and iced coffee takes up a lot of space Gracie needs a bit of work!