Solar Power

[Esteban]

At the SLO Gathering I met John, from nearby Los Osos, who had a solar collector on the roof of his teardrop. It was big enough, about 60-80 watts to to keep his battery charged for extended camping. His example raised my curiosity about using a solar collector to recharge the battery in a teardrop. Are there any other owners of teardrops with solar collectors, who can share how they did it, and how well they work?

I've read that the price of thin film solar collectors is expected to drop considerably in the next year or two. I may pre-wire the teardrop I'm building so one could be added in the future.

[ARKPAT]

Steve I have submitted a post for Solar information and ask for it to be added as a sticky so people can add to it. I hope this will help other interested in solar. thanks





Pat

[sdtripper2]

Pat:

Under this thread that is a sticky in the electrical section, you will find your thread and much more information related to Solar power.

[ARKPAT]

Thanks Steve I had failed to see the thread.


One of them senior moments.




Pat

[Airspeed]

I bought 4 WV chargers off Ebay, removed the inline limiter/diode and wired them all together and mounted them on a tripod. I bought a solar controller off Ebay and hook them into the tear with a 1/4 plug in connector
it puts out 20 watts at 18 volts and keeps my battery charged very well.
On my last trip I ran my XM radio all day, My grand daughter watched a couple movies every night on my TV/DVD, ran lights all night,water pump, fan. Pretty much used tons of juice and after 4 days the battery was still fully charged. I think this setup would keep me in electricity full time as long as there is sun. I think the entire setup cost me less than $100. I have a very small Honda generator that I rebuilt and haven't had to use it once. Here's a pic of what I have, Aaron