Solar Powered Generator. Reviews/Comments?

[GuidoTheGuide]

THe tech for solar is getting much better every year... but we're not quite at a point where it is practical or affordable. I always look at the issue as two seperate things: solar electricity generation and battery storage of that energy. THere is a 3rd part, which is using the energy, but that part is kind of fixed -- you need to use energy.

Solar is a trickle charging system for most... it slowly charges a battery. My new 2600RB comes with a 165w panel on it. It will take about 12 hours of good sunlight for that panel to completely charge a 12V 100ah battery. Add more panels, and it charges more quickly.

Add more batteries (either more batteries or batteries with better storage) to increase how much energy you can store. For example, if you add another 100ah (kind of a standard 12v battery size), it would take 24 hours to fully charge them both. But you'd have 200ah of energy to use.

Ultimately, you need to know: how long is the battery going to run my electrical stuff? THe furrion fridge in my RV is estimated to use just over 1kwh per day. A 100ah standard 12 v battery has about 1.2kwh of energy in it. THat will run the fridge for a little over 24 hours.

COmbining all of this: a 165w panel will fully charge my battery in 12 hours of good sunshine. And my battery will run my fridge for 1+ days. But, these two things are happening at the same time: battery charging and fridge draining battery during the day. So long term dependence on the battery gets iffy with the sun and evening.

And, to make it all worse, you shouldn't drain more than 50% of the battery (again standard type batteries) -- so that limits the whole system. It all boils down to a lot of simple math to convert numbers into something useful... and then making a guess at weather and usage patterns. ANd, if you need an inverter (to run normal 120v household devices), there is another layer of complexity.

Hope this is helpful!

I can see why you gave up, that is a LOT of work and hassle. I bet your camp set up time was lengthy. There's a lot of info to look at and many variations to consider. Thank you.

[Butcher]

I've always thought the solar power generator is the wrong term for those units. Sure, it does the same thing as an engine driven generator but it's faster to 'charge' up an engine with new fuel than waiting for the sun to charge the batteries.

[GuidoTheGuide]

I can see why you gave up, that is a LOT of work and hassle. I bet your camp set up time was lengthy. There's a lot of info to look at and many variations to consider. Thank you.

Sorry, I sent that comment to you and not to the thread I wanted it to go to.

[GuidoTheGuide]

THe tech for solar is getting much better every year... but we're not quite at a point where it is practical or affordable. I always look at the issue as two seperate things: solar electricity generation and battery storage of that energy. THere is a 3rd part, which is using the energy, but that part is kind of fixed -- you need to use energy.

Solar is a trickle charging system for most... it slowly charges a battery. My new 2600RB comes with a 165w panel on it. It will take about 12 hours of good sunlight for that panel to completely charge a 12V 100ah battery. Add more panels, and it charges more quickly.

Add more batteries (either more batteries or batteries with better storage) to increase how much energy you can store. For example, if you add another 100ah (kind of a standard 12v battery size), it would take 24 hours to fully charge them both. But you'd have 200ah of energy to use.

Ultimately, you need to know: how long is the battery going to run my electrical stuff? THe furrion fridge in my RV is estimated to use just over 1kwh per day. A 100ah standard 12 v battery has about 1.2kwh of energy in it. THat will run the fridge for a little over 24 hours.

COmbining all of this: a 165w panel will fully charge my battery in 12 hours of good sunshine. And my battery will run my fridge for 1+ days. But, these two things are happening at the same time: battery charging and fridge draining battery during the day. So long term dependence on the battery gets iffy with the sun and evening.

And, to make it all worse, you shouldn't drain more than 50% of the battery (again standard type batteries) -- so that limits the whole system. It all boils down to a lot of simple math to convert numbers into something useful... and then making a guess at weather and usage patterns. ANd, if you need an inverter (to run normal 120v household devices), there is another layer of complexity.

Hope this is helpful!

Sorry, I sent you a comment I meant for someone else. I should know better than to have multiple threads open at once and try and keep track.