jimindenver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2014
- Messages
- 5,266
- Reaction score
- 51
Hi I am new here and honestly only use the trailer in the summer months. I have enjoyed putting together inexpensive portable solar set ups with panels I find of craigslist for as little as $50 each. There are the larger 24v panels that I mate with 20a solar cables and a 20a MPPT controller and the 245w mono panels are good for 17a each at 12v.
I started out with a 230w poly panel first paired with a 25 ft set of 10 gauge cables and a Eco-worthy 20a MPPT controller. The whole set up cost under $200 due to the low cost of the panel and the controller being the least expensive functioning MPPT controller available. Left flat it provided more than we needed for basic trailer functions plus some TV/DVD/Sat. It gets cool at 10000 ft and freezing at night, so our biggest draw was setting the stat at 74 degrees and leaving it there.
Tracking is another story. I could aim at the rising sun and have the battery in float by 9 am. After that I could turn on the furnace, all of the LED lights, both fans and the TV but the battery would stay in float. never losing voltage. The panel was providing enough to run the trailer on it's own.
That was neat so I bought a pair of 245w Mono panels for $85 each and created two portables. One can go one the trailers battery and the other on a old 8-D I use as a inverter bank. Combined and tracking they put out 34a on one bank and I used them to offset larger loads on the inverter. We run a auto drip coffee maker, a hair dryer, vacuum and even a 1375w microwave this way. The voltage sags but not like it would without the solar. On a sunny day it takes 10 minutes running the microwave to sag the 8-Ds voltage to 12v. Afterwards the recovery to float is 20-30 minutes.
Since the solar has done so well and we don't camp in the monsoon season, we leave our generator home. That meant that for the one trip mid summer when we could need the air conditioning, it wasn't available. So I found a window air conditioner that uses less than 400w and combined all three of our portables for 720w/ 50a with a 3000w inverter on the 8-D. As long as the sun shines, the panels will run the air conditioner without draining the battery. Luckily at that altitude if the sun isn't shining, you don't need air conditioning.
I had intended to mount the 245w monos but hated their output in anything but intense light. So I am in the process of selling off the portables for a matching set of polys to mount. I may still keep a portable as the ability to aim the panel is addicting.
As for the rest of it, we exclusively boondock at altitude in the Rockies. We tried having hook ups once but couldn't stand being crammed into a noisy, smelly campground. We tried a dry campground and people ran their generators day and night. Where we go we don't have neighbors for miles. We see no one, hear no one and never have to worry about them seeing or hearing us either. We usually go for up to a few weeks at a time, by then we need water and food.
I started out with a 230w poly panel first paired with a 25 ft set of 10 gauge cables and a Eco-worthy 20a MPPT controller. The whole set up cost under $200 due to the low cost of the panel and the controller being the least expensive functioning MPPT controller available. Left flat it provided more than we needed for basic trailer functions plus some TV/DVD/Sat. It gets cool at 10000 ft and freezing at night, so our biggest draw was setting the stat at 74 degrees and leaving it there.
Tracking is another story. I could aim at the rising sun and have the battery in float by 9 am. After that I could turn on the furnace, all of the LED lights, both fans and the TV but the battery would stay in float. never losing voltage. The panel was providing enough to run the trailer on it's own.
That was neat so I bought a pair of 245w Mono panels for $85 each and created two portables. One can go one the trailers battery and the other on a old 8-D I use as a inverter bank. Combined and tracking they put out 34a on one bank and I used them to offset larger loads on the inverter. We run a auto drip coffee maker, a hair dryer, vacuum and even a 1375w microwave this way. The voltage sags but not like it would without the solar. On a sunny day it takes 10 minutes running the microwave to sag the 8-Ds voltage to 12v. Afterwards the recovery to float is 20-30 minutes.
Since the solar has done so well and we don't camp in the monsoon season, we leave our generator home. That meant that for the one trip mid summer when we could need the air conditioning, it wasn't available. So I found a window air conditioner that uses less than 400w and combined all three of our portables for 720w/ 50a with a 3000w inverter on the 8-D. As long as the sun shines, the panels will run the air conditioner without draining the battery. Luckily at that altitude if the sun isn't shining, you don't need air conditioning.
I had intended to mount the 245w monos but hated their output in anything but intense light. So I am in the process of selling off the portables for a matching set of polys to mount. I may still keep a portable as the ability to aim the panel is addicting.
As for the rest of it, we exclusively boondock at altitude in the Rockies. We tried having hook ups once but couldn't stand being crammed into a noisy, smelly campground. We tried a dry campground and people ran their generators day and night. Where we go we don't have neighbors for miles. We see no one, hear no one and never have to worry about them seeing or hearing us either. We usually go for up to a few weeks at a time, by then we need water and food.
