booyah wrote:John61CT wrote:Note the only downside to a higher capacity bank is weight / space taken.
Not really. Cost, and panels to charge go up with capacity. A 15w panel wont maintain a a 2xGC2 battery bank, but 200w of panels will run it nicely. The bigger the bank the bigger the panel load to charge/maintain it.
Absolute poppycock.
Just having a larger bank need not imply **anything at all** about the Ah per day required!
As I very clearly stated it is the balancing of average daily inputs with the energy you consume that is critical.
And at this point those numbers are unknown.
As also made clear, I'm not even talking thinking solar yet, may not be needed at all, buying panels now might be throwing money away!
Higher Ah capacity bank plus a cheap coulometer (or quality BM) enables OP to get a pretty accurate **actual measured** Ah per day energy budget, maybe without leaving the driveway, so the rest of the system is properly sized.
And gives a **longer buffer** so maybe shore power is all the input needed, or that plus alt charging depending on the driving vs camping usage pattern.
And to be able to get past a few cloudy days if it turns out solar is needed.
And if you end up cycling shallower, that just accrues to a longer bank lifespan, possibly a decade or more.
And finally (again) starting off with the lead GCs gets you that capacity **much** cheaper per Ah per year compared to an LI bank, like 80-90% cheaper.