Looking to price together a solar setup for my 2006 Sienna. Have some questions.

[jrose152]

Not sure how many watts I will need buy(I've read 200-300w) I am looking to fas charget an android cellphone, charge an iphone, a laptop, some led lights, my nikon d90 charger, nitecore charger for 18650 batteries, some small fans for air circulation, maybe some other misc small items I can't think of now, and a dometic fridge. I'd like to have 3 days of electric for cloudy/rainy days. Obviously all these items won't be running at once or sometimes a few at once but these are the items off the top of my head I can think of I will need.
I know I'll need some panels for the roof. I think I want to go with the flex panels so I can 3m tape them to the roof for stealth and still have my roof rack if needed here and there, although I'm not entirely against using the roof rack to mount non flex panels. I just figured this will hurt stealth. Can you provide my links for some solar panels that would work for me?
Also I need some links for a charge controller and some batteries although I'm not sure how many batteries I would need. I think I will stay DC to keep things simple and won't need to deal with an inverter(Maybe I should go AC?). I know if I go AC I would need a Pure Sine inverter for the laptop.
Not much of an idea of where to start but here starts my research journey. Any suggestions or ideas would be helpful as well.

 

[Weight]

I recommend getting as many solar panels that you can fit to your roof. There have been some bad experiences with the flexible panels. Renogy has an excellent reputation and has competitive pricing. They often have sales. Their 100 watt panels are well tested. They now have more efficient panels available. Find them on Amazon or direct from Renogy. There are other manufactures that have good reputations. I would stay away from flexible panels.

 

[Trebor English]

Which Dometic fridge do you want?  Is there a specific model or size you have in mind?  There is a difference between a tiny 12 volt fridge and a big 2 zone freezer/fridge.

 

[jrose152]

I recommend getting as many solar panels that you can fit to your roof. There have been some bad experiences with the flexible panels. Renogy has an excellent reputation and has competitive pricing. They often have sales. Their 100 watt panels are well tested. They now have more efficient panels available. Find them on Amazon or direct from Renogy. There are other manufactures that have good reputations. I would stay away from flexible panels.

I'm learning flex is not the way to go. I wanted it for stealth but I think I'm going to give up on that idea and just mount it to my roof rack. Looks like a Renogy 300w panel would fit just fine with some home made brackets. My question is how big of a watt panel do I actually need for my assumed use I posted. Is 200w good for me or should I go 200w?

 

[jrose152]

Which Dometic fridge do you want?  Is there a specific model or size you have in mind?  There is a difference between a tiny 12 volt fridge and a big 2 zone freezer/fridge.

I'm not sold on any yet but something from CDF11 to CDF25 looks about right. The fridge would be coming later so I just want to account for it when buying the solar setup.

 

[Theiznezz]

Pack the roof with as many panels as possible. Even if you don't need all the power it will keep your batteries charged more which will extend their life.

A general rule is to match amp hours with watts. So each 100w of solar you want a 100ah battery. Its ok to have a little more watts v ah. I have 500w solar and 400 ah on the batteries.

I have an engel sr70 fridge. Its a small cube dorm like fridge. It pulls 2.5 ampps when running. It barely puts a dent in my power supply

 

[Trebor English]

I'm not sold on any yet but something from CDF11 to CDF25 looks about right. The fridge would be coming later so I just want to account for it when buying the solar setup.

Those are tiny fridges.  

The CDF11 manual pdf file says that it uses 30 watts.  That one piece doesn't tell you what you need to know.  The watt hours (or amp hours) per day depends on the actual compressor run time which will depend on the ambient temperature and internal temperature.  

If you get one 100 watt panel with one 100 amp hour battery it is my opinion that it is likely to keep the tiniest cdf11 dometic going with 2 days of no solar.  Those little fridges should be 15 to 20 amp hours per day with the ambient temperature in the 90 to 95 degree range and internal set above freezing not deep freeze.  

The laptop and the 18650 batteries are unknown.  Is it a high powered laptop?  How many 18650 batteries are you charging?  If you get 200 watts and 200 amp hours of battery I think the tiny fridge and all your other stuff will likely be happy even with 3 days of rain.

 

[jrose152]

Pack the roof with as many panels as possible. Even if you don't need all the power it will keep your batteries charged more which will extend their life.

A general rule is to match amp hours with watts. So each 100w of solar you want a 100ah battery. Its ok to have a little more watts v ah. I have 500w solar and 400 ah on the batteries.

I have an engel sr70 fridge. Its a small cube dorm like fridge. It pulls 2.5 ampps when running. It barely puts a dent in my power supply

This is good information about w vs ah. Thank you.

 

[jrose152]

Those are tiny fridges.  

The CDF11 manual pdf file says that it uses 30 watts.  That one piece doesn't tell you what you need to know.  The watt hours (or amp hours) per day depends on the actual compressor run time which will depend on the ambient temperature and internal temperature.  

If you get one 100 watt panel with one 100 amp hour battery it is my opinion that it is likely to keep the tiniest cdf11 dometic going with 2 days of no solar.  Those little fridges should be 15 to 20 amp hours per day with the ambient temperature in the 90 to 95 degree range and internal set above freezing not deep freeze.  

The laptop and the 18650 batteries are unknown.  Is it a high powered laptop?  How many 18650 batteries are you charging?  If you get 200 watts and 200 amp hours of battery I think the tiny fridge and all your other stuff will likely be happy even with 3 days of rain.

The laptop is just a regular laptop, not a gaming one or anything. The 18650 would be a daily charge for my vape. I usually charge it through my vape overnight with usb but that's very slow so I think going back to a dedicated charger is the move.

Yes from what I've read 200w-300w is what you want if you are looking to have a fridge. Just not sure exactly which side of that spectrum I land closer to. This is a weekend warrior I won't fulltime in, but that being said. I have been known to take week long to month long trips.

 

[Trebor English]

Yes from what I've read 200w-300w is what you want if you are looking to have a fridge. Just not sure exactly which side of that spectrum I land closer to. This is a weekend warrior I won't fulltime in, but that being said. I have been known to take week long to month long trips.

I think you land closer to 100 to 200 than to 300.  The fridge is the tiny size.  100 would work but 200 makes it so you'll have all you want for all the other stuff.

 

[highdesertranger]

the 1 to 1 ratio(solar watts to battery Ah) is considered the minimum for ideal conditions. since ideal conditions are rarely encountered in the real world it's much better to go with more solar. 2 to1 or more is better. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

As much solar as fits.

Flex more expensive, doesn't last as long - you really need stealth?

Get everything running with an old cheap 12V batt, then when you're in poorer than average conditions (cloudy northern area) swap in a pair of Duracell (actually Deka/East Penn) FLA 6V deep cycle golf cart batteries, around $200 per 200+AH from BatteriesPlus or Sam's Club.

Get them to 100% Full on shore power and see if they last 2-3 days without getting much below 50% SoC.

If not, get a second pair pretty quickly so all the batts in the bank match.

 

[frater secessus]

Not sure how many watts I will need buy(I've read 200-300w) I am looking to fas charget an android cellphone, charge an iphone, a laptop, some led lights, my nikon d90 charger, nitecore charger for 18650 batteries, some small fans for air circulation, maybe some other misc small items I can't think of now, and a dometic fridge. I'd like to have 3 days of electric for cloudy/rainy days.

As John alluded, it is hard to have too much solar if one has the funds for it.
Some questions about your use:
How often will the Sienna be driven?  If you will be running errands every couple of days (especially mornings) you could add alternator charging to the solar.  The isolators used to do this are cheap for the amount of current they can dump into a discharged battery.

This could make augment useful solar into great solar, or bring iffy solar up to useful.  
 
Does the van have a roof rack?  If so, you could likely mount one big residential panel flush with the rack bars.  It would be cheaper per watt than flex, and would also provide underside ventilation to cool the panel. 

What geographical area will you be in?

 

[jrose152]

As much solar as fits.

Flex more expensive, doesn't last as long - you really need stealth?

Get everything running with an old cheap 12V batt, then when you're in poorer than average conditions (cloudy northern area) swap in a pair of Duracell (actually Deka/East Penn) FLA 6V deep cycle golf cart batteries, around $200 per 200+AH from BatteriesPlus or Sam's Club.

Get them to 100% Full on shore power and see if they last 2-3 days without getting much below 50% SoC.

If not, get a second pair pretty quickly so all the batts in the bank match.

Well if I understand correctly 300w will work for me and that's what fits, unless 200w is a better choice for my use. As far as batteries, if I can get 400AH for 400$, then that sounds good to me.

 

[jrose152]

As John alluded, it is hard to have too much solar if one has the funds for it.
Some questions about your use:
How often will the Sienna be driven?  If you will be running errands every couple of days (especially mornings) you could add alternator charging to the solar.  The isolators used to do this are cheap for the amount of current they can dump into a discharged battery.

This could make augment useful solar into great solar, or bring iffy solar up to useful.  
 
Does the van have a roof rack?  If so, you could likely mount one big residential panel flush with the rack bars.  It would be cheaper per watt than flex, and would also provide underside ventilation to cool the panel. 

What geographical area will you be in?

I drive pretty often but I'm not sure if an isolater alone will handle everything I need it to or how long it would take to drive to charge up the batteries vs how long it would take solar to charge up my batteries. I like the idea of solar because even when the car is off it is charging. Maybe I can get away with an isolator and I'm just not aware of it. I currently reside in New Jersey but like to take road trips and camping trips, plus I travel for work a lot. I have a roof rack and a Renogy 300W will fit on my roof rack perfectly. It's actually like an inch short on each side so it can fit level with the rack if I made brackets vs sitting it directly on top. This sounds a lot cleaner to me. I'm going to skip the flex panels after everything I've heard.

 

[Mrcap]

You might fit 3 100w panels on your Sienna. I have 500w on the roof and 300ah of batteries. Batteries charge fast and still get full charge on cloudy days.

If you had 3 100w panels and 200ah of batteries (off hand) based on what you described as your usage you will be just about right.

Much of your usage will be during the day when you will have excess solar coming in that won’t count against your battery charge.

Below is a link to a Renogy kit that might be close to your needs. 2 100ah AGMs will run you around $340 delivered unless you want to go high end. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/191515941172

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-new-300-watt-12-volt-solar-premium-kit/

Good luck with your planning and adventure.


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[jrose152]

You might fit 3 100w panels on your Sienna. I have 500w on the roof and 300ah of batteries. Batteries charge fast and still get full charge on cloudy days.

If you had 3 100w panels and 200ah of batteries (off hand) based on what you described as your usage you will be just about right.

Much of your usage will be during the day when you will have excess solar coming in that won’t count against your battery charge.

Below is a link to a Renogy kit that might be close to your needs. 2 100ah AGMs will run you around $340 delivered unless you want to go high end.  https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/191515941172

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-new-300-watt-12-volt-solar-premium-kit/

Good luck with your planning and adventure.


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So I just realized I can't order 1 single 300w panel from Renogy. You have to order 2 at a time. This sort of ruins the idea of having one 300w panel. I guess my only option is to try and fit multiple panels. That's unfortunate because the 300w panel fit perfectly on my rack/roof. If three 100w panels are bigger then a single 300w panel then I don't think they will fit up there.

 

[Mrcap]

3 100s in a row will probably fit or you can can buy the components separate and use a 300w panel if the fit is better. A simple google search will show you many options for 300w panels that you can buy individually.


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[John61CT]

Assuming the alt output is good (V) and strong (A), 3-4 hours drive will get the bank to say 90%, even just 1 hour at high rpm will pump in quite a bit if the bank's depleted

Driving is best done in the morning, so solar can finish, you want to get to true 100% Full SoC a few times a week for bank longevity.

Total production will be much lower when stationary, especially in cloudy weather or high latitudes you'll need to watch your usage, not let the bank get much below 50%.

Depending on temp differential the fridge alone can use 40+ AH per day.

A small genny gives added flexibility if needed.

 

[frater secessus]

I drive pretty often but I'm not sure if an isolater alone will handle everything I need it to or how long it would take to drive to charge up the batteries vs how long it would take solar to charge up my batteries. I like the idea of solar because even when the car is off it is charging.

I am suggesting isolator + solar.  It can be a less expensive and more capable setup.