Portable Solar Panel

[austinado16]

This is all great info!  I hadn't compared the lumens of the 9 vs. 32 LED's.  I just saw the 9's and thought, "Nope, I need more light than that."

Forestcreature, your useage sounds like ours, especially with regard to the furnace.  That's exactly what we have done.  Although now with the Wave 6 Catalytic Heater, our power and propane consumption will drop off even more so.

Maybe I can get by with a small system just fine, especially after replacing all 5 1156 bulbs with LED versions.......and we also have some of the single tube battery powered fluorescents.  They work great and the batteries last years.

[garym053]

Hey Dave,

I think you could get a story about adding solar power from these guys!!!
I'd love to see it, as I've been thinking of starting with the camper, then going on to the house!!!

I think it would make a great article!

[BirdMan]

I read another post somewhere about how far one can put the solar panels away from your battery.  I addressed some of this in my original post, but there is a really good website I thought I would share.

This website, //www.solarexpert.com/Photowiring.html, has some great charts on wire sizing and distances for 12V & 24V systems.    

Make sure you are looking at the chart talking about the distance from your solar panel(s) to Batteries.  This is the chart that says "maximum one-way distance (feet) for 2% loss".

The other chart talking about a 5% loss is what is acceptable from your batteries to your lighting/load circuits.

For my solution/AMP draw it turned out that I could go about 22' with 10ga wire.

[BirdMan]

Last weekend DW, our three dogs, and myself went camping in a very remote portion of Pike National Forest not to far from Kenosha Pass, for those that may be familiar with CO.  We were at about 10,400' elevation.  This is the fourth trip using the solar panel and this trip was probably the coldest temp's at night.  On Sunday morning the dogs water bucket had ice in it.

The furnace was running a lot that night.  Because I have a charge controller I can leave the solar panel hooked up to the battery the whole time and not have to worry about it discharging the battery at night.  

Anyway, by around noon on Monday the battery was fully charged with the solar panel from the previous nights use.

This was a really nice place to dry camp.  We had to 4x4 in pulling our pop-up for about 17 miles off the last paved road.  The last three miles were pretty tricky to get around the holes & rocks.  Thank goodness I did that axle flip a couple months ago, otherwise my pop-up would still be back in the woods.

Below is a picture of the valley we were camped in.  You can see the solar panel sticking up on the left of the pop-up.  In the bottom of the valley past the pop-up is the North Fork of the South Platte River.  On the other side of this valley is segment five of the Colorado Trail.

[dthurk]

Last weekend DW, our three dogs, and myself went camping in a very remote portion of Pike National Forest not to far from Kenosha Pass, for those that may be familiar with CO.  We were at about 10,400' elevation.  This is the fourth trip using the solar panel and this trip was probably the coldest temp's at night.  On Sunday morning the dogs water bucket had ice in it.
 
 The furnace was running a lot that night.  Because I have a charge controller I can leave the solar panel hooked up to the battery the whole time and not have to worry about it discharging the battery at night.  
 
 Anyway, by around noon on Monday the battery was fully charged with the solar panel from the previous nights use.
 
 This was a really nice place to dry camp.  We had to 4x4 in pulling our pop-up for about 17 miles off the last paved road.  The last three miles were pretty tricky to get around the holes & rocks.  Thank goodness I did that axle flip a couple months ago, otherwise my pop-up would still be back in the woods.
 
 Below is a picture of the valley we were camped in.  You can see the solar panel sticking up on the left of the pop-up.  In the bottom of the valley past the pop-up is the North Fork of the South Platte River.  On the other side of this valley is segment five of the Colorado Trail.

Nice spot!!!!  This is camping at its best.

[fleagalbaum]

I replaced all my lights with the 9 led ones mentioned in previous posts.  It cost under 100 bucks Canadian.  Boy am I impressed with the amount of light they give off, way better than the incandescent.

Also my Battery draw meter measures them using only .19 amps.  I love it.  
I highly recommend them.

[BadAss88GT]

I'm curious, what do you do if youre dry camping in wooded areas? When we camp we look for decent wooded sites, we're not big fans of camping in open fields. There are some sites that we want to camp at, but we have a regular dorm fridge so running off the battery isnt an option, but maybe it could be with a solar charger.

[fleagalbaum]

I'm curious, what do you do if youre dry camping in wooded areas? When we camp we look for decent wooded sites, we're not big fans of camping in open fields. There are some sites that we want to camp at, but we have a regular dorm fridge so running off the battery isnt an option, but maybe it could be with a solar charger.

I would suggest using a cooler with lots of  block ice.  If you think you will run out of ice, bring another one with just block Ice, It will last for at least 3 days in the shade.

You would need a fair size panel to run a dorm fridge. Not sure how many but around 500 watts or more.  would cost you a few thousand.

You would also be better off buying a 3 way propane fridge that way you can run it on propane for about a month with a 20# tank.

[paxsman]

I just wanted to say thanks to BirdMan and Jim and others who took the time to post pictures and information with respect to their solar setups.  I just completed my solar panel setup and would have had a much harder time if it weren

[Bluedog225]

Trying to learn more about solar setups.  Why is it important not to have more than a 2% loss between the panel and the battery?  Seems like the battery would not care and that different panels will output at different levels anyway.

Is this significant from an objective standpoint or an arbitrary number?

Thanks

Tom

[paxsman]

Trying to learn more about solar setups. Why is it important not to have more than a 2% loss between the panel and the battery? Seems like the battery would not care and that different panels will output at different levels anyway.

Is this significant from an objective standpoint or an arbitrary number?

Thanks

Tom

The reason we try not induce more than a 2% voltage drop between the panel and the battery is to allow the said solar system to be as efficient as possible.  Simply put the larger the voltage drop between your panel and battery the less power you will be able to produce or put back into your battery.  (Believe me you need to be efficient to squeeze the potential out of your setup)  The 2% voltage drop is a very good target to shoot for.  However I do carry and extension cord approximately 10-15 extra feet just incase the sun is just out of reach.  This puts me at about 4-5% voltage drop.  Now with that said if the panels are not in the sun your efficiency may drop as much as 100% so from that stand point going from 2% to 5% is relative.  My advice is to look at your distance using #10 wire and try to stay as close as possible to the 2% voltage drop.  Once you jump up to #8 or even #6 wire the cost shoots through the roof.  I found the #10 wire Home Depot sells by the foot to be very nice.  (I cant remember the name but it is flexible and black)  Some have had good luck with brightly colored extension cords just be sure the cord you buy is made with #10 wire.  
Good luck and I hope this helps.

[Haroki]

Has anyone ever tried using an electric blanket for the cold nights? That way you'd just keep yourself warm, instead of warming the entire camper. Obviously it could get too cold for this to work, but as long as it didn't get too bad, it might work.

Electric blankets only draw 100w or so, and so there wouldn't be much draw on your battery, and of course zero propne used. Plus, they cycle on and off, so perhaps even less.

Then kick on the heater in the am so you can get outta bed.

[paxsman]

There is a fundamental problem with how you are looking at your example:  You are looking at watts/amps at 120 vac not 12vdc.  Let

[Haroki]

Yeah, that's a pretty big drain.

However, I think you're not taking into account the on/off times. If it's just 50%, things look better.

Besides, all the talk of guys talking about how the furnace ran pretty much all night long tells me one thing. They're friggin loud!

Just trying to find a quiet way to sleep AND keep warm at the same time. I'd trade a night's sleep uninterrupted for having to slap on another solar panel to power the electric blanket for a night.

Or having to run the gen every morning.

There is a fundamental problem with how you are looking at your example:  You are looking at watts/amps at 120 vac not 12vdc.  Let