justifying solar panel installation.

I think the whole idea of being electrically self reliant is a good one. What I question, is the practicality of a system to meet all our needs. Out here in the west during the summer, when the sun is shining the brightest, it is HOT, and needing to use the A/C is very real. From what I have read, the two things a RV solar panel can not do is produce enough electricity to run the A/C and the microwave. Out here in the summer, A/C is a necessity, at least to us "old People". It is great to provide electricity to keep the batteries charged to run lights. I wonder what size solar panel you would need to purchase to provide enough electricity to an inverter to run a A/C for eight hours?
As for today's technology, solar power along with another source of power, such as a generator is needed to be practical. I would like to talk to a person that has their entire home run by solar panels and ask what they like and do not like about their system. Five years ago, with five year old technology, a friend in Oregon had a system that was not very user friendly. Maybe today's technology has changed all that. I hope so.

Solar is great for general dry camping, but you'd still need a good reliable gennie for the AC. No getting around it that I'm aware of.

Going solar is definitley a double-edged sword. On one hand, it supplements your power consumption. But on the other, it requires you to be in the sun to achieve that goal, which adds to the heat factor. I've seen 400W wind turbines that you can attach to your RV in various ways that will help supplement power similar to solar in function, but you can park in the shade...and hope for a windy day.

Having said all that, I'd still jump at the opportunity to put panels on my Cat if I could afford it. It'd make me a happy camper (and probably others too) if I didn't have to run my gennies every day to keep my batteries bulk charged while dry camping. To me, that's justification enough.

TC

My wife gets cold at 100°F so I don't get to use the AC much even though I have the fancy pants 5500W generator. So my 130W solar panels maintain the battery systems fine.

If the humidity is low, you can get nice 12V swamp coolers for RVs. The company that makes them is not far from here.

http://www.turbokool.com/

I've given lots of thought about installing solar power. The more I thought about it the more I realized I would be much better served with a good Inverter Generator and high amperage after-market smart battery charger.

As stated above the very thing required for solar is the very thing I try to avoid like the plague. I always try to look for a shady spot while camping. If I can't find a shady spot I have no doubts the A/C will be running any time we are in the Camper. When the A/C is running off the generator the batteries are also charging. It only takes a couple hours to top off the batteries with a 40amp charger so the batteries will always be fully charged for non-generator quite hours if needed.

If I were out west in high elevations and low humidity where A/C was rarely needed; I'd be all over solar power. Being here in the Ohio valley with extreme humidity on top of 95 degree heat makes A/C mandatory. Its not an option.

I think its all up to the individual and how/where they camp if solar or even generator use is needed. Whats good for the Goose isn't always good for the Gander.

jetskier wrote:
If the humidity is low, you can get nice 12V swamp coolers for RVs. The company that makes them is not far from here.

http://www.turbokool.com/

Now that is a good idea for us dry climate areas. As you know though, at 100 degrees and above, the swamp coolers do not work very well. Below 100 degrees, they work fine out here.
In 1957, we had a swamp cooler on our car. It was better than having nothing. Now, we would not think of buying a vehicle without A/C.


Good idea...

But like Mountainman, for our uses, the generators work great. We have two Honda 2000's and they are very fuel efficient.

I think I'd go with the swamp cooler before installing the 2nd AC. My generator can do it, but my wife wouldn't. She has this phobia about the generators and noise. Ours is so quiet you don't here it much past 50ft.

I don't regret the solar. We dry camp 90% of the time and running the generator doesn't really charge the batteries like the panel can.

I pull into the campground, plug into the old 30 amp outlet and let the A/C unit, the HWH element and the MW rip. No problem. Obviously we don't dry camp. Never have/never will. It's just not our thing.

[quote="jetskier"]My wife gets cold at 100°F so I don't get to use the AC much even though I have the fancy pants 5500W generator.

I mean to tell ya Jetskier....I for a half an hour after reading that.

I'm glad you found it funny. I won't even go into the issues with who controls the climate in the truck.

"Can you turn it down a click?....." "No, but I can shut your vents"

It is an age old problem,,,, I am in my shorts and t-shirt, and the wife has three layers of clothes and a sweat shirt on.... Go figure

I'm sorry Jetskier..But like Maxtor said,It hits pretty close to home.

schrowang wrote:I pull into the campground, plug into the old 30 amp outlet and let the A/C unit, the HWH element and the MW rip. No problem. Obviously we don't dry camp. Never have/never will. It's just not our thing.

If you decide you want to camp near a lake, especially around here, you will need a generator. Or you can stay at a RV Park in town and drive out to the lake each day.

Yeah, I prefer camping at the water's edge. No space to reserve, just show up and find a nice piece of sand.

Where we spend a fair portion of our summer (usually) is over 9000", low humidity in the afternoons, and rarely gets over 80. And...the wind is always blowing. But...it gets down towards freezing at night, so the furnace runs.

Solar or solar/wind combo would be perfect for our needs, but the Honda Gennies work well for now.

However, if we're camping anywhere that's 90+ temp AND 90+ humidity, we'd prefer to find a CG to plug in at.

TC

jetskier wrote:Yeah, I prefer camping at the water's edge. No space to reserve, just show up and find a nice piece of sand.

With a handle like "jetskier" that makes perfect sense.

TC

Go figure! My toy takes a back seat now to the kids. I get to chauffeur them on the 3-seater Sea Doo. I do require at least a tank of gas burned on my stand up each trip. It's great full body exercise. I set a goal of not falling in. My record is about 20 miles of riding without stopping or falling. Even at my old age....mid 30's. The crowd pleaser is the submarine..I still got it.

jetskier wrote:Go figure! My toy takes a back seat now to the kids. I get to chauffeur them on the 3-seater Sea Doo. I do require at least a tank of gas burned on my stand up each trip. It's great full body exercise. I set a goal of not falling in. My record is about 20 miles of riding without stopping or falling. Even at my old age....mid 30's. The crowd pleaser is the submarine..I still got it.

MID 30'S

You are in the prime of your life.... Unfortunately, I have socks older than you...

I guess that means I need new socks...

Ok, 34. Not quite mid. I have another month until the true mid.

To answer one of Maxtor's original questions. To run the A/C off of solar, assuming you have a 13.5k BTU A/C, you'll need about 3,000 watts to start the compressor. At camping world, they have a 243-watt panels that can be hooked together. They are club member $1,700 each and you'll need 13-panels to get 3,000 watts or $22,100! That doesn't even include installation or the inverters to handle that power!

I keep waiting for that "magic" day when solar power is going to get cheap. I think we'd all go out and get them if they were the same dollar cost as one of the ultra quiet generators.

Jetskier,,,, I'll be 49 next month, My friends young son's dared me to jump the wake behind their new air nautique with the huge wakes yesterday. They called me out when they used the old man thing. So I grabbed my board and went for it. Made it to the top of the other wake without falling, tried it again, and I'm paying for it today.
Oh man I hurt....... Those little dudes can do the flips backwards and forwards all day long and make it look easy. They might be a 100lbs compared to my 230 flying through the air.


As for dry camping,,,,, I didn't pay that much for a camper to park in the boondocks...... You'll find me dry camping in my canoe on a river somewhere with my pup tent.

Phil, you're old and out of shape....

I know, I gotta 4hr dirt bike race in OCT to get in shape for.





Maxtor, I thought they had those big wind gennys all over Calif you could plug into ?

Admin wrote:I know, I gotta 4hr dirt bike race in OCT to get in shape for.





Maxtor, I thought they had those big wind gennys all over Calif you could plug into ?

Most all the wind generators are south of Sacramento. We are 152 miles north of Sac. Here in Redding we do not get much wind, only in the winter, when a storm blows through. We have not had a drop of rain since May, and that is normal for us. We should get wind and rain about November.

You are one brave guy to ride a bike for four hours in a race. Have you ever heard of Malcolm Smith? He was the hot shoe in bike racing back in the 50's. I think he was national champion for a couple of years. He is from Riverside Ca. , where I grew up. He has more broken bones than you can count, and was limping badly when I met him at his shop in Riverside, many years ago, and he was the best. Before my hip replacements, I owned a Honda V45 Magna, and that was way to fast for me. By today's standards, the V45 is very slow.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?racerid=91

Yep I know who Malcolm smith is.

It will be a team race, so I'll find a couple of younger guys to team up with , ride a couple of laps and let them have the rest. I don't think I can handle the Iron Man class any more.

As we get older, bones break easier.

You are sure up late... Time for this old man to go to bed.

Speaking of races, X-Games is this weekend. My neighbor left yesterday for LA. Look for him Adam Jones in the FMX freestyle. He's had a lot of broken bones.

jetskier wrote:Speaking of races, X-Games is this weekend. My neighbor left yesterday for LA. Look for him Adam Jones in the FMX freestyle. He's had a lot of broken bones.

I am awed by the shear power and speed of the racing motorcycles, but don't watch them due to the thought of one of the riders crashing and being killed. I watch Nascar, because when they crash no one gets hurt "most of the time", but bike crashes are not fun to watch.
At our local drag strip, I see "street legal" motorcycles running 9 seconds at over 150 mph, in the 1/4 mile. That is amazing.

Motorcross and X Game type crashes are kinda ruff to watch a crash, but road racing AMA Superbikes are more like super slides across pavement. every now and then they take a good slap on the pavement with a broke leg or something. I've never seen anyone get killed racing bikes. Its usually when they're doing something new that they have no idea how to do that usually takes them out. Like running 150 in traffic or jumping a free style jump without someone there to show them how.

jetskier wrote:If the humidity is low, you can get nice 12V swamp coolers for RVs. The company that makes them is not far from here.

http://www.turbokool.com/

WOW!!!!!!