Made a decision today regarding my electrical design. I am using 400W of Solar and 2 6V 232AH Golf cart batteries along with a 50A converter to charge when plugged in or on generator and an inverter for house AC when boondocking. My 4.3 CF Fridge will run off 110VAC house power and I was going to just have a 1500W Inverter to run everything, but now I think I am going to buy a 300W True Sine Wave inverter for just the fridge and 1000W True sign for everything else. This way I can leave the fridge running 24/7 when camping on the batteries regardless of what else I am doing with the generator or etc.. Also, the fridge is important and I need a backup if the fridge inverter fails. I can always run it off the 1000W inverter with everything else as backup.
Additionally, the standby power and etc. is much lower on the 300W inverter, and that is what will be running when the fridge needs it. The fridge compressor typically only runs 15 minutes or so every hour on a hot day.With This set up, I do not need to leave the larger inverter on when not needed. Another thing I noticed is that the price per watt is real close whether I buy a larger one or two separate ones that equal the same wattage as the larger inverter.
I received my 40A MPPT Solar Charge Controller today. It will handle the 400W and I can expand 100W to 500W total if I decide I want to add another 100W Cell. We'll see if it is needed. I am more likely to need additional battery capacity if anything given we have a lot of sun in Florida and I will use very little power during the day.
Here's a pic of the controller setting on top of the solar panels in my living room. I'll start the build in two weeks. This weekend is my last trip in my old CT Build before it goes on Craigslist. :-) I'll need the cask from it to finish this one off nicely.
