Cross country without electricity

[jstrubberg]

Camping in the Midwest, forget it. Unless you like being stuck to your sheets, I guess.

But that's not really what I was getting at. You can spend (tell me if this isn't a reasonable amount) $600-$1000 for a solar setup and inverter and top off if you have good light...

or

you can run the TV for twenty to thirty minutes while you are fixing lunch.

That's why I can't justify solar. If I owned a cabin off the grid, sure. Solar would be great. In a trailer hooked to a vehicle that can produce electricity for me at 1/100th the cost? I just can't see it.

[Lgboro]

Unless you try to buy from the highest price retailer you can find you will not spend $600 to $1000 for a solar setup for a teardrop. I bought my equipment ahead and paid a little over $300 and could easily set up the same 80 watt system with a good controller (Morningstar) slightly cheaper and including a battery today as most items except the battery can be bought cheaper. An in the mix have a solar charger that is easy on battery instead of slowly sucking the life out of my battery charging from the car battery. Just depends on what you want.

[bdosborn]

Camping in the Midwest, forget it. Unless you like being stuck to your sheets, I guess.

But your not going to run your A/C off your car anyways so that's a moot point.

But that's not really what I was getting at. You can spend (tell me if this isn't a reasonable amount) $600-$1000 for a solar setup and inverter and top off if you have good light...

or

you can run the TV for twenty to thirty minutes while you are fixing lunch.

Whether a solar panel makes sense all depends on your electrical usage and camping style rather than a blanket statement of when it's appropriate. That's how I knew you didn't have a solar panel or you wouldn't have reduced it to a black and white scenario. I just bought a 100 watt solar panel for $162 delivered to my door. A controller is another $40. With that panel I can harvest about 30 amp-hrs of energy a day. How many amp-hrs do you use in a night? Your 30 minute idle just generated about 5 amp-hrs tops, which might be perfect for you. However, I use 30 amp-hrs in a single night so there's no way I'm going to idle my engine the several hours it would tale to charge my batteries back up. How much gas do you use during that time and how often do you camp? You have to look at all the numbers with solar. And BTW, a lot of people don't like idling vehicles in the campgrounds, especially diesels like we have. OTOH nobody has complained about our solar panels.

That's why I can't justify solar. If I owned a cabin off the grid, sure. Solar would be great. In a trailer hooked to a vehicle that can produce electricity for me at 1/100th the cost? I just can't see it.

You might want do some more research again. It sounds like you looked at solar 3-5 years ago. PV prices have come down a lot in the last 4 years. I paid $5.47/watt for a panel 4 years ago. The last panel was $1.62/watt.

Bruce

[8ball_99]

My trailer is a converted cargo trailer.. For 2 80 watt panels. Cables, and a nice charge controller that could handle 5 80 watt panels I paid 480 shipped.. I would think my setup would be way overkill for most teardrops. I do not count my two onboard batteries or my inverter because I would have those with or with out solar.. I would also agree that running the tow vehicle for 30 mins is not going to do much.. In fact I'd bet money your tow vehicle would never bring your battery on your trailer up to full charge regardless how long you let it idle.. It comes down to voltage. That charge wire from you tow vehicle is probably not pushing a high enough voltage to fully charge your battery.. Sure it might not matter if you have more battery then you need.. But only charging your battery to 80-90% makes a huge difference in reserve power you have. Any decent solar charger will do a much better job of charging the battery. They put out the proper voltage and even have temp sensors that adjust the voltage by the temp of the battery.. Since I installed my solar I've removed the fuse between my battery and my converter. Because the solar charger does a better job then built in 3 stage charger in the converter.. So even with shore power I dont use it to charge the batteries..

Not trying to convince you.. Just saying you might want to read up on the subject cause I don't think you have all the information.

[jstrubberg]

Whether a solar panel makes sense all depends on your electrical usage and camping style rather than a blanket statement of when it's appropriate. That's how I knew you didn't have a solar panel or you wouldn't have reduced it to a black and white scenario. I just bought a 100 watt solar panel for $162 delivered to my door. A controller is another $40. With that panel I can harvest about 30 amp-hrs of energy a day. How many amp-hrs do you use in a night? Your 30 minute idle just generated about 5 amp-hrs tops, which might be perfect for you. However, I use 30 amp-hrs in a single night so there's no way I'm going to idle my engine the several hours it would tale to charge my batteries back up. How much gas do you use during that time and how often do you camp? You have to look at all the numbers with solar. And BTW, a lot of people don't like idling vehicles in the campgrounds, especially diesels like we have. OTOH nobody has complained about our solar panels.

You might want do some more research again. It sounds like you looked at solar 3-5 years ago. PV prices have come down a lot in the last 4 years. I paid $5.47/watt for a panel 4 years ago. The last panel was $1.62/watt.

Bruce

I guess some TVs would only put out 5amps...it really depends on the wiring. If you are using 10ga wire for your charge wire (which is typical of an aftermarket installation), you should see more like 25 amp-hrs at between 13.5 and 15 volts.

I can see the objection to the diesel. They can be pretty obnoxious if you have to stand beside one for any length of time.

As for fuel usage, it's so small it's not worth calculating. I've seen a commuter car idle for more than 8 hrs without using a quarter tank of gas (mother in law got stuck staying overnight at a hotel that didn't allow pets and left her car running so they would have AC.)

Again, if you're boondocking for a week, OK. If you moving your TD around, you have to have the tow vehicle anyway, why carry another charger?

[bdosborn]

I guess some TVs would only put out 5amps...it really depends on the wiring. If you are using 10ga wire for your charge wire (which is typical of an aftermarket installation), you should see more like 25 amp-hrs at between 13.5 and 15 volts.

Have you ever put a amp meter on your charge wire? I have a #6 wire from the battery back of the trailer connector at the hitch and then #10 to the trailer battery.The most I've ever seen is 8 amps on according to the trimetric meter. 25 amps is very optimistic with a #10.

But yeah, if you drive everyday and don' run anything but LED lights then charging from the alternator works. Me, I like options.

Bruce

[astrotrailer]

I have a 5x8 cargo trailer used mostly for astronomy camping in the middle of no where. I hate listening to generators and having to deal with a gas can.
I currently have three 80 watt panels feeding a SunSaver MPPT charge controller to keep a pair of 6 volt 220 amp-hour batteries charged. I stay out for
a week at a time without moving the trailer when doing astronomy. I power a couple of laptops, telescope mount, astronomy imaging cameras, Engel freezer/fridge,
a propane furnace, fantastic fan, personal swamp cooler and 1000 watt inverter for the blender and vacuum cleaner. I never run out of power or worry
about it anymore. I add distilled water about 4 times a year to the batteries and that's all I need to worry about.

I camp mostly in sunny Nevada and California so I get far better solar performance than someone back east. I even camp in the winter with the furnace and
the solar still can keep up. The furnace only draws 2 amps when the blower is on. The Engel keeps my stuff frozen at 2 - 6 degrees in the heat of the summer.
I keep the meat and extra ice frozen and migrate stuff on a day by day basis to a cooler to thaw out so I never need to leave to get more ice.

The 3 panels are wired in series so the panels put out about 48+ volts to the MPPT controller. It can put 15 amp/hour back into the batteries in full sun.
The panels will outlast the trailer which should outlast me. If I was going to do it today, I would buy a 230 watt 24 volt panel to feed the MPPT controller
for less money. I bought the first two panels back in 2008 when things cost more. I added the 3rd panel when I upgraded to the MPPT controller. MPPT
works far better than PWM once you start using the bigger panels. 24 volt panels cost less than the 12 volt versions. The higher voltage results in less
voltage drop between the panels and the controller.

[Shadow Catcher]

One of my goals for Compass Rose was to outfit it for serious boondocking and I took some of my ideas from Bruce (plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery). A couple of things were mistakes that ultimately turned out for the best i.e. a high voltage panel requiring a Morningstar SunSaver.

The way to charge your battery is with jumper cables from the TV. I made mine using 3/0 high flex welding cable good to 200+ amps, but with the Solar we have never been below 70% SOC. I do have a 2300W Kipor generator should we want to camp in the desert or down south and want/need the AC

The plan for next summer is two weeks at Lake Superior Provincial Park and we can be on the beach in the tent area.