This video helped me determine that 200w of solar is enough for my converted camper bus. I put on two 100w panels with a 100/15 victron mppt charger and it's keeping things topped off with 2 max air fans and a chest refrigerator running on sunny days. Thank you
OK SOME SAFETY TIPS: Always use heavy duty DC breakers at the positive battery terminals before the wires go anywhere else. Always use a heavy duty breaker between your inverter and your batteries. Always use a breaker between your solar panel and your solar charge controller.. These breakers should be rated for the max current that will be drawn though those devices.. Keep your cables as short as you can and use the proper size wire that is rated for or even higher than the current that will be drawn through those devices. Check "amperage capacity for wire" charts (online) to determine what gauge wire that is required for your system.. You would be surprised at the number of DYI people who do not know what they are doing and end up with inverter cables heating up like a toaster element. Keep it safe.. do the research, use correct and safe wiring to avoid issues and a possible fire. More importantly, if you don't know what you are doing.. FIND SOMEONE WHO DOES
I'm in Thailand, my truck camper has a 800AH 24v lithium battery and 1200 W solar panels in total, as Thailand is a tropical country so the AC is always turned on, and it can keep working for 12 hours without a generator!
Nobody who’s truly off grid would ever use a generator. When gas will be removed or whatever is not really available or electric you can only use if jibby jabbed u tell me how ur gonna get power? Spit in the wind? 200ah = 70ah useable if that. Imo get solar that can handle running an ac for a few hours or easily run micro for 10-15 min.
I have 200 watts of solar and a 100amp hr agm battery in my built Yukon. I run a refrigerator 7/24 I run a diesel heater for a couple hrs most mornings I charge cell phones ryobi tool battery’s and watch movies for a couple hours every night with the lights on. I also tow a pop up camper and when it’s sunny I plug the camper into the Yukon and it’s lead acid fully charges in a few hours. I never run my batteries below 50 percent. I spend 4 months a year camping out in Arizona, California and Mexico. It is sunny 90 percent of the time and I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to do near that much without daily sunshine. Occasionally if my battery nears 50 percent I start the car. That’s what I do with 200 watts of solar.
Another thing that you saying you don't have enough cuz you have to use a generator something diesel very expensive so I don't know why you have solar panels anyways if you're going to run a diesel generator to make it cost very expensive person I'm looking up for electric generators that you solar panel to charge them I'll just put solar panels on top of the rough and sen they fit I would use 450 watt solar panels and some foldable solar panels for the ground or something.
@@stevenh4970 a diesel heater electric heater put air conditioner I'm not going to go with diesel I'm not going to go gas I'm not going to go with propane I'm not going to go natural gas I'm going to go with electricity and electricity only.
You know you may see something that I don't agree with only by things that are run off electricity because when I bought my house everything was electric and I didn't change a thing and anything I buy will be electric something that solar panels can handle because I have a house that's all electric. So I bought solar panels and and I'll buy anything that works off from solar panels so I will not buy a gas generator electric generator I will not buy a generator that takes any kind of fuel except for electric and and only electric. I don't understand how someone can say going neutral going with nature again making the life green again making cleaner air and turn around and buy a gas or a few run generator that has an exhaust that no longer makes it neutral that no longer makes it green. That just goes with pollution again.
Several friends have $10-$15 k system s. After getting paralysis by analysis I jumped in with a very simple 100w panel + 2- 6volt golf cart batteries. I added a second panel and a small inverter generator for the occasional needs and backup. Added a 400W inverter to charge a laptop . Generator rarely gets used except in Winter and when we have a heavy wooded campsite. iPads,phones and several other items get changed using the usb plugs. I’m all in for just under$1k . Been running like this for 5+ years just fine.
I love it! Glad to hear you have a system that has been working well for you. Those huge systems are sweet but don't make sense for everybody. I definitely couldn't justify spending that much money on a system. Heck, we only paid $12,000 for our whole camper! Thanks for sharing your experience and watching!
I agree with your thinking here. You really don’t need much. My weekender van just has a single 100ah battery and the mission is based on running a 12v cooler for a few days plus lights, acc charging, little propane furnace.
@@ben3989 we usually are out 4-7 days at a time once a month year round. Add a 5-8 week snowbird trip as well. Currently out 6 weeks with 2 to go and only used the generator 3x for about 6 hours total to run the furnace at night & use the microwave..we are in a 30’ trailer so we’re not minimizing.
Great video, also I would HIGHLY recommend adding flush-mount USB-C PD and USB-A ports around your RV, I recently changed my manual-control AC unit to a digital thermostat control (AMAZING upgrade btw) and realized just how many 12v wires are run all over your RV (had to run thermostat wires, power, and ground back to the new thermostat location). These flush-mount USB ports run straight off 12v and are FAR more efficient than using an inverter, plus you can install them anywhere in your RV where there's an existing lighting / accessory wire, which is pretty much everywhere. No need to worry about turning on/off the inverter either, just plug in and go. Next mod will be adding a cigarette lighter port in the slide-out on the U-dinette bench seat so I have easy access to 12v for whatever. The big project will be the entertainment center - I have all my network equipment and camera display / TV decoder there, and honestly they could ALL run on 12v instead of 120 - even the 48v PoE injector for my outdoor wifi unit has a 12v adapter I recently purchased. There are VERY few things you'd need an inverter for with a setup like this.
Reducing demand is easier and less costly than building more supply. Pretty much all lighting is LED today, which consumes 1/10th the power of incandescent. Use 12 VDC appliances and avoid the inefficiency of DC to AC conversion saves a lot. I use a diesel parking heater which I feel consumes less power, and uses cheap diesel fuel instead of more costly propane. Since I camp mostly in the mountains of Colorado it’s cooler weather and I don’t really need AC. Using a MPPT solar charge controller instead of a PWM controller helps get more out of the PVs to the battery. I see people with a roof full of PVs and still running all kinds of inefficient gear. My camper gets by on 100 watts of PV and a 100 ah LiFePo4 battery, no genset. Besides, I like camping and escaping all the tech.
Well said! I appreciate you sharing your real world experience. A lot of people will knock smaller setups when they have never had a solar setup. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Why be concerned with campers running “wasteful” electrical devices on batteries charged by solar? You can be a minimalist but I choose to have lights, DVD movies, fans etc.
@@lawrencewiddis2447 - choose appliances wisely. I usually am boondock camping in the Rockies, high altitude (no AC required), far away from civilization (no radio or TV). So our camper is pretty electrically barebones. Using LED lights cuts back on power consumption over using incandescent, but any new campers are probably LED anyhow. We have a ceiling fan, but usually aren’t needing it. We still charge phones and iPads, which don’t draw a lot. The gist of our camping is to get away from civilization, not to take so much of it with us. I can pretty easily upsize the solar and batteries on the supply side, but keeping things small and lightweight on the demand side makes camping easier for us.
We live in a hilly forest and are experimenting with 200w. Have the Harbor Freight 100w monocrystaline panels. Just upgraded to a MPPT controller from same outfit that made yours. New controller helped! Our fridge is 12v only. Freezer is full and fridge partly. Before controller switch, we got 5 days before we dropped to 11.5V in our 2 marine/RV AGM deep cycle 78Ah batteries. That included two overcast rainy days. Our house blocks late afternoon sun, too. Just got the new wiring. Will try again.
@@ColoradoCamperman After 2 days, my 20Amp HQST MPPT has kept the batteries fully charged at the end of each day. With the PWM Harbor Freight 500w controller, I was losing 0.5 volts per day on average. This is working very well so far. I also went to larger gauge wire and better connectors.
Agreed, we have 240AH of battery and currently only a 100W and that keeps the two TV's, laptops, water pump and heater going no problem. It takes most of the day to catch up and I'll be adding the second 100W panel this year. If it would just quit snowing already :-)
Good to hear from someone with a similar sized solar setup! You will love that extra 100 watt panel! I originally put 100 watts on my In-Law's camper but then we added another 100 watts. One word - GAME CHANGER! It made all the difference in the world. Especially on cloudy days or if they are getting shade from trees. Hopefully it will quit snowing soon and you can get that extra panel up there. Thanks for watching!
I got a 200 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery will it charge properly with only 200 W? I cannot afford the extra 2 panels for 400 watts at the moment but have a 40A mppt controller.
Good setup. I like your short answer. "For Us". Most people don't understand how you ration or don't require as much electricity when you're off grid. We lived 100% off grid for years.
If you want to get more out of your panels is to change to a mppt charge controller. They are more efficient than the pwm controller you have. Good video.
An FYI after 3 plus years my 1 110 watt panels coupled to two 700Ah batteties give me more than enough power including powering my energy efficient 4.1 cf refrigerator/freezer. I can use my toaster oven to bake any sunny afternoon. No worries. It take 2 plus rain days to significntly impact energy drain. It all depends on how important your appliances are to you. Chatge my phones, and other batteries, including my drill & other cordless tool batteries. Including the stereo.
I built a 24' foot cargo camper some years back. Used it for 9 years with 300 watts of solar and two agm batteries. It worked great boon docking and I only needed my generator for ac and microwave just like you mentioned. I don't understand these huge solar systems you see. They still can't keep up with a roof top AC. But they seem way overkill for the other odd and ends. A moderate solar and battery setup paired with a good generator seems like the logical way to go.
THANK YOU!! I agree with everything you said. I don't understand it either and I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one out there that thinks this way. Thanks for the comment and watching!
I noticed that you were using a small inverter to charge your cell phones etc. There is loss in the conversion from AC to DC so you might be better off wiring in a simple 12v USB plug and using that. Easy to do and will definitely be more efficient and save you some power.
That is good to know! We actually have 2-USB plugs on the bottom of our charge controller. We use that every now and again but the charge controller is in a bad spot. I had to mount it where I did so I could plug the wires directly into the converter box. Ideally, I would have hard wired an inverter directly from the charge controller but we did not have space for that. Thanks for the comment and watching!
While this is true on the DC -> AC -> DC conversion loss; you're still having to do DC->DC conversion (12v to 5v to charge USB; and USB-C can go much higher voltage you're either limiting your charge speed or you're boosting DC with potentially more losses) which the circuitry to make this stuff work is often low quality and thus worse than some AC conversions. It's funny if you watch some of the newer power station reviews (jackery/ecoflow/bluetti) often the AC power output is more efficient than DC because of the quality of components that exist. All day long you're correct in theory; especially if like for like voltages; but until you get into the specific equipment used - then it's a gamble as to which is more efficient. With that said if you're only charging phones you're probably right - as the minimum overhead the inverter has is probably pretty high (20-30 watt just to launch the inverter) which your phones wouldn't pull that most likely. But if you're charging a laptop; or simultaneously running anything else where the inverter would be on anyway (ex: watching TV) - it very well may be more efficient to run it on an inverter than straight USB-C depending on the circuitry.
200 amp hours with 200 watt panals will last a few days. Unless your running a 12 volt icechest / freezer. It can run down your battery in a few days. Depending on your usage. I got 375 watts in my panals, two 100 amp AGM batteries. I do fine with this. But in winter conditions. Lithium batters are your best bet.
Sounds like you have a good setup that works for you. 200 watts has worked well for us and we have never not had enough power. Thanks for the comment and watching!
I am not into crunching numbers or precision, just my nature at 75. My theory is that more is better, and if it isn't enough, add more. We have two 150 Ah lithium batteries and taped 2 100w flexible solar panels on the roof. If we are out for 10 days or less, we generally don't have to run our two lightweight 2300 watt generators unless we need AC. If we are out longer, we generally need to run one generator long enough to top off the batteries again. We do have two inverters, a 500 watt to run my CPAP or other items , and an 1800 watt which we rarely use, but have run the microwave and other small appliances with it.
Sounds like you have a good setup there! That is sweet that you are able to run the microwave off the solar if needed. In the future, I would like to get a charge controller that I can hook up an inverter to so we could do something similar. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman I use the inverter directly off the batteries and use a small battery box to protect it from the weather and run an extension cord into the outside storage and thru a hole under the mattress to have 115 v available inside. I have not tried it; however, I believe I could use an adapter and plug the RV plug into the 1800-watt inverter, but I would have to turn off the battery switch to keep the internal charger from trying to charge them. I have seen CZcams videos of people with much larger set ups run their AC from the batteries, but I prefer the generators, which cost far less.
@@vonheise Thank you for sharing your setup! I have seen those videos of people using their RV plug and plugging right into their inverter, it's a cool concept. I love a huge solar array that runs everything, but like you said, generators cost far less. We rarely use our generator, so it doesn't make sense financially to have a huge system.
I made sure to switch all my lights with LED and after that I was comfortable on 100 watts in our RV for all of our spring/summer camping. 200 watts would have made things even easier and helped us ease through a few cloudy winter days.
A quick and dirty way to answer if this is enough, is to divide the panel output in half. If you can get by on 100w a day, then 200w is enough. You'll just have to compensate for weather. If you wanna know if 200 is enough for SUSTAINED use, then divide the output by 4. That gives you 50w of usable power. Assuming your battery is large enough (400ah plus), that should last you a week, even in bad weather
I put a 150 watts solar panel on my van this week. In full sun now summer time,I get 50 watts out of it,my battery pack river pro, runs a small compressor fridge that draws when it runs 65 watt, Battery pack last for only 4 days till it's empty At night the fridge uses 25% of the battery pack
I'm about to set up a vertical wind turbine as my alternative source. I currently just use 130ah lithium in a engel series2 battery box charged by a mppt and 160w solar panel. These also support 4agm deep cycles. I just use that on my boat (8.5m) for 3 or 4 days and then top up the battery box when I get home. I have never gone dark and stayed out for a week (but not running ac or a fridge, just use an ice box and lithium fans) Thanks for your video.
Thank you for sharing! I'd love to know how the wind turbine works out for you. We have considered that if we built a cabin since the mountains are almost always windy. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Ditto on the windmill value. I'm considering one even for RVing. I have seen several people take the time to erect one when they get set up at camp, and figured they must feel it's worth it?
@@svenshanah thanks. I have not yet found a suitable wind generator. I need a good diy as what i have seen so far seems extremely overpriced for what is some pretty basic equipment. I did make an attempt using two bicycle wheels atop each other and vertical plastic sheets curved in between. It kinda worked but there was way to much resistance in the wheel bearings and required a hurricane to turn rapidly. So I abandoned it. However I, like you both are still keen. About $300+ on ebay for the cheapest ones i can find but they don't look up to it. I've seen quite a few on some of the boats near me and they seem to be working very well. Of course there is ample wind on a lake or ocean. Although driving the RV would generate quite a lot.
Depending. I started out 200 watts solar panels. 100x2. With 200AH batteries. Cuz I wasn’t sure then now year later. 100x4 and 300AH batteries. Running monitor and Xbox S no problem. I do have generator. But haven’t use it. Now, I brought trailer so. I’ll be upgrading more especially buying ATV so I can roam around deserts and wilderness whatever out there. Edited: I forgot to mention that I have DC/DC charger. This thing is so great. I do recommend it. As needed I turn it on when I’m driving. If I don’t. I turn it off.
It's only been two years since this video came out and stuff is so much cheaper now. You can get 200 watt panels as low as $129 and 300 watt for $180. Now the LiFePO4 100ah are going for as low as $150. I built a large bank for my RV and my home for a fraction of what it used to be.
I have the Renogy Rover Elite 20 and two of their 100 ah "smart" LiFePo4 batteries. They are one of the few group 24 size and nothing larger would fit under my step. The RV came with a 100 watt panel and like your friend I plan to add another 100 Watts. It's a good system as is, the BIM allows for some charging while driving and we have the built-in generator, but I think another panel will definitely improve the multi day boondocking experience
@@ChrisHolt1 It sounds like you have a great setup! Adding the additional 100 watts would definitely help. My In-Laws had 100 watts on their roof and then I installed an additional 100 watts (200 watts to now). They never have power issues. The have a 200 amp hour AGM battery. Their setup works really well. Good luck with the projects and thanks again for watching!
We have 280watts and 310 ah lithium battery with a 1.5kw sinewave inverter for intermittent loads like microwave/induction hob, toaster eyc - we have a one-item rule - just one thing on at a time - never used a hook up or genny
I had my two batteris strapped in just like yours, went to the store for some supplies was gone maybe 45 minutes, came back and the batteries had been stolen. Be careful out there.
Oh man, I am so sorry to hear that! We are planning on installing a lockable tongue box. I have just struggled to find something that will fix our massive battery. Thanks for watching.
I have that exact same battery in my 21’ travel trailer. I ended up putting mine under the bed in the cargo bay. It works perfect there. Because it’s a gel hybrid battery you can keep them inside. Then I just drilled holes and added grommets to attach to the system. It’s only about 8 inches back further than where you have it. By the way, if anybody wanting to know, I absolutely love this battery and have yet to even have it dip under 90% overnight. It rarely even gets under 98% overnight. really wanted a lithium ion but decided to go a little bit cheaper even though it’s still a very expensive battery and I have not regretted it yet.
No generator but my van has 1,200 watts of solar panels and 900 amp hours of lithium batteries plus a 60 amp dc to dc charger. This keeps the mini split AC/ heater happy
It all depends on what you expect to run off of solar power. If you have a fridge you'll probably want more than 200 W. Having a generator is just a smart plan because solar isn't reliable. You'll need a battery to get you through the night. For me, I select a battery based on needs, and then I get 1/5 of the battery rating in panels.😊
I'm spoiled. I have 2000 watts of solar, 200 is just a tiny tickle for my bank. I've watched charging currents hold consistently well over 90amps, for most of the day till the lithium tops off. Usually before noon. We don't even have a generator, it's literally not needed. Even using electric for all cooking, laundry, whatever. Split phase 220 is RAD! A mppt charge controller would boost your output a bunch, I highly recommend one for your setup and usage.
2000 watts is a sweet setup! Glad it has been working out for ya. I like the idea of a huge system that can run everything, it just doesn't make sense since we camp maybe a dozen times a year. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Solar systems have definitely come down over the years where a 400 watt system is cheap. Glad your systems has been working out for ya! 200 watts works just fine for us. Thanks for the comment and watching.
@@ColoradoCamperman Update: Thanks to your video I got my rv tow trailer - came with 200w panel. I bought an amperetime 200w lifepo battery. Interesting, amperetime says I need 800w panels to quickly charge their 200w battery - but their panel watt power is much less than Solarflex (came with Keystone RV 600w) or Renogy (has the 800-1000w). My biggest energy consumption is keeping my macbook pro (85w) in use maybe 10 hrs a day, so no generator needed. This video is how I made my decisions. Many thanks again
One comment I've heard(read?) About solar/ VS generator is that at night and cloudy weather; solar power doesn't make enough power. Nobody seems to have portable wind generators. If the sun's not shining, the wind is probably blowing. It might be windy even on sunny days.
Yeah, it can definitely be an issue. For us when we camp, we don't use a whole lot of power, so, our setup works out. We usually have a generator with us in case it is cloudy or if we want to run our microwave or AC. Thanks for watching.
I think it would help to add that you are speaking about the northern 1/2 or 1/3 of the USA. Down here in the South, our situation is nearly 100% different. Solar does NOT work well over 100* F which is sort of minimal June-September down here. Solar seems to have a sweet spot about 65-85*F. I hear my neighbors with solar on their roof complaining of poor performance when they need it the most.
we head . off the grid cabin a couple of times over 2 weeks and use tank water bought a marine rv water pump 10 l/min for our shower and washup tub dish cleaning cos can use solar to bring up to 12.7 v on a acid car battery dedicated to the pump cant let the lady go without the shower and have a 3000 watt gen but the solar panels a new dimension use 1.5 watt lumins bulbs great we must say
It is in the summer time but not in the winter. In the winter the heater fan is a major load and the is little sunlight. In the summer my batteries re charge fully almost every day in the mornind.
I had 400w on my rv. In the dead of winter at 9500' ,I had to run a little handa 2000 to a battery charger overnight , it would use a gallon on idle. Never thought about it in the summer.
It depends on your needs ! Its really not possible to answer this question if 200 watts of solar is enough for an RV . Everybody's needs are different ! And 200 watts is very little !
1:28 "yes it is, at least for us". I agree with you. I shared our experience and what we operate to help people make the decision for themselves. Thanks for watching.
I've seen other people that have connected their solar system to their alternator so that when they are driving it charges their solar system, but doesn't drain it to engine battery when the ignition is off.
That's pretty sweet. Our camper's battery will continue to get charged from our solar panels and will get trickle charged from our truck. Thanks for the comment and watching!
We have 200w solar for our van engine off. We installed a replay connect with our van, when our van engine on, it automatically connects and charges the battery. the solar system charging is very slow, whole day solar= 5 mins van engine on . the solar system not that useful.
Thank you for this! We just bought a 2022 Keystone TT with a basic 200w Solar flex kit. Every where I look I can only find Keystone infomercials about how awesome the 200w Solar flex kit is. I'm not so sure cuz we just froze our keesters off in Kit Carson cuz the heater shut off some time in the night and we didn't have any power. Now I'm seeing that base pkg really is just that. We need a big Ole battery and some kind of an inverter. Gonna go price those and git'er done. Appreciate the info! Happy trails:)
You're welcome! Sounds like you have a pretty good setup from the factory. Once you upgrade your battery, you should be set! Thanks for watching and enjoy your new rig!
Thats all I have and I been boondocking for almost 2 years. But I have to sacrifice alot like no TV at night.if I want to watch TV in the summer then I usually plug in to a outside ac outlet that recharges my solar battery generator but in the winter I don't have a problem with power unless it's been cloudy.
I have 600 watts solar and wasnt enough for even 1 day because my rv battery was so bad. I hated to buy new one knowing i wouls ruin it going below 50%. So i bought a lithium. Hooked solar to it to get that extra 20% to bring it to 100$. I boondock every ither week for 1 week. Anyway my opinion of camping is, dont go camping with one battery. They are cheap enough have 2 or more. For instance rv battery, then also have 700 wh solar generator incase your rv battery breaks. Also flexible panels are good and so easy tondeal with my heavier better renogy poanels are annoying. But i wpuldnt go camping eithput 400 watss solar because the panels are so cheap u can stick them anywherebeven on your car roof
The only need for the generator for us, especially in Colorado is the microwave. The first time I used the air in 8 years was a trip to Montana this summer, but we had shore power. My 2000 Honda won't power the generator unless I buy one of those soft start kits. Just bought the 200 Renogy solar suitcase, and I think that will do us fine.
Sounds like 200 watts will work great for you! Especially if it is a suitcase model because you can set the panels to the proper angle. Enjoy the new panels and thanks for watching!
Our furnace? And yes, propane fridge. That's how you do it. What kinda furnace? Yes, the generator needed to run powerful stuff. A toaster for example takes a ton of power.
this is more helpful than all the charts and math, thanks. But you need to specify what kinda furnace, not electric surely. Probably propane. A diesel would also be good. I feel I could turn off my electric fridge at night and just run it in the daytime when light is available. But I'd go lithium po4, not agm. I have 200 ah lead acid now and want to add a 200 ah lithium on a dc/dc charger to keep the lead acid topped up. Hybrid system.
Furnace is propane, but the furnace fan is electric. It consumes approximately 150 watts while the fan is running. We have Lithium batteries now thanks to a few companies sending me them for review. Prior to just a few months ago, we had the Renogy Deep Cycle Gel battery. We got that 3 or 4 years ago. A lot has changed since then and Lithium batteries are much more affordable now. In my opinion, AGM and Deep Cycle Gel Batteries are still good for the weekend warrior. Thanks for watching
After using a Mr. Fusion home nuclear energy generator, ($11,999 on Amazon) I ditched my gas generator AND solar panels. I don't even need LED lighting, as the inside of the camper now glows a pleasant green at night.
I order a Lance 975 but I could only get 200 watts of solar. I also got Lithium batteries. This Lance is a 2024 model with a slide. My last Northern lite had 400 watts which was plenty.
It depends on how many hours of direct sunlight and the load you have on your system so it's almost impossible to dictated from person to another without a decent amount of information. I believe for me 500 Watts would be sufficient but I don't own a RV so I maybe completely wrong. I also to understand the choice of a Gel battery over Lifepo4 Battery.
Yeah for sure, there are a lot of factors to consider. As I mentioned, 200 watts of solar is enough for us. Just sharing our experience and how it works for us. Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman That's what is good about your video. You specify a number of times, this is for your usage! Other than the basics of how solar works, how the system works as a whole, and how to wire a basic system, all these other tout vid's are pretty useless. It's not comparing apples to oranges when talking about what different people need. It's comparing an apple seed to Jupiter! LOL!
@@wingnutbert9685 Agreed, some of these massive systems you see on videos are irrelevant to the bulk of people that have an RV. Most weekend warriors don't need a huge system like that. Thanks again for the comment and watching.
I would recommend everyone to start small and increase solar and battery only as needed. I get by with a single 150w panel and 2 group 31 wet lead acid batteries. Never ran below 50%, more often down to 75-80% is usual. Have been running like this for 11 years and multiple 10-14 day trips boondocking. It all depends on usage. I am contemplating upgrading with an extra panel and 2 100ah Lifepo4 batteries because now we travel with 2 48v electric bikes that require charging through an inverter that will suck more power from the system.
Thank you for sharing your real life experience. So many people think you have to have a massive system in order to boondock and that isn't always the case.
Thx, I have a smaller trailer and have 160 solar & dual 6 volt batteries, I have quit bringing the Honda generator. Maybe 🤔 For the cold temps I would probably bring just in case.
You're welcome! Yeah, it is definitely a good idea to have a generator with you while camping in cold temperatures. I got stuck in a snowstorm while camping on our land. It's snowed two feet when I was there! My panels were buried and were useless for a few days. I ran my generator for 44 hours straight. I would have been screwed if I didn't have the generator. Thanks for watching!
Great video QUESTIONS SIR, 1. What gain would you get by adding a second battery?. 2. How long does it take for the 200watt solar panel to charge a depleted 12 volt battery? 3. What would adding a second 200 solar panel do? Isn't there an inlet on the side of camper to plug a second solar panel in?
A second battery will increase how many hours you can operate everything when you are not bringing in solar. Our battery would typically be charged up after 3-4 hours depending on our usage. A second solar panel will charge your batteries up quicker. No inlet on our camper, it was built in 2010 when solar was not as mainstream on campers. Thanks for watching!
Its all about the battery 24v 200ah lithium will last for days ! Even if you have a couple hundred watts coming in if your only camping for a week even though it takes a month to charge up
Very cool video. I’m thinking what about 400w (4-panels) and both on either end of the camper. That way you’re always getting something hopefully. And microwaves are crazy for power.. I wonder if Air Fryers are that crazy with power? I honestly prefer how good comes out but.. takes about 3x as long as microwaving the same thing. Got me thinking and answered questions I didn’t know I had, thanks.
That's a good idea on spreading the panels out on the camper! I bet air fryers are crazy with power too. You would need to install a pretty good sized inverter if you wanted to run either of those off your solar system. Our system is super basic just to run the necessities. If we need to run something larger, we use a gas generator or I also have a larger solar generator. The larger solar generator which works great for the microwave because you only use the microwave for a short time. It is also nice because the solar generator is quiet as opposed to the gas generator. Have fun putting together your system! Thanks for watching.
There's an easy answer for you how many Watts of The electricity does your home use that's what you need in your RV!. If I can't run my computer my TV my box fan my lights The Central air and/or heating unit Refrigerator wash your dryer and microwave all at the same time you don't have enough! Will you actually run all the Same time question mark no but. You'll never ever have to worry about running out of power in your RV if you set it up that way. And you can stay off the grid nearly indefinitely unless you're dealing with overcast conditions 24 hours a day 43 or 4 days
@@ColoradoCamperman Yeah, it's funny how things have changed over the last couple years. I'm currently doing a retrofit in my RV of some stuff and I don't even run 12v batteries anymore. It's all 48 volt. But on the other hand, there's so much good stuff on the market now that it's way easier to put together a huge off-grid system into a modest sized RV.
Great video. But for me 2000 watts is not enough. No one wants to hear the other guys generator running all day (if they are people who spend time in the camper during the day) or all night to keep the ac/heater running. That means lots of backup battery and that means lots of solar.
@@thereefaholic Yeah, you would need a massive system to be able to run an RV's AC for an extended period of time. Luckily where we camp, the night time temps cool down significantly. We can usually just open up windows and not run our AC at night.
Well from what I’ve seen as far as the smaller split units go they are at about 800 W. But I’m sure that’s not continuous I’m sure that’s just when the compressor is running. So it would depend on how well insulated your RV is and it would also depend on lots of other factors.But there are a few CZcamsrs who do it and they may be able to offer a better insight.
If you upgrade from that cheap PWM solar charge controller to an MPPT charge controller you will get about 20% more power out o your solar array. The PWM controller forces your solar panels to operate at the battery voltage. A nominal 12 volt 100 watt panel will put out no more than about 6 amps. So at say 13.8 volts the maximum power you will get from a 100 watt panel is 13.8v x 6a = 82.8 watts. So the PWM controller is throwing away 17.2 watts. An MPPT controller will operate the panel at the maximum power point so you will get 100 watts minus controller efficiency (>99% in most cases) so you will be able to get 99+ watts in full sunlight. That works out to an extra 34 watts from your two 100 watt panels when the system is at 13.8 volts. When your battery is low (12.3 volts, you are not going to get over 150 watts from your panels with the PWM controller). In addition, the voltage on your charge controller when the battery is charging is NOT a good indication of how fully charged the battery is. In order to get a good indication of the state of charge of the battery you need to disconnect it from all loads and charging for an hour or so then measure the voltage. It will be considerably less than 13.8 volts. For your reference, if your 200 amp-hr battery reads 12.3 volts in the morning (with nothing on) the battery is at about 50% state of charge so you used approximately 100 amp hours or approximately 1250 watt hours from the battery. Your 200 watts of solar with a PWM controller will take at least 8 hours of full sun to replace that energy in the battery. Since the average number of full sun hours in a day is between 5 and 6 you will not be putting more than 80 amp-hr back into the battery after a full day of sun (zero clouds) if you use no power during day light hours. If you use any power during the day you will put less charge into the battery. If you stay out for more than about 2-3 days your battery will be pretty flat if you use power during the day.
Yeah MPPT would give us more power. Our setup works for us just fine. Power is never a problem for us. If it is, we almost always camp with a generator. Thanks for watching.
Mppt won't give you 20% more from such a small total output unless the panels are significantly over voltage and the pwm is just wasting the extra potential. For "standard 12 volt" (around 18-20 voc) it's minimal loss. The difference in cost for pwm to mppt is also not cost effective at 200w - you could just add another small panel. If you have room that is.
@@MastaSquidge to illuntrate the magnitude of the loss. Consider a battery charging in bulk at 13V from 200 watts of panels with maximum power point voltage of 18.5 volts. At 18.5 volts the 200 watts of panels will put out 200/18.5 = 10.81 amps. With a PWM controller the controller will pull the panel voltage down to the battery charging voltage while the amps stay constant. So if the charging voltage is 13V the power going into the battery will be 13V x 10.81 A = 140.53 watts. With an MPPT controller the panels will output 18.5 volts at 10.81 amps to the controller. The DC to DC converter in the controller will change that 10 13 V at about 15.2 amps or 198 watts assuming 99% conversion efficiency which is typical of quality MPPT controllers. The differnce is 57.5 watts which I would not consider minimal. Of course once the controller switches to absorption mode the loss will be smaller, but bulk mode is where it matters. Also most MPPT controllers can handle being over paneled which PWM controllers can not, so you can install a larger array to give decent charging even in winter with an MPPT controller.
@@MastaSquidge the numbers are correct. How much difference there is between MPPT and PWM depends on the state of charge of the batteries and the resulting charging voltage. The difference is smallest at the point where the charge controller changes from bulk to absorption. At that point with lead acid batteries the charging voltage is at its maximum and is about 14.4 volts. That is the point where the panel should be putting out its maximum current. The difference in performance between an MPPT controller and a PWM. If there is full sun the panels should be operating at their maximum power point voltage. That voltage varies a bit for different panels. The lowest I have seen for a nominal 12 volt pnel is about 16.8 volts and it can be as high as almost 20 volts. I used 18.5 volts in my example. If the panels had a lower maximum power point voltage (say 16.7 volts, the loss from PWM controller relative to an MPPT controller would be about 14%. In contrast, if the maximum power point voltage was at the high end (say 20 volts) the difference would be about 28 volts. Also, in less than full sun (partly cloudy day), the maximum power point for the panels would be different resulting in a different loss when using a PWM controller. I used 18.5 volts in my example because that is in the middle of the range for quality panels. So yes, depending on your panels and typical weather your loss with a PWM controller might have been less than what I calculated. Also note, that if the battery is significantly dspleted, the initial charging voltage will be less and will gradually increase as the battery is charged until the controller goes from bulk to absorption mode. In absorption mode voltage remains constant but charging current decreases until the controller transitions to float mode where the system will only provide enough power from the panels to maintain float voltage (typically about 13.5 to 13.6 volts for a 12 volt battery). In float mode there is no difference between a PWM controller and an MPPT controller. In absorption mode the difference between MPPT and PWM decreases as the battery approaches full charge because the controller is providing less and less power to the battery and once the power required drops below about 70% of maximum power output from the panel for conditions the PWN controller can put out enough power to meet the absorption current. What it boils down to is that if you don't draw your batteries down much you will see a smaller difference between PWM and MPPT controllers. However, if you draw your batteries down quite a bit you will see a pretty big difference. The difference is a moving target that depends on your panels, your batteries and how you use your batteries.
Our fridge would not be able to be run off of the 200 watts in addition to other items. However, we do have a small 12 volt fridge that could be run. Thanks for watching!
@@gregpeterman1102 Got it, yeah we have an Igloo 28 quart 12 volt. We use it in addition to our RV fridge. We run the RV fridge on propane and then have the Igloo for outdoor beverages or if we need additional fridge space for food we're cooking outside. It works well!
No you don't, but you have a much longer lifespan off of a lithium-iron phosphate battery. And, right now they are only about $200. Their overall performance is much better too. You can drain most LiFePO4 batteries down to 5-10% charge and not damage the batteries. That is not the case with a lead acid battery.
Hey Brian, How would that battery do in colder weather? I have a couple of AGMs at my cabin and they do ok down to about 30 deg. Then they drain fairly quickly when it gets colder. Another great informative video.
It seems to do pretty well. Like I said in the video, the night time low on this trip was 23 degrees. We ran the furnace a good amount and the battery was at 12.3 volts in the morning. Daytime temps were warmer though at around 50 degrees. I camped on our land maybe 6-7 months ago and it snowed 2ft while I was there. On that trip, the nighttime low ranged from 5-10 degrees. I was running the generator non-stop, but when I turned the generator off and ran off the battery during the day, it did not seem to be bothered by the cold temps at all (daytime temps were 20-30 degrees). Does your battery not charge up to the full voltage or does it just drain quicker during the cold? It's hard to tell if ours drains quicker during the cold because when it is cold, we generally are running the furnace which is a huge drain on the battery. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman It does charge up to voltage. I did say anywhere from 13.8 to 14.1 on the high side. I do run my generator also. I just don't like running it during deer season. 😀
@@whitetailhollowacres6917 That's good news. I'll have to look into that a little more and keep a closer eye on our battery during cold temps. I totally understand you not wanting to run the generator during deer season!
I was certain I had read/ heard somewhere that lithium batteries won't charge at all below certain temperatures. I can't recall what the temperature was 🤔. But because I'm considering going full time nomad, that's been a concern of mine. Sounds like these replies contradict/dispell that. 🤔🤷♂️
This is unbelievable. After months of watching videos and wondering why I have to spend all that money on Lithium batteries and a bunch of solar panels, not to mention installation, you just described my exact scenario. Including having some external, charged batteries handy for my laptop. I’m wondering what the catch is. Actually, my only question is, do the solar panels and the generator both charge the battery, either independently (ie., no sun) or together?
Glad you could find the video helpful! The generator and solar should power the battery together. However, the charging from being hooked up to the generator is probably only a trickle charge and not a rapid charge. It depends on your RV and how it was built. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman What is the output of the generator ? This is the only way you will know how much its charging your battery ! btw , Most generators do not " trickle" charge !
@@stevelamperta865 I recently replaced the landline (110V plug) power control unit in my pull trailer. the unit converts some of the 30 amps input into 11 different 12 volt circuits for lights and furnace fan etc. The control unit is built with a battery charger. It has a three stage battery charger. the levels are Automatic three-stage charging extends the life of your battery with output voltage modes of 13.2 Vdc range "float" mode, 13.6 Vdc range "absorption" mode, and a 14.4 Vdc range "bulk" charge mode. most generators are 110V or 240V so it would plug into the landline just as if being in a park. I don't know how solar hooks up to charge the battery.
200 watts is nothing unless you don’t care the annoying generator. I have 2 systems of 1000 watts each with 800 amps battery on each and still not enough for me.
Full time for 2.5 years in western states, 200W solar, and never used a generator. 250AH of LFP batteries. I use a catalytic heater mostly, and the fact my truck and camper can move.. got close to needing a generator a few times, but just solar so far. 12.9V was my lowest. Of course, no microwave or AC.
Thanks for sharing your experience Dave! It's always good to hear from people who have smaller setups and make it work just fine! Thanks for the comment and watching!
1:29 "Yes it is, at least for us." We weekend camp maybe 10 weekends a year for 3-4 days each time, 200 watts is plenty for our usage. Sounds like you're living off of solar. So, I would agree with you that 200 watts is not enough. Thanks for watching.
Do you think the 200 watt solar is enough to run all the things you do plus and heres the question. Is it enough to also run the current 12 volt compressor refrigerators?
We run a 12 volt Igloo 28 Quart Thermoelectric Iceless Cooler. It runs 40-55watts. We can run that no problem as long as the sun is out. I don't know about the other 12volt compressors refrigerators. Here's a link to what we have: amzn.to/3JLqHSN Thanks for watching!
You are correct on the 20% efficiency. However, a 100 watt panel will produce a lot more than 20 watts. On a sunny day, we will get 75-85 watts from 1 -100 watt panel. Based on that, we would only need 3-100 watt panels to bring in 200 watts. Thanks for watching.
@@ColoradoCamperman more is faster and better on cloudy days There is an other type of battery that u can get in Canada It is a led cristal battery 30% better than lithium won't freeze or over heat is military battery soled by a company called Sonell fantastic battery I have 2
Have you tried boosting your solar panel output by installing a couple reflective mirror segments beside the panels? I've heard it can boost panel power over 50 percent.
@@ColoradoCamperman thanks, you are doing great too..solar is the way to go, especially with ebikes being so popular now. Gasoline may never come down again.
You make awesome videos with great explanations. I’m still trying to figure out if I can go all solar on a property I want to use as a weekend getaway. I intend on having generator for emergency backup. Can you recommend any peeps you know who do use all solar? Just starting my research and haven’t found a straightforward source for information yet.
Thank you! We watch Wild Wonderful Off Grid, they have a massive system and it's kinda complicated. We also watch Life Uncontained, their system is large but probably more simple than WWOG. Nomadic Fanatic also added a solar setup to his property not long ago, he probably has the simplest system out of the three. Hope that helps, thanks for watching!
200w of solar is not even close to enough for me. I have a 200w gaming laptop alone. I live in a Mitsubishi express van, with 780w of solar on top. All with a 135ah Lithium battery. I want to upgrade to 400ah total so I can run my laptop 24/7 (minecraft afk farms ;). Atm, I can only game during the hours of 9am and 3pm. But once I have that battery upgrade I'll be good to go.
We used our camper recreationally and didn't live in it. We also didn't have a device that took 200 watts of power. I agree it is not enough for you. It was plenty for us and our uses. Thanks for watching.
If you need a generator to power stuff then 200 watt is not enough- as I see that question. I would be asking how much solar power would you need to run everything?
If you want to run an AC or microwave, you're going to need a massive system that will cost thousands. That's why we opted to run the generator for those 2 items, it's much more cost effective. We can run everything else of our 200 watts. Thanks for watching.
Call it more of a safety issue but it appears he has the battery (source of ignition) mounted inches from propane tanks. This poses a potential risk. 😮
Note: I have a neighbor building a house soon, living in a travel trailer. Last year they averaged $900 a month gasoline to run their generator to run the AC. Lets think about that compared to a solar system large enough for that load. They could have bought 2 solar systems with the batteries and inverters and still been ahead. Where you live matters. High amounts of sun = needing more AC and thus the solar being a better idea than the generator. 100 watts of panels is enough for the 12 V stuff in your RV just about every time. 200 watts is insurance vs cloudy days.
Dang, that is a lot of $ per month on gas to run their AC! Yeah, it definitely matters where you live. At 8-9,000ft in the mountains here, AC really isn't even necessary during the summer. Some days you may need AC for a few hours but nighttime temps are generally in the 50's, maybe 60's. If you camp in the shade, you may not need AC at all! Of course then you won't be able to use solar. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Yeah, my system is for basic power needs. We carry a generator to run the stuff you're talking about. In most cases, a generator is much more practical than a huge, expensive solar setup for an RV. Thanks for watching.
Thanks. Our system works for 90% of our power needs. It's not worth it financially to build a massive system to run our AC and/or microwave. Thanks for watching.
So I was wondering whether you had any problems driving in the wind with the panels on the roof? Your panels look like they're mounted close to each other so it doesn't look like you drilled into the studs on the roof.
The front screws are mounted into studs. The stud spacing and spacing on the panels is different, so you will likely only be able to screw into one stud. No issues yet on our rig or my In-laws rig (I installed solar on their camper about 4 years ago). Thanks for watching.
200 watt solar panels is not enough One battery is not enough to write a camper I had used several batteries and 2400 watts of solar panels and that was just to run my cousin's camper and I had to use 16 batteries and on cloudy days I ran short on power.
Great videos just wondering on your setup solar charger direct to fuse panel have you had any issues with system up to now. Any issues with charging battery or voltage loss? Thank you keep videos coming.
Thanks! No issues so far. I installed solar on my In-Laws camper years before our camper. Both campers are working great still. No issues at all. Thanks for watching.
This video helped me determine that 200w of solar is enough for my converted camper bus. I put on two 100w panels with a 100/15 victron mppt charger and it's keeping things topped off with 2 max air fans and a chest refrigerator running on sunny days. Thank you
Glad to hear it is working out for you too! Thanks for the comment and watching!
can you send me your setup?
@@ColoradoCamperman Ive added 200 more watts (panels were $60 ea on Amazon) and upgraded the mppt charger a few weeks ago.
Enjoyed video can add on to your system if you wanted more power? If can send your set ….
OK SOME SAFETY TIPS: Always use heavy duty DC breakers at the positive battery terminals before the wires go anywhere else. Always use a heavy duty breaker between your inverter and your batteries. Always use a breaker between your solar panel and your solar charge controller.. These breakers should be rated for the max current that will be drawn though those devices.. Keep your cables as short as you can and use the proper size wire that is rated for or even higher than the current that will be drawn through those devices. Check "amperage capacity for wire" charts (online) to determine what gauge wire that is required for your system.. You would be surprised at the number of DYI people who do not know what they are doing and end up with inverter cables heating up like a toaster element. Keep it safe.. do the research, use correct and safe wiring to avoid issues and a possible fire. More importantly, if you don't know what you are doing.. FIND SOMEONE WHO DOES
Thanks for the comment and watching!
Very well put.
I'm in Thailand, my truck camper has a 800AH 24v lithium battery and 1200 W solar panels in total, as Thailand is a tropical country so the AC is always turned on, and it can keep working for 12 hours without a generator!
That's a slick solar setup! Very impressive. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Nobody who’s truly off grid would ever use a generator. When gas will be removed or whatever is not really available or electric you can only use if jibby jabbed u tell me how ur gonna get power? Spit in the wind? 200ah = 70ah useable if that. Imo get solar that can handle running an ac for a few hours or easily run micro for 10-15 min.
@@jecrpalier good point, thanks for watching.
@@jecrpalier with lithium you can go down to 80-90% DOD compared to 50% with lead acid. So 85% from 200Ah is 170Ah, not 70Ah as you said.
@@LawAbidingCitizen117 Ooops, not lithium
I have 200 watts of solar and a 100amp hr agm battery in my built Yukon. I run a refrigerator 7/24 I run a diesel heater for a couple hrs most mornings I charge cell phones ryobi tool battery’s and watch movies for a couple hours every night with the lights on. I also tow a pop up camper and when it’s sunny I plug the camper into the Yukon and it’s lead acid fully charges in a few hours. I never run my batteries below 50 percent. I spend 4 months a year camping out in Arizona, California and Mexico. It is sunny 90 percent of the time and I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to do near that much without daily sunshine. Occasionally if my battery nears 50 percent I start the car. That’s what I do with 200 watts of solar.
Thanks for sharing your real-world experience! I appreciate your comment and you watching!
Another thing that you saying you don't have enough cuz you have to use a generator something diesel very expensive so I don't know why you have solar panels anyways if you're going to run a diesel generator to make it cost very expensive person I'm looking up for electric generators that you solar panel to charge them I'll just put solar panels on top of the rough and sen they fit I would use 450 watt solar panels and some foldable solar panels for the ground or something.
@@acefire4050 plattapus said diesel heater, not diesel generator...
@@stevenh4970 a diesel heater electric heater put air conditioner I'm not going to go with diesel I'm not going to go gas I'm not going to go with propane I'm not going to go natural gas I'm going to go with electricity and electricity only.
You know you may see something that I don't agree with only by things that are run off electricity because when I bought my house everything was electric and I didn't change a thing and anything I buy will be electric something that solar panels can handle because I have a house that's all electric. So I bought solar panels and and I'll buy anything that works off from solar panels so I will not buy a gas generator electric generator I will not buy a generator that takes any kind of fuel except for electric and and only electric. I don't understand how someone can say going neutral going with nature again making the life green again making cleaner air and turn around and buy a gas or a few run generator that has an exhaust that no longer makes it neutral that no longer makes it green. That just goes with pollution again.
Several friends have $10-$15 k system s. After getting paralysis by analysis I jumped in with a very simple 100w panel + 2- 6volt golf cart batteries. I added a second panel and a small inverter generator for the occasional needs and backup. Added a 400W inverter to charge a laptop . Generator rarely gets used except in Winter and when we have a heavy wooded campsite. iPads,phones and several other items get changed using the usb plugs. I’m all in for just under$1k . Been running like this for 5+ years just fine.
I love it! Glad to hear you have a system that has been working well for you. Those huge systems are sweet but don't make sense for everybody. I definitely couldn't justify spending that much money on a system. Heck, we only paid $12,000 for our whole camper! Thanks for sharing your experience and watching!
I agree with your thinking here. You really don’t need much. My weekender van just has a single 100ah battery and the mission is based on running a 12v cooler for a few days plus lights, acc charging, little propane furnace.
@@ben3989 we usually are out 4-7 days at a time once a month year round. Add a 5-8 week snowbird trip as well. Currently out 6 weeks with 2 to go and only used the generator 3x for about 6 hours total to run the furnace at night & use the microwave..we are in a 30’ trailer so we’re not minimizing.
Great video, also I would HIGHLY recommend adding flush-mount USB-C PD and USB-A ports around your RV, I recently changed my manual-control AC unit to a digital thermostat control (AMAZING upgrade btw) and realized just how many 12v wires are run all over your RV (had to run thermostat wires, power, and ground back to the new thermostat location). These flush-mount USB ports run straight off 12v and are FAR more efficient than using an inverter, plus you can install them anywhere in your RV where there's an existing lighting / accessory wire, which is pretty much everywhere. No need to worry about turning on/off the inverter either, just plug in and go. Next mod will be adding a cigarette lighter port in the slide-out on the U-dinette bench seat so I have easy access to 12v for whatever.
The big project will be the entertainment center - I have all my network equipment and camera display / TV decoder there, and honestly they could ALL run on 12v instead of 120 - even the 48v PoE injector for my outdoor wifi unit has a 12v adapter I recently purchased. There are VERY few things you'd need an inverter for with a setup like this.
Good tips! Thanks for the comment and watching!
Reducing demand is easier and less costly than building more supply. Pretty much all lighting is LED today, which consumes 1/10th the power of incandescent. Use 12 VDC appliances and avoid the inefficiency of DC to AC conversion saves a lot. I use a diesel parking heater which I feel consumes less power, and uses cheap diesel fuel instead of more costly propane. Since I camp mostly in the mountains of Colorado it’s cooler weather and I don’t really need AC. Using a MPPT solar charge controller instead of a PWM controller helps get more out of the PVs to the battery.
I see people with a roof full of PVs and still running all kinds of inefficient gear. My camper gets by on 100 watts of PV and a 100 ah LiFePo4 battery, no genset. Besides, I like camping and escaping all the tech.
Well said! I appreciate you sharing your real world experience. A lot of people will knock smaller setups when they have never had a solar setup. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Why be concerned with campers running “wasteful” electrical devices on batteries charged by solar? You can be a minimalist but I choose to have lights, DVD movies, fans etc.
@@lawrencewiddis2447 - choose appliances wisely.
I usually am boondock camping in the Rockies, high altitude (no AC required), far away from civilization (no radio or TV). So our camper is pretty electrically barebones. Using LED lights cuts back on power consumption over using incandescent, but any new campers are probably LED anyhow. We have a ceiling fan, but usually aren’t needing it. We still charge phones and iPads, which don’t draw a lot. The gist of our camping is to get away from civilization, not to take so much of it with us.
I can pretty easily upsize the solar and batteries on the supply side, but keeping things small and lightweight on the demand side makes camping easier for us.
We live in a hilly forest and are experimenting with 200w. Have the Harbor Freight 100w monocrystaline panels. Just upgraded to a MPPT controller from same outfit that made yours. New controller helped! Our fridge is 12v only. Freezer is full and fridge partly. Before controller switch, we got 5 days before we dropped to 11.5V in our 2 marine/RV AGM deep cycle 78Ah batteries. That included two overcast rainy days. Our house blocks late afternoon sun, too. Just got the new wiring. Will try again.
Thanks for sharing your experience and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman After 2 days, my 20Amp HQST MPPT has kept the batteries fully charged at the end of each day. With the PWM Harbor Freight 500w controller, I was losing 0.5 volts per day on average. This is working very well so far. I also went to larger gauge wire and better connectors.
Agreed, we have 240AH of battery and currently only a 100W and that keeps the two TV's, laptops, water pump and heater going no problem. It takes most of the day to catch up and I'll be adding the second 100W panel this year. If it would just quit snowing already :-)
Good to hear from someone with a similar sized solar setup! You will love that extra 100 watt panel! I originally put 100 watts on my In-Law's camper but then we added another 100 watts. One word - GAME CHANGER! It made all the difference in the world. Especially on cloudy days or if they are getting shade from trees. Hopefully it will quit snowing soon and you can get that extra panel up there. Thanks for watching!
Need 4 100s or 2 200s
I got a 200 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery will it charge properly with only 200 W? I cannot afford the extra 2 panels for 400 watts at the moment but have a 40A mppt controller.
@@AldousHuxley7 Absolutely, maybe a little slower but they will charge your battery no problem.
@@graffix11us awesome thanks. Installing tmrw
Good setup. I like your short answer. "For Us". Most people don't understand how you ration or don't require as much electricity when you're off grid. We lived 100% off grid for years.
Thank you! I agree 100% with you. Thanks for the comment and watching!
If you want to get more out of your panels is to change to a mppt charge controller. They are more efficient than the pwm controller you have. Good video.
For sure, I ended up switching that out about a year ago. Thanks for watching!
An FYI after 3 plus years my 1 110 watt panels coupled to two 700Ah batteties give me more than enough power including powering my energy efficient 4.1 cf refrigerator/freezer. I can use my toaster oven to bake any sunny afternoon. No worries. It take 2 plus rain days to significntly impact energy drain. It all depends on how important your appliances are to you. Chatge my phones, and other batteries, including my drill & other cordless tool batteries. Including the stereo.
Makes me feel better about the 600 I'm installing. My wife watches TV all day so I was nervous. I also run the same generator but the noise isn't fun
I would think you would be good with 600 watts. How big will your battery bank be?
Can you run the a/c 24/7?
I built a 24' foot cargo camper some years back. Used it for 9 years with 300 watts of solar and two agm batteries. It worked great boon docking and I only needed my generator for ac and microwave just like you mentioned. I don't understand these huge solar systems you see. They still can't keep up with a roof top AC. But they seem way overkill for the other odd and ends. A moderate solar and battery setup paired with a good generator seems like the logical way to go.
THANK YOU!! I agree with everything you said. I don't understand it either and I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one out there that thinks this way. Thanks for the comment and watching!
I noticed that you were using a small inverter to charge your cell phones etc. There is loss in the conversion from AC to DC so you might be better off wiring in a simple 12v USB plug and using that. Easy to do and will definitely be more efficient and save you some power.
That is good to know! We actually have 2-USB plugs on the bottom of our charge controller. We use that every now and again but the charge controller is in a bad spot. I had to mount it where I did so I could plug the wires directly into the converter box. Ideally, I would have hard wired an inverter directly from the charge controller but we did not have space for that. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Yup, DC is the way to go for sure.
@corey Babcock Good point! Thanks for the comment and watching!
The problem with that is that DC usb plugs are trash!
While this is true on the DC -> AC -> DC conversion loss; you're still having to do DC->DC conversion (12v to 5v to charge USB; and USB-C can go much higher voltage you're either limiting your charge speed or you're boosting DC with potentially more losses) which the circuitry to make this stuff work is often low quality and thus worse than some AC conversions. It's funny if you watch some of the newer power station reviews (jackery/ecoflow/bluetti) often the AC power output is more efficient than DC because of the quality of components that exist. All day long you're correct in theory; especially if like for like voltages; but until you get into the specific equipment used - then it's a gamble as to which is more efficient.
With that said if you're only charging phones you're probably right - as the minimum overhead the inverter has is probably pretty high (20-30 watt just to launch the inverter) which your phones wouldn't pull that most likely. But if you're charging a laptop; or simultaneously running anything else where the inverter would be on anyway (ex: watching TV) - it very well may be more efficient to run it on an inverter than straight USB-C depending on the circuitry.
200 amp hours with 200 watt panals will last a few days. Unless your running a 12 volt icechest / freezer. It can run down your battery in a few days. Depending on your usage. I got 375 watts in my panals, two 100 amp AGM batteries. I do fine with this. But in winter conditions. Lithium batters are your best bet.
Sounds like you have a good setup that works for you. 200 watts has worked well for us and we have never not had enough power. Thanks for the comment and watching!
I am not into crunching numbers or precision, just my nature at 75. My theory is that more is better, and if it isn't enough, add more. We have two 150 Ah lithium batteries and taped 2 100w flexible solar panels on the roof. If we are out for 10 days or less, we generally don't have to run our two lightweight 2300 watt generators unless we need AC. If we are out longer, we generally need to run one generator long enough to top off the batteries again. We do have two inverters, a 500 watt to run my CPAP or other items , and an 1800 watt which we rarely use, but have run the microwave and other small appliances with it.
Sounds like you have a good setup there! That is sweet that you are able to run the microwave off the solar if needed. In the future, I would like to get a charge controller that I can hook up an inverter to so we could do something similar. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman I use the inverter directly off the batteries and use a small battery box to protect it from the weather and run an extension cord into the outside storage and thru a hole under the mattress to have 115 v available inside.
I have not tried it; however, I believe I could use an adapter and plug the RV plug into the 1800-watt inverter, but I would have to turn off the battery switch to keep the internal charger from trying to charge them. I have seen CZcams videos of people with much larger set ups run their AC from the batteries, but I prefer the generators, which cost far less.
@@vonheise Thank you for sharing your setup! I have seen those videos of people using their RV plug and plugging right into their inverter, it's a cool concept. I love a huge solar array that runs everything, but like you said, generators cost far less. We rarely use our generator, so it doesn't make sense financially to have a huge system.
I made sure to switch all my lights with LED and after that I was comfortable on 100 watts in our RV for all of our spring/summer camping. 200 watts would have made things even easier and helped us ease through a few cloudy winter days.
You should be golden then! Changing out all the lights to LED made such a huge difference in our camper. Thanks for watching!
A quick and dirty way to answer if this is enough, is to divide the panel output in half.
If you can get by on 100w a day, then 200w is enough. You'll just have to compensate for weather.
If you wanna know if 200 is enough for SUSTAINED use, then divide the output by 4. That gives you 50w of usable power. Assuming your battery is large enough (400ah plus), that should last you a week, even in bad weather
That's a good way of looking at it. Thanks for sharing and watching!
I put a 150 watts solar panel on my van this week.
In full sun now summer time,I get 50 watts out of it,my battery pack river pro, runs a small compressor fridge that draws when it runs 65 watt,
Battery pack last for only 4 days till it's empty
At night the fridge uses 25% of the battery pack
I'm about to set up a vertical wind turbine as my alternative source. I currently just use 130ah lithium in a engel series2 battery box charged by a mppt and 160w solar panel. These also support 4agm deep cycles. I just use that on my boat (8.5m) for 3 or 4 days and then top up the battery box when I get home. I have never gone dark and stayed out for a week (but not running ac or a fridge, just use an ice box and lithium fans) Thanks for your video.
Thank you for sharing! I'd love to know how the wind turbine works out for you. We have considered that if we built a cabin since the mountains are almost always windy. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Ditto on the windmill value. I'm considering one even for RVing. I have seen several people take the time to erect one when they get set up at camp, and figured they must feel it's worth it?
@@svenshanah thanks. I have not yet found a suitable wind generator. I need a good diy as what i have seen so far seems extremely overpriced for what is some pretty basic equipment. I did make an attempt using two bicycle wheels atop each other and vertical plastic sheets curved in between. It kinda worked but there was way to much resistance in the wheel bearings and required a hurricane to turn rapidly. So I abandoned it. However I, like you both are still keen. About $300+ on ebay for the cheapest ones i can find but they don't look up to it.
I've seen quite a few on some of the boats near me and they seem to be working very well. Of course there is ample wind on a lake or ocean. Although driving the RV would generate quite a lot.
What are lithium fans?
Depending. I started out 200 watts solar panels. 100x2. With 200AH batteries. Cuz I wasn’t sure then now year later. 100x4 and 300AH batteries. Running monitor and Xbox S no problem. I do have generator. But haven’t use it. Now, I brought trailer so. I’ll be upgrading more especially buying ATV so I can roam around deserts and wilderness whatever out there.
Edited: I forgot to mention that I have DC/DC charger. This thing is so great. I do recommend it. As needed I turn it on when I’m driving. If I don’t. I turn it off.
Thanks for sharing! It sounds like you have more power needs than us, so a larger system makes sense. Thanks for watching!
Let me tell you all something this guy is very educational great video to learn
Glad the video was helpful, thanks for watching!
Yes if I want to do without all the everyday comforts we enjoy. For camping on the weekends it's probably enough.
Nicely said. Thanks for watching!
It's only been two years since this video came out and stuff is so much cheaper now. You can get 200 watt panels as low as $129 and 300 watt for $180. Now the LiFePO4 100ah are going for as low as $150. I built a large bank for my RV and my home for a fraction of what it used to be.
Yeah, it's crazy how much prices have come down! You can build a large setup for a reasonable price. Thanks for watching!
I think you’d be really pleased if you upgraded to an MPPT charge controller. Better faster charging, especially when it is partly cloudy.
I am definitely considering it! Thanks for the comment and watching.
I have the Renogy Rover Elite 20 and two of their 100 ah "smart" LiFePo4 batteries. They are one of the few group 24 size and nothing larger would fit under my step. The RV came with a 100 watt panel and like your friend I plan to add another 100 Watts. It's a good system as is, the BIM allows for some charging while driving and we have the built-in generator, but I think another panel will definitely improve the multi day boondocking experience
@@ChrisHolt1 It sounds like you have a great setup! Adding the additional 100 watts would definitely help. My In-Laws had 100 watts on their roof and then I installed an additional 100 watts (200 watts to now). They never have power issues. The have a 200 amp hour AGM battery. Their setup works really well. Good luck with the projects and thanks again for watching!
We have 280watts and 310 ah lithium battery with a 1.5kw sinewave inverter for intermittent loads like microwave/induction hob, toaster eyc - we have a one-item rule - just one thing on at a time - never used a hook up or genny
Heck yeah, that is awesome! Glad it is working out for you. Thank you for sharing!
I had my two batteris strapped in just like yours, went to the store for some supplies was gone maybe 45 minutes, came back and the batteries had been stolen. Be careful out there.
Oh man, I am so sorry to hear that! We are planning on installing a lockable tongue box. I have just struggled to find something that will fix our massive battery. Thanks for watching.
I have that exact same battery in my 21’ travel trailer. I ended up putting mine under the bed in the cargo bay. It works perfect there. Because it’s a gel hybrid battery you can keep them inside. Then I just drilled holes and added grommets to attach to the system. It’s only about 8 inches back further than where you have it. By the way, if anybody wanting to know, I absolutely love this battery and have yet to even have it dip under 90% overnight. It rarely even gets under 98% overnight. really wanted a lithium ion but decided to go a little bit cheaper even though it’s still a very expensive battery and I have not regretted it yet.
@@Avedis-G Thanks for your comment and sharing!
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No generator but my van has 1,200 watts of solar panels and 900 amp hours of lithium batteries plus a 60 amp dc to dc charger. This keeps the mini split AC/ heater happy
Heck yeah, that is a solid setup! Thanks for the comment and watching!
Damn… lucky
I’d say that is a on a person to person variation I lived on the road for 2 years with 200w of solar with no issues
Agreed, thanks for watching!
It all depends on what you expect to run off of solar power. If you have a fridge you'll probably want more than 200 W. Having a generator is just a smart plan because solar isn't reliable. You'll need a battery to get you through the night. For me, I select a battery based on needs, and then I get 1/5 of the battery rating in panels.😊
I agree 100%, thanks for the comment and watching!
I too use 200w and it's plenty for my needs
Thanks for sharing your experience and commenting!
I'm spoiled. I have 2000 watts of solar, 200 is just a tiny tickle for my bank. I've watched charging currents hold consistently well over 90amps, for most of the day till the lithium tops off. Usually before noon.
We don't even have a generator, it's literally not needed. Even using electric for all cooking, laundry, whatever. Split phase 220 is RAD!
A mppt charge controller would boost your output a bunch, I highly recommend one for your setup and usage.
2000 watts is a sweet setup! Glad it has been working out for ya. I like the idea of a huge system that can run everything, it just doesn't make sense since we camp maybe a dozen times a year. Thanks for the comment and watching!
400 watts is easy and cheap to install. I have 2 x 200w solar panels on my 24 jayflight and it works great. 200 is kind of lean.
Solar systems have definitely come down over the years where a 400 watt system is cheap. Glad your systems has been working out for ya! 200 watts works just fine for us. Thanks for the comment and watching.
200w can work if it’s portable. Positioning the panels directly at the sun is the key.
Moving the panels for the proper angle and with the sun makes a huge difference! Thanks for watching!
Much gratitude to you for answering this question. It was clear & to the point & links to what is needed.
Glad you could find the video helpful! Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman Update: Thanks to your video I got my rv tow trailer - came with 200w panel. I bought an amperetime 200w lifepo battery. Interesting, amperetime says I need 800w panels to quickly charge their 200w battery - but their panel watt power is much less than Solarflex (came with Keystone RV 600w) or Renogy (has the 800-1000w). My biggest energy consumption is keeping my macbook pro (85w) in use maybe 10 hrs a day, so no generator needed. This video is how I made my decisions. Many thanks again
@@TheOrangeCowboy Sounds like you have a solid setup now! I'm glad you were able to get something that worked out for you. Thanks for following up!
One comment I've heard(read?) About solar/ VS generator is that at night and cloudy weather; solar power doesn't make enough power. Nobody seems to have portable wind generators. If the sun's not shining, the wind is probably blowing. It might be windy even on sunny days.
Yeah, it can definitely be an issue. For us when we camp, we don't use a whole lot of power, so, our setup works out. We usually have a generator with us in case it is cloudy or if we want to run our microwave or AC. Thanks for watching.
I think it would help to add that you are speaking about the northern 1/2 or 1/3 of the USA. Down here in the South, our situation is nearly 100% different. Solar does NOT work well over 100* F which is sort of minimal June-September down here. Solar seems to have a sweet spot about 65-85*F. I hear my neighbors with solar on their roof complaining of poor performance when they need it the most.
Since I don't live down there, I didn't know about those issues. Thanks for sharing.
we head . off the grid cabin a couple of times over 2 weeks and use tank water bought a marine rv water pump 10 l/min for our shower and washup tub dish cleaning cos can use solar to bring up to 12.7 v on a acid car battery dedicated to the pump cant let the lady go without the shower and have a 3000 watt gen but the solar panels a new dimension use 1.5 watt lumins bulbs great we must say
That's awesome, I would love to have an off grid cabin. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Awesome. Thanks man! Plain talk about what you've installed and what you do with it. Perfect. Ordering a 200w renegy kit right now!
You're welcome! Glad the video could be helpful! You will enjoy your new setup. Thanks for the comment and watching!
I use a 390W panel to charge my ebikes for free czcams.com/video/VjnYeoK6wCo/video.html
It is in the summer time but not in the winter. In the winter the heater fan is a major load and the is little sunlight. In the summer my batteries re charge fully almost every day in the mornind.
Good points. Thanks for watching!
I had 400w on my rv. In the dead of winter at 9500' ,I had to run a little handa 2000 to a battery charger overnight , it would use a gallon on idle. Never thought about it in the summer.
If the panels lie flat on your RV, I bet you would see a significant increase in efficiency in the summer. Thanks for watching!
New subbie. Great video. I bought 4 HQST 100 w panels during black Friday. Very good deal. 👍
Thanks for subbing! Those panels have worked out great for us! You will enjoy them. Thanks again for subbing and watching!
It depends on your needs ! Its really not possible to answer this question if 200 watts of solar is enough for an RV . Everybody's needs are different ! And 200 watts is very little !
1:28 "yes it is, at least for us". I agree with you. I shared our experience and what we operate to help people make the decision for themselves. Thanks for watching.
I've seen other people that have connected their solar system to their alternator so that when they are driving it charges their solar system, but doesn't drain it to engine battery when the ignition is off.
That's pretty sweet. Our camper's battery will continue to get charged from our solar panels and will get trickle charged from our truck. Thanks for the comment and watching!
You need to use a dc to dc charger, especially if you have Lifepo4 batteries.
We have 200w solar for our van engine off. We installed a replay connect with our van, when our van engine on, it automatically connects and charges the battery. the solar system charging is very slow, whole day solar= 5 mins van engine on . the solar system not that useful.
Thank you for this! We just bought a 2022 Keystone TT with a basic 200w Solar flex kit. Every where I look I can only find Keystone infomercials about how awesome the 200w Solar flex kit is. I'm not so sure cuz we just froze our keesters off in Kit Carson cuz the heater shut off some time in the night and we didn't have any power. Now I'm seeing that base pkg really is just that. We need a big Ole battery and some kind of an inverter. Gonna go price those and git'er done. Appreciate the info! Happy trails:)
You're welcome! Sounds like you have a pretty good setup from the factory. Once you upgrade your battery, you should be set! Thanks for watching and enjoy your new rig!
Use a Chinese diesel heater. Less than 200.00 and easy to install. Rv furnaces are electric hungry.
Thats all I have and I been boondocking for almost 2 years. But I have to sacrifice alot like no TV at night.if I want to watch TV in the summer then I usually plug in to a outside ac outlet that recharges my solar battery generator but in the winter I don't have a problem with power unless it's been cloudy.
Thanks for sharing your real-world experience! Thanks for the comment and watching!
I have 600 watts solar and wasnt enough for even 1 day because my rv battery was so bad. I hated to buy new one knowing i wouls ruin it going below 50%. So i bought a lithium. Hooked solar to it to get that extra 20% to bring it to 100$. I boondock every ither week for 1 week. Anyway my opinion of camping is, dont go camping with one battery. They are cheap enough have 2 or more. For instance rv battery, then also have 700 wh solar generator incase your rv battery breaks. Also flexible panels are good and so easy tondeal with my heavier better renogy poanels are annoying. But i wpuldnt go camping eithput 400 watss solar because the panels are so cheap u can stick them anywherebeven on your car roof
Thanks for sharing your experience and watching!
The only need for the generator for us, especially in Colorado is the microwave. The first time I used the air in 8 years was a trip to Montana this summer, but we had shore power. My 2000 Honda won't power the generator unless I buy one of those soft start kits. Just bought the 200 Renogy solar suitcase, and I think that will do us fine.
Sounds like 200 watts will work great for you! Especially if it is a suitcase model because you can set the panels to the proper angle. Enjoy the new panels and thanks for watching!
Our furnace? And yes, propane fridge. That's how you do it. What kinda furnace? Yes, the generator needed to run powerful stuff. A toaster for example takes a ton of power.
this is more helpful than all the charts and math, thanks. But you need to specify what kinda furnace, not electric surely. Probably propane. A diesel would also be good. I feel I could turn off my electric fridge at night and just run it in the daytime when light is available. But I'd go lithium po4, not agm. I have 200 ah lead acid now and want to add a 200 ah lithium on a dc/dc charger to keep the lead acid topped up. Hybrid system.
Furnace is propane, but the furnace fan is electric. It consumes approximately 150 watts while the fan is running. We have Lithium batteries now thanks to a few companies sending me them for review. Prior to just a few months ago, we had the Renogy Deep Cycle Gel battery. We got that 3 or 4 years ago. A lot has changed since then and Lithium batteries are much more affordable now. In my opinion, AGM and Deep Cycle Gel Batteries are still good for the weekend warrior. Thanks for watching
After using a Mr. Fusion home nuclear energy generator, ($11,999 on Amazon) I ditched my gas generator AND solar panels. I don't even need LED lighting, as the inside of the camper now glows a pleasant green at night.
Do you feed your Mr. Fusion with food scraps and Miller High Life? I've heard that works well. Thanks for the comment and watching!
I order a Lance 975 but I could only get 200 watts of solar. I also got Lithium batteries. This Lance is a 2024 model with a slide. My last Northern lite had 400 watts which was plenty.
400 watts would be a solid setup. Thanks for the comment and watching!
It depends on how many hours of direct sunlight and the load you have on your system so it's almost impossible to dictated from person to another without a decent amount of information. I believe for me 500 Watts would be sufficient but I don't own a RV so I maybe completely wrong. I also to understand the choice of a Gel battery over Lifepo4 Battery.
Yeah for sure, there are a lot of factors to consider. As I mentioned, 200 watts of solar is enough for us. Just sharing our experience and how it works for us. Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman That's what is good about your video. You specify a number of times, this is for your usage! Other than the basics of how solar works, how the system works as a whole, and how to wire a basic system, all these other tout vid's are pretty useless. It's not comparing apples to oranges when talking about what different people need. It's comparing an apple seed to Jupiter! LOL!
@@wingnutbert9685 Agreed, some of these massive systems you see on videos are irrelevant to the bulk of people that have an RV. Most weekend warriors don't need a huge system like that. Thanks again for the comment and watching.
I would recommend everyone to start small and increase solar and battery only as needed.
I get by with a single 150w panel and 2 group 31 wet lead acid batteries. Never ran below 50%, more often down to 75-80% is usual.
Have been running like this for 11 years and multiple 10-14 day trips boondocking. It all depends on usage. I am contemplating upgrading with an extra panel and 2 100ah Lifepo4 batteries because now we travel with 2 48v electric bikes that require charging through an inverter that will suck more power from the system.
Thank you for sharing your real life experience. So many people think you have to have a massive system in order to boondock and that isn't always the case.
Thx, I have a smaller trailer and have 160 solar & dual 6 volt batteries, I have quit bringing the Honda generator. Maybe 🤔 For the cold temps I would probably bring just in case.
You're welcome! Yeah, it is definitely a good idea to have a generator with you while camping in cold temperatures. I got stuck in a snowstorm while camping on our land. It's snowed two feet when I was there! My panels were buried and were useless for a few days. I ran my generator for 44 hours straight. I would have been screwed if I didn't have the generator. Thanks for watching!
no gidß gertirs best bakes gas frtir Bart's vajç ci2 ensuinß
Depends on what you want to power up!
I agree, thanks for watching!
Great video QUESTIONS SIR, 1. What gain would you get by adding a second battery?. 2. How long does it take for the 200watt solar panel to charge a depleted 12 volt battery? 3. What would adding a second 200 solar panel do? Isn't there an inlet on the side of camper to plug a second solar panel in?
A second battery will increase how many hours you can operate everything when you are not bringing in solar. Our battery would typically be charged up after 3-4 hours depending on our usage. A second solar panel will charge your batteries up quicker. No inlet on our camper, it was built in 2010 when solar was not as mainstream on campers. Thanks for watching!
Its all about the battery 24v 200ah lithium will last for days ! Even if you have a couple hundred watts coming in if your only camping for a week even though it takes a month to charge up
Yes, a larger battery bank definitely helps. Thanks for watching
most rv's use at least 1200 watts of solar to go all off grid 200 watts will be nice to charge your laptop and fone
Yep
Very cool video. I’m thinking what about 400w (4-panels) and both on either end of the camper. That way you’re always getting something hopefully. And microwaves are crazy for power.. I wonder if Air Fryers are that crazy with power? I honestly prefer how good comes out but.. takes about 3x as long as microwaving the same thing.
Got me thinking and answered questions I didn’t know I had, thanks.
That's a good idea on spreading the panels out on the camper! I bet air fryers are crazy with power too. You would need to install a pretty good sized inverter if you wanted to run either of those off your solar system. Our system is super basic just to run the necessities. If we need to run something larger, we use a gas generator or I also have a larger solar generator. The larger solar generator which works great for the microwave because you only use the microwave for a short time. It is also nice because the solar generator is quiet as opposed to the gas generator. Have fun putting together your system! Thanks for watching.
Air fryers run 1700 watts. They cycle the heating element on and off but they suck power for sure.
There's an easy answer for you how many Watts of The electricity does your home use that's what you need in your RV!. If I can't run my computer my TV my box fan my lights The Central air and/or heating unit Refrigerator wash your dryer and microwave all at the same time you don't have enough! Will you actually run all the Same time question mark no but. You'll never ever have to worry about running out of power in your RV if you set it up that way. And you can stay off the grid nearly indefinitely unless you're dealing with overcast conditions 24 hours a day 43 or 4 days
We used our camper recreationally and not to live out of, so 200 watts was fine for us.
Thanks for 5he info. Looking to install solar on my Newmarket sooner than later.
You're welcome, good luck with the install. Thanks for watching.
Do you have a 400 pound gorilla guarding that battery? Lol. Thanks for the information. Looking to do some Boone docking soon. Thanks again.
Lol, yeah, I need to get a tongue box and lock that thing up! Have fun boondocking and thanks for watching!
Its a great video .. helped a lot of people I am sure !
Thank you! I appreciate the comment and you watching!
*glances at 1200W panel array. Well, we could use some more.
Lol, things have changed quite a bit from when I made this video! Panel prices have come down quite a bit. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman Yeah, it's funny how things have changed over the last couple years. I'm currently doing a retrofit in my RV of some stuff and I don't even run 12v batteries anymore. It's all 48 volt. But on the other hand, there's so much good stuff on the market now that it's way easier to put together a huge off-grid system into a modest sized RV.
@@TheGorfThat is very true!
Great video. But for me 2000 watts is not enough. No one wants to hear the other guys generator running all day (if they are people who spend time in the camper during the day) or all night to keep the ac/heater running. That means lots of backup battery and that means lots of solar.
2000 watts is not enough?!? That's a ton of power! I assume you mean 200? Thanks for watching.
No I mean 2000. Running a air conditioner all night needs a ton of batteries and a big inverter.
@@thereefaholic Yeah, you would need a massive system to be able to run an RV's AC for an extended period of time. Luckily where we camp, the night time temps cool down significantly. We can usually just open up windows and not run our AC at night.
What size is your battery bank to run the AC all night?
Well from what I’ve seen as far as the smaller split units go they are at about 800 W. But I’m sure that’s not continuous I’m sure that’s just when the compressor is running. So it would depend on how well insulated your RV is and it would also depend on lots of other factors.But there are a few CZcamsrs who do it and they may be able to offer a better insight.
well done liked your info
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
If you upgrade from that cheap PWM solar charge controller to an MPPT charge controller you will get about 20% more power out o your solar array. The PWM controller forces your solar panels to operate at the battery voltage. A nominal 12 volt 100 watt panel will put out no more than about 6 amps. So at say 13.8 volts the maximum power you will get from a 100 watt panel is 13.8v x 6a = 82.8 watts. So the PWM controller is throwing away 17.2 watts. An MPPT controller will operate the panel at the maximum power point so you will get 100 watts minus controller efficiency (>99% in most cases) so you will be able to get 99+ watts in full sunlight. That works out to an extra 34 watts from your two 100 watt panels when the system is at 13.8 volts. When your battery is low (12.3 volts, you are not going to get over 150 watts from your panels with the PWM controller).
In addition, the voltage on your charge controller when the battery is charging is NOT a good indication of how fully charged the battery is. In order to get a good indication of the state of charge of the battery you need to disconnect it from all loads and charging for an hour or so then measure the voltage. It will be considerably less than 13.8 volts. For your reference, if your 200 amp-hr battery reads 12.3 volts in the morning (with nothing on) the battery is at about 50% state of charge so you used approximately 100 amp hours or approximately 1250 watt hours from the battery. Your 200 watts of solar with a PWM controller will take at least 8 hours of full sun to replace that energy in the battery. Since the average number of full sun hours in a day is between 5 and 6 you will not be putting more than 80 amp-hr back into the battery after a full day of sun (zero clouds) if you use no power during day light hours. If you use any power during the day you will put less charge into the battery. If you stay out for more than about 2-3 days your battery will be pretty flat if you use power during the day.
Yeah MPPT would give us more power. Our setup works for us just fine. Power is never a problem for us. If it is, we almost always camp with a generator. Thanks for watching.
Mppt won't give you 20% more from such a small total output unless the panels are significantly over voltage and the pwm is just wasting the extra potential. For "standard 12 volt" (around 18-20 voc) it's minimal loss.
The difference in cost for pwm to mppt is also not cost effective at 200w - you could just add another small panel. If you have room that is.
@@MastaSquidge to illuntrate the magnitude of the loss. Consider a battery charging in bulk at 13V from 200 watts of panels with maximum power point voltage of 18.5 volts. At 18.5 volts the 200 watts of panels will put out 200/18.5 = 10.81 amps. With a PWM controller the controller will pull the panel voltage down to the battery charging voltage while the amps stay constant. So if the charging voltage is 13V the power going into the battery will be 13V x 10.81 A = 140.53 watts. With an MPPT controller the panels will output 18.5 volts at 10.81 amps to the controller. The DC to DC converter in the controller will change that 10 13 V at about 15.2 amps or 198 watts assuming 99% conversion efficiency which is typical of quality MPPT controllers. The differnce is 57.5 watts which I would not consider minimal. Of course once the controller switches to absorption mode the loss will be smaller, but bulk mode is where it matters.
Also most MPPT controllers can handle being over paneled which PWM controllers can not, so you can install a larger array to give decent charging even in winter with an MPPT controller.
@@todddunn945 your numbers are off. I didn't experience anything near 20% with 150w on my small camper. I gained just about 10w which is 6.7%
@@MastaSquidge the numbers are correct. How much difference there is between MPPT and PWM depends on the state of charge of the batteries and the resulting charging voltage. The difference is smallest at the point where the charge controller changes from bulk to absorption. At that point with lead acid batteries the charging voltage is at its maximum and is about 14.4 volts. That is the point where the panel should be putting out its maximum current. The difference in performance between an MPPT controller and a PWM. If there is full sun the panels should be operating at their maximum power point voltage. That voltage varies a bit for different panels. The lowest I have seen for a nominal 12 volt pnel is about 16.8 volts and it can be as high as almost 20 volts. I used 18.5 volts in my example. If the panels had a lower maximum power point voltage (say 16.7 volts, the loss from PWM controller relative to an MPPT controller would be about 14%. In contrast, if the maximum power point voltage was at the high end (say 20 volts) the difference would be about 28 volts. Also, in less than full sun (partly cloudy day), the maximum power point for the panels would be different resulting in a different loss when using a PWM controller. I used 18.5 volts in my example because that is in the middle of the range for quality panels. So yes, depending on your panels and typical weather your loss with a PWM controller might have been less than what I calculated. Also note, that if the battery is significantly dspleted, the initial charging voltage will be less and will gradually increase as the battery is charged until the controller goes from bulk to absorption mode. In absorption mode voltage remains constant but charging current decreases until the controller transitions to float mode where the system will only provide enough power from the panels to maintain float voltage (typically about 13.5 to 13.6 volts for a 12 volt battery). In float mode there is no difference between a PWM controller and an MPPT controller. In absorption mode the difference between MPPT and PWM decreases as the battery approaches full charge because the controller is providing less and less power to the battery and once the power required drops below about 70% of maximum power output from the panel for conditions the PWN controller can put out enough power to meet the absorption current. What it boils down to is that if you don't draw your batteries down much you will see a smaller difference between PWM and MPPT controllers. However, if you draw your batteries down quite a bit you will see a pretty big difference. The difference is a moving target that depends on your panels, your batteries and how you use your batteries.
For the fridge, fans, lights, phones, and computer? Yes 200 is plenty.
Our fridge would not be able to be run off of the 200 watts in addition to other items. However, we do have a small 12 volt fridge that could be run. Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman oh! That's what I was talking about, from my own experience, my 12 volt compressor freezer.
@@gregpeterman1102 Got it, yeah we have an Igloo 28 quart 12 volt. We use it in addition to our RV fridge. We run the RV fridge on propane and then have the Igloo for outdoor beverages or if we need additional fridge space for food we're cooking outside. It works well!
i needed twice that. i cant figure out all them numbers so i just started adding batteries and panels till my crap all worked.
Lol, that is one way to do it! I agree, those numbers can be a pain to figure out. Thanks for watching!
You don’t need special batteries to run solar. Deep cycle batteries are fine
No you don't, but you have a much longer lifespan off of a lithium-iron phosphate battery. And, right now they are only about $200. Their overall performance is much better too. You can drain most LiFePO4 batteries down to 5-10% charge and not damage the batteries. That is not the case with a lead acid battery.
This might be perfect for me 🙂
It worked great for us for a lot of years! Thanks for watching.
Nice setup but It would be nice to have a vegetable oil biodiesel generator
Thanks, yes that would be nice! Thanks for watching!
dísél genetirß run bio dusel oriole digtbkniwvthat
Just please park far away from where I'm located if you run it...
Hey Brian, How would that battery do in colder weather? I have a couple of AGMs at my cabin and they do ok down to about 30 deg. Then they drain fairly quickly when it gets colder. Another great informative video.
It seems to do pretty well. Like I said in the video, the night time low on this trip was 23 degrees. We ran the furnace a good amount and the battery was at 12.3 volts in the morning. Daytime temps were warmer though at around 50 degrees. I camped on our land maybe 6-7 months ago and it snowed 2ft while I was there. On that trip, the nighttime low ranged from 5-10 degrees. I was running the generator non-stop, but when I turned the generator off and ran off the battery during the day, it did not seem to be bothered by the cold temps at all (daytime temps were 20-30 degrees). Does your battery not charge up to the full voltage or does it just drain quicker during the cold? It's hard to tell if ours drains quicker during the cold because when it is cold, we generally are running the furnace which is a huge drain on the battery. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman It does charge up to voltage. I did say anywhere from 13.8 to 14.1 on the high side. I do run my generator also. I just don't like running it during deer season. 😀
@@whitetailhollowacres6917 That's good news. I'll have to look into that a little more and keep a closer eye on our battery during cold temps. I totally understand you not wanting to run the generator during deer season!
@@whitetailhollowacres6917 k9
I was certain I had read/ heard somewhere that lithium batteries won't charge at all below certain temperatures. I can't recall what the temperature was 🤔. But because I'm considering going full time nomad, that's been a concern of mine. Sounds like these replies contradict/dispell that. 🤔🤷♂️
Excellent video
Thanks for watching!
This is unbelievable. After months of watching videos and wondering why I have to spend all that money on Lithium batteries and a bunch of solar panels, not to mention installation, you just described my exact scenario. Including having some external, charged batteries handy for my laptop. I’m wondering what the catch is. Actually, my only question is, do the solar panels and the generator both charge the battery, either independently (ie., no sun) or together?
Glad you could find the video helpful! The generator and solar should power the battery together. However, the charging from being hooked up to the generator is probably only a trickle charge and not a rapid charge. It depends on your RV and how it was built. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman What is the output of the generator ? This is the only way you will know how much its charging your battery ! btw , Most generators do not " trickle" charge !
@@stevelamperta865
I recently replaced the landline (110V plug) power control unit in my pull trailer. the unit converts some of the 30 amps input into 11 different 12 volt circuits for lights and furnace fan etc. The control unit is built with a battery charger. It has a three stage battery charger. the levels are Automatic three-stage charging extends the life of your battery with output voltage modes of 13.2 Vdc range "float" mode, 13.6 Vdc range "absorption" mode, and a 14.4 Vdc range "bulk" charge mode. most generators are 110V or 240V so it would plug into the landline just as if being in a park. I don't know how solar hooks up to charge the battery.
Great video. Thanks for the info. Doesn't your camper have a 2000watt inverter to run your Microwave? And possibly your AC unit.
Thanks! No, we did not install an inverter with the solar. Thanks for watching.
Buy LifePo4 (Lithium) battery, not solar. Buy solar if you want, but only after you buy battery.
I have LiFePO4 batteries now. Solar worked just fine with our 200ah deep cycle gel. Thanks for watching.
200 watts is nothing unless you don’t care the annoying generator. I have 2 systems of 1000 watts each with 800 amps battery on each and still not enough for me.
What are you operating where 2000 watts of solar and 1600 ah of batteries is not enough? Are you running an AC non-stop?
Yes, everything in the trailer plus 2 units of 15k each 16 hrs a day since I live in Puerto Rico where is summer all yr.
Full time for 2.5 years in western states, 200W solar, and never used a generator. 250AH of LFP batteries. I use a catalytic heater mostly, and the fact my truck and camper can move.. got close to needing a generator a few times, but just solar so far. 12.9V was my lowest. Of course, no microwave or AC.
Thanks for sharing your experience Dave! It's always good to hear from people who have smaller setups and make it work just fine! Thanks for the comment and watching!
No! 200W of solar is not near enough! I've been living on solar for over 20 years, an if you want more than just lights, you need much more wattage!
1:29 "Yes it is, at least for us." We weekend camp maybe 10 weekends a year for 3-4 days each time, 200 watts is plenty for our usage. Sounds like you're living off of solar. So, I would agree with you that 200 watts is not enough. Thanks for watching.
Good Luck!
Do you think the 200 watt solar is enough to run all the things you do plus and heres the question. Is it enough to also run the current 12 volt compressor refrigerators?
We run a 12 volt Igloo 28 Quart Thermoelectric Iceless Cooler. It runs 40-55watts. We can run that no problem as long as the sun is out. I don't know about the other 12volt compressors refrigerators. Here's a link to what we have: amzn.to/3JLqHSN Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman appreciate that ... I’ll check it out.
TO GET 200 WATTS OF POWER YOU NEED 10 100 WATT SOLAR PANELS BECAUSE SOLAR PANELS ARE ABOUT 20% EFFECIENT
You are correct on the 20% efficiency. However, a 100 watt panel will produce a lot more than 20 watts. On a sunny day, we will get 75-85 watts from 1 -100 watt panel. Based on that, we would only need 3-100 watt panels to bring in 200 watts. Thanks for watching.
Perfect...
Need at least 400 is better will charge on cloudy days batteries will not go down at all on good day running everything
Thanks for watching
@@ColoradoCamperman more is faster and better on cloudy days
There is an other type of battery that u can get in Canada It is a led cristal battery 30% better than lithium won't freeze or over heat is military battery soled by a company called Sonell fantastic battery I have 2
@@garyreed354 Good point. I've never heard of that battery, I will check it out. Thanks for the tip!
Have you tried boosting your solar panel output by installing a couple reflective mirror segments beside the panels? I've heard it can boost panel power over 50 percent.
I have not tried that or ever heard of that. I'll look into it. Thanks for the comment and watching.
This link at the 11:00 minute mark describes making reflective panels for a solar setup
czcams.com/video/FKhszB4E1_M/video.html
50% is extremely unlikely. You'll also heat the panel a lot more and reduce its life a ton.
I beat the high cost of gasoline and charge ebikes for free with solar power 390W
Heck yeah! That is a great setup. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman thanks, you are doing great too..solar is the way to go, especially with ebikes being so popular now. Gasoline may never come down again.
You make awesome videos with great explanations. I’m still trying to figure out if I can go all solar on a property I want to use as a weekend getaway. I intend on having generator for emergency backup. Can you recommend any peeps you know who do use all solar? Just starting my research and haven’t found a straightforward source for information yet.
Thank you! We watch Wild Wonderful Off Grid, they have a massive system and it's kinda complicated. We also watch Life Uncontained, their system is large but probably more simple than WWOG. Nomadic Fanatic also added a solar setup to his property not long ago, he probably has the simplest system out of the three. Hope that helps, thanks for watching!
Thank you!
200w of solar is not even close to enough for me.
I have a 200w gaming laptop alone.
I live in a Mitsubishi express van, with 780w of solar on top.
All with a 135ah Lithium battery.
I want to upgrade to 400ah total so I can run my laptop 24/7 (minecraft afk farms ;).
Atm, I can only game during the hours of 9am and 3pm. But once I have that battery upgrade I'll be good to go.
We used our camper recreationally and didn't live in it. We also didn't have a device that took 200 watts of power. I agree it is not enough for you. It was plenty for us and our uses. Thanks for watching.
thank you good upload
You're welcome, thank you for the comment and watching!
If you need a generator to power stuff then 200 watt is not enough- as I see that question. I would be asking how much solar power would you need to run everything?
If you want to run an AC or microwave, you're going to need a massive system that will cost thousands. That's why we opted to run the generator for those 2 items, it's much more cost effective. We can run everything else of our 200 watts. Thanks for watching.
Call it more of a safety issue but it appears he has the battery (source of ignition) mounted inches from propane tanks. This poses a potential risk. 😮
Yeah, I never understood why RV manufacturers did that.
Good video.
Thanks for the comment and watching!
I have 2100 watts- 3 x 700 watt panels.
Nice that's a good sized setup!
Thanx, helpful..subbed.
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful, thanks for watching!
Note:
I have a neighbor building a house soon, living in a travel trailer.
Last year they averaged $900 a month gasoline to run their generator to run the AC.
Lets think about that compared to a solar system large enough for that load.
They could have bought 2 solar systems with the batteries and inverters and still been ahead.
Where you live matters.
High amounts of sun = needing more AC and thus the solar being a better idea than the generator.
100 watts of panels is enough for the 12 V stuff in your RV just about every time. 200 watts is insurance vs cloudy days.
Yes, it took him a full year to get power run so he could run the RV on the grid. (and have "temp power" for the construction crew)
Dang, that is a lot of $ per month on gas to run their AC! Yeah, it definitely matters where you live. At 8-9,000ft in the mountains here, AC really isn't even necessary during the summer. Some days you may need AC for a few hours but nighttime temps are generally in the 50's, maybe 60's. If you camp in the shade, you may not need AC at all! Of course then you won't be able to use solar. Thanks for the comment and watching!
6009btu AC, 1800w cooktop, water heater....thinking imma go for 1080W and 6.7kwh battery lol 😂
Yeah, my system is for basic power needs. We carry a generator to run the stuff you're talking about. In most cases, a generator is much more practical than a huge, expensive solar setup for an RV. Thanks for watching.
I like your channel. You use a generator, 200 watts is not enough.
Thanks. Our system works for 90% of our power needs. It's not worth it financially to build a massive system to run our AC and/or microwave. Thanks for watching.
@@ColoradoCamperman understand, I’m not full time on road and just ordered 400 watts with x2 100ah Lipos
@@hacklabdesign Nice! That will be a good setup.
So I was wondering whether you had any problems driving in the wind with the panels on the roof? Your panels look like they're mounted close to each other so it doesn't look like you drilled into the studs on the roof.
The front screws are mounted into studs. The stud spacing and spacing on the panels is different, so you will likely only be able to screw into one stud. No issues yet on our rig or my In-laws rig (I installed solar on their camper about 4 years ago). Thanks for watching.
200 watt solar panels is not enough One battery is not enough to write a camper I had used several batteries and 2400 watts of solar panels and that was just to run my cousin's camper and I had to use 16 batteries and on cloudy days I ran short on power.
2400 watts of solar on a camper is a huge system! That would be amazing but not necessary for the type of camping we do. Thanks for watching.
Great videos just wondering on your setup solar charger direct to fuse panel have you had any issues with system up to now. Any issues with charging battery or voltage loss? Thank you keep videos coming.
Thanks! No issues so far. I installed solar on my In-Laws camper years before our camper. Both campers are working great still. No issues at all. Thanks for watching.