Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

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Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby jshearne09 » Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:27 pm

Hi,
So I just joined here and Im starting to plan out my first TD build. After consulting with my wife, the appliances and electrical components that we wish to incorporate into the design are:
minifridge
stove top
some kind of oven
ac unit
outlets for tv and charging laptop
LED lighting
usb outlets (for charging)
etc.

I think that covers it up. I was thinking about just going with all electrical components and not using propane; and instead going with a 12V power supply and a decent size solar panel.

How heavy of a load would this be on the circuit? Would the solar panel provide enough power to keep the battery charged If I were out in the middle of no where?

I have also heard different things about EMF and dirty electricity. I tried doing searches on here and its the same as everywhere else on the internet...everyone disagrees. Whats are opinions on this? I've read that most of the EMF or dirty electricity come from the invertor rather than the solar panel. But is there still enough EMF or dirty electricity coming from the solar panel to worry about? This is mainly a concern for putting a bunk in the tear drop for a future toddler and that bunk would probably be right under the section of the roof with the solar panel.
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby jss06 » Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:37 pm

You will not be able to mount enough solar cells or battery storage In a typicall small trailer to run even one of the high current draw alliances (ac, stove, oven). You can run a refrigerator if you buy one of the small 12v RV units. Just for the AC you would need at least 1000 watts of solar for a small unit. That is roughly 5 to 6 full size panels you would mount on your house.

To run solar you need to keep all of your loads (lights, fan, fridge, etc) dc voltage. Using an inverter is not efficient and wastes even more energy.
The stove would be better power by propane or white gas unless you plan on running a generator anytime you use them.
For AC plan on a generator or shore power.
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby Graniterich » Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:42 pm

I don't think that is possible due to the quantity of batteries you would need. How you can calculate as like this. Let's say you are using a hair dryer that uses 1200 watts ,in one hour you have consumed 10amps (1200watt/12 volt). If you had a 100 watt panel more than an hour. If you scale up with oven and stove top with ac and refrigerator, you will have a pretty big load. Maybe gas for cooking....
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby MtnDon » Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:55 pm

You can not easily nor inexpensively cook with electricity from solely solar. Ditto for the A?C unit, unless you go with a split mini and a good size battery bank. Maybe stepping into the realm of using LFP batteries instead of the typical lead acid deep cycle batteries. You still need an extraordinary array of PV to do that. A TD most likely does not have enough surface area.

That's why RV's of all shapes and sizes use propane for cooking.
Our 6x12 deep vee nose cargo trailer camper conversion... viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58336

We have a small off grid cabin we built ourselves in the NM mountains; small PV solar system; 624 watts PV, Outback CC & inverter/charger ... http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.0
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby H.A. » Wed Nov 18, 2015 3:14 pm

.....
Last edited by H.A. on Mon Mar 28, 2016 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby tony.latham » Wed Nov 18, 2015 7:35 pm

jshearne09 wrote:Hi,
So I just joined here and Im starting to plan out my first TD build. After consulting with my wife, the appliances and electrical components that we wish to incorporate into the design are:
minifridge
stove top
some kind of oven
ac unit
outlets for tv and charging laptop
LED lighting
usb outlets (for charging)
etc.

I think that covers it up. I was thinking about just going with all electrical components and not using propane; and instead going with a 12V power supply and a decent size solar panel.

How heavy of a load would this be on the circuit? Would the solar panel provide enough power to keep the battery charged If I were out in the middle of no where?

I have also heard different things about EMF and dirty electricity. I tried doing searches on here and its the same as everywhere else on the internet...everyone disagrees. Whats are opinions on this? I've read that most of the EMF or dirty electricity come from the invertor rather than the solar panel. But is there still enough EMF or dirty electricity coming from the solar panel to worry about? This is mainly a concern for putting a bunk in the tear drop for a future toddler and that bunk would probably be right under the section of the roof with the solar panel.


I think it'd look something like this:

Image
Image

But I suspect that even the full off-grid folks cook with gas. :thinking:

Tony
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby Shadow Catcher » Wed Nov 18, 2015 8:09 pm

We have a 185W high voltage panel feeding into an MPPT controller and a 150AH AGM Lifeline battery. This feeds a Waeco refrigerator LED lights chargers for laptop, cell phone...
What we do not do is use 12V for anything using resistance heat including coffee maker, cooking... A french press makes coffee and cooking on the stove top or grill. I even substituted computer case fans in place of a Fantastic Fan because they use less current. You can do a lot but you have to shift how you do it. The only way to do AC is with a generator.
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby MtnDon » Wed Nov 18, 2015 9:25 pm

tony.latham wrote:
jshearne09 wrote:Hi,


But I suspect that even the full off-grid folks cook with gas. :thinking:

Tony



The only people I know who have both an array of PV panels and cook with electricity are a couple who are grid tied. The grid is there big battery to allow cooking electrically. The true off-gridders I know, including our cabin, all cook with propane.
Our 6x12 deep vee nose cargo trailer camper conversion... viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58336

We have a small off grid cabin we built ourselves in the NM mountains; small PV solar system; 624 watts PV, Outback CC & inverter/charger ... http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.0
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby noseoil » Thu Nov 19, 2015 7:51 am

To see your energy needs, work backwards from each appliance you will be using. Just add the watts from each one in a summation of total power, then see what the demand is. Look up the specs from each appliance online, make a list, total it up & add a bit more for loss (15%-20%). I think you may find that the above pictures are correct.

Most likely you will end up with solar, a generator & propane in some sort of mix. Cook with gas, lights with 12 volt & AC with the generator running. The amount of power you are talking about is in kilowatts. Current solar panels are putting out about 13 watts per square foot when everything is working properly. 1,000 watts of generating capacity would be about 77 square feet, or about 7' x 10' of collector area on the roof. The weight would be about 300# for this amount of panel.... :thinking:
Build log: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=60248
The time you spend planning is more important than the time you spend building.........

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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby jss06 » Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:57 am

This will give you a visual idea of the amount of area you are looking at for PV panels. This is my 5x9.5 ft trailer with a single 195 watt panel installed. I use it to run LED lights, fan, recharge electronics, recharge battery and a 12v refrigerator.

Image

It over hangs each side of the trailer by about 1.5 inches. That is less than 200 watts. I have very little room to mount another panel anywhere else on my trailer. The other areas are broken up by the hatch and vent fan on the roof. The front slope is too narrow vertically for a large panel
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby bdosborn » Fri Nov 20, 2015 7:25 pm

I have 480 watts and I still use gas for cooking, diesel for heat and shore power for A/C:

Image

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All it takes is a speck of faith and a few kilowatts of sweat and grace.
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Re: Solar Panel effectiveness and EMF

Postby rowerwet » Wed Nov 25, 2015 11:08 am

Add a layer of tin foil to the roof to keep that dirty EMF away, or just wear tin foil hats...
(Sorry couldn't resist)
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