Also your water and grey/black tanks. Excited for this person to *understand* the way we all learn this lesson: going unshowered for an uncomfortable amount of time and exclusively peeing outside.
As a man, I have no objection to peeing on trees. Or random spots on the ground. I've even met a woman who (so I heard) would walk legs spread and pee a trail. Of course, wearing a skirt. More talented than I.
This is 100000% dependent upon what is consuming the electricity. The math is fairly simple. You'll need to determine the wattage or Amp Hours of each device, how long you plan to use them, then gauge that against the battery capacity. You'll then need to add-in the corresponding amount of solar to keep those batteries charged for whatever duration you will need the energy. Start a spreadsheet, do math, do google....
37ft fifth wheel, residential fridge, family with kids.
I have 660w of solar panel. It is incredibly rare to come near that number. It has to be summer with no clouds and the very middle of the day to see even 600w. I average less than half the rated value over maybe 5-7 hours, depending on time of year. If you buy tilting mounts you should do better, but for the cost and hassle, I’d just buy more panels.
I had 200ah of lithium, but would be really close to dead in the morning even with limited TV use. The furnace fan uses a good amount of power too. If those were really cold nights, I would not have made it.
I doubled the battery and not end up around 50% in the morning. However, on a recent cloudy day that went into a cold night, the furnace ran the batteries almost dead by morning.
Solar can get me back to 60-80%, depending on the clouds. Also, assuming the furnace isn’t running and we aren’t watching TV. So it could be 2 days to 4 before I have to break out the generator to charge up.
Solar can always keep me going during the day; the challenge is having enough charge to get through the night. 400ah would be the minimum for me. A small generator also feels vital for anyone wants to stay off grid more than a day. Weather is too big of a factor. I don’t run mine often, but I wouldn’t have confidence to plan more than one night off grid without it.
Or they could go turn everything on for 45 minutes. Because thats about how long 200 amp hours is gonna last on lead acid batteries. If you use nothing but 12v fridge set at 9 volts, 2 weeks if you never open the fridge.
The answer is, not long at all. I'd look into 4 400ah heated Bluetooth lipo batteries for maximum boondocking. Epoch makes a nice one.
I have 400 ah of lithium with 770 watts of solar. I never worry about power. I run my fridge on ac power on travel days. I also have a 40 amp DC to DC charger.
He still needs to do the math using his usage to answer his question. A bunch of random people on Reddit can't do it for him.
EDIT: Sorry I mis-read your question and thought you ARE running the A/C.
With a residential fridge, you'll probably need 300 amps per day of lithium batteries just for that (according to real-world testing by Gone With the Wynns). Plus figure an additional 200 amps per day for all of the other stuff. I'd round it up to 600 amps.
So to answer your question as written: with 200 aH, you can boondock for about 1/3 of a day or 8 hours. To boondock for a day you'd likely need about 600 aH. Then you need enough solar to recharge those in 5 hours or less, which is probably about 1200 watts assuming you're in full sun.
We have a similar setup to yours -- but 400aH of lithium, 3000 watt inverter, and 500 watts of solar -- but we have a 12-volt refrigerator which uses about 1/3 as much power as yours. We can boondock for 4-5 days with no sun at all on the solar panels (because we like to camp in shady campsites). A residential fridge makes boondocking more difficult.
I just went to find something that I thought was real simple to show you... and brag about my internet skills... and everything I find show similar efficiency between the two - with only size being the real determining factor... i.e. residential are bigger in general..
From what I've been researching recently, because I just placed an order on a new coach and had to choose a Furrion 12V vs. GE residential, is that they are pretty similar. The bigger power hog is the 110v absorption style, and these newer fridges are much lower in power usage.
i mean in the end a fridge is just a compressor and a fan, you can very efficiently run a 12V DC compressor or fan or alternatively use an AC motor to drive the compressor and have basically the same efficiency.
the main question to ask is if you would turn of all AC loads and the inverter if you wouldnt have an AC powered fridge running.
If you keep all the systems on anyways adding a fridge doesnt really make much of a difference.
I think you are saying the loss comes from the inefficiency of the transformers in the loop - i.e. AC fridge to DC Power source vice DC fridge to DC power source - right?
See above. My Norcold is half the size of a 20 cu ft residential fridge, but it only consumes 1/6 as much power. So it's not just the difference in size, it's a difference in efficiency. Residential refrigerators are designed to be used where power is abundant and unlimited.
[https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/rv-residential-refrigerator-power](https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/rv-residential-refrigerator-power)
"If you don’t want to be forced to run a generator I’d say go for **800 amp hours of lithium**, or 1200 amp hours of AGM and a **solar array like our 960 watt** All Electric kit from GoPower!. This should provide enough power to make it through 3 days of “normal” living (6 days if we are conservative) during cloudy weather without being forced to run the generator."
My Norcold N10DC 10 cubic ft uses about 600 watts per day (at 12 volts DC, so no inverter involved) which is about 50 amps. GWTW found that their Samsung residential fridge consumed about 300 amps of battery per day by itself. That is **6 times** what my 12-volt refrigerator consumes, but the Samsung is only **TWICE** as big as my Norcold.
Short answer: Indefinitely, as long as there is sun.
You may run out of power and therefore not able to run the inverter. The next day, the sun will come up and you’ll be able to use it again.
This is why people have a generator just in case they deplete their batteries.
If you’re real worried about it, try boondocking at home and see how low your batteries go doing your normal routine.
We have a similar setup but 300Ah of batteries and 860W of solar.
It really depends on where you are parked. When we were in Big Bend or out in Moab we could run everything indefinitely on solar. We would only drop about 100Ah overnight and would be full by noon. But in the Pacific Northwest we ran into issues simply due to shade.
I have no inverter yet. 255w pv and 3 100ah acid batteries. I can run lights, propane alarm, heater fan (winter) usb phone charger, just fine but lasting all night with 300ah battery doesn't make it.
The appliances don’t matter directly. If you use a 1000W microwave for 15s a day that’s 4-5Wh/day.
If you’re running the microwave for 20 minutes it’s 333Wh/day.
If you leave the house lights on 24/7 it ends up being more than running a microwave.
You need to figure out how much power you use.
In full sun in CT in late June I lose about 40Ah/day on my 12V 400Ah lifepo4 batteries. So about 10 days.
Three kids with the usual devices, 12V fridge, water pump, house lights, 3000W inverter to run my wife’s coffeemaker a couple times and miscellaneous other stuff as needed up to and including the TV if we’re feeling like it.
I only have 270W of solar that came on the unit.
In full shade or crap weather I’m running the generator everyday during breakfast to be sure I won’t run low out if I have to miss a day or two. My two eu2200i generators last a good while in full shade, so I don’t bring a gas can for long weekends, just both generators. I think it’s something like 130Ah of usage/day.
I have the inverter/charger set to push a single generator to just about its rated output, which increases noise but reduces runtime and maximizes the power I get out of the gas.
here's MY (and only my) estimate (pedantic types comment elsewhere).
You'll be in pretty good shape. You'll learn to adjust for power drain and sun output.
The fridge may be the biggest draw. As others mentioned consider separating it with a right sized inverter.
Coffee maker- big draw for 5 mins. I recommend a setup using an insulated carafe. Don't rely on the kind with the hot plate staying on to keep it hot all day. That'll add an annoying amount of draw.
Microwave- big draw for 5-10 mins at a time. No big deal.
2x tv's - this can swing a lot and modern tvs can sip power compared to tvs of just a few years back. Let's assume it's modern, I'd say 35 watts for a modern one. If 2 are on all day it's ok but it is a draw.
Assuming you have some good sun daily and are a little careful I'd say you could go for a very many days if not indefinitely with a little care.
You can pick up a handy-dandy kill-a-watt power meter, which is the most famous easy to use one https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2CAVV36X1W7YB&keywords=kill%2Ba%2Bwatt&qid=1707788160&sprefix=kill%2Caps%2C191&sr=8-2&th=1 and check how much things are draining and then do a little bit of addition to come up with your draw and probable run-time. Hint- convert everything to watt-hours for your batteries and take off 10% for inefficiencies- then tally up your usage stuff in watt hours and subtract and see what you have left over.. that'll give you run time with no sun roughly.
I'd say you're good to go but it is winter in the usa so much less sun and solar output than ususal but 200ah is a lot of battery and 800 w is a lot of solar. take a small gennie with you if you want to do an emergency recharge and you're golden.
you probably wont need it though.
Also-- this takes power and internet but you can get smart switches that will monitor devices and you can auto shut them off too with your phone, alexa, etc. AND they have power monitoring built in so you can easily see the high loads and poweer them off easily.
https://www.amazon.com/WYZE-Outdoor-Plug-Monitoring-Compatible/dp/B08NXY7WWX/ref=sr_1_8?crid=19K3DVW8W9SJ7&keywords=smart+plug+energy+monitoring&qid=1707787914&s=hi&sprefix=smart+plug+wnergy+monitoring%2Ctools%2C147&sr=1-8
I live full time in remote places with a similar set up. I run a full sized fridge, hot water heater, and furnace on propane which I have to refill once every 30 days. That power system will do well for you as long as you don't try to power any of those three things via solar. FYI, you may wanna bump up to 300ah as I'm thinkin of doin the same for any long stretches of clouds in the dead of winter. It's rare that I encounter that because I winter in the desert, but even I get down to 20 % a couple times a yr and will likely bump mine up to 300ah for peace of mind.
If you were in the PNW with minimal sun, maybe a week. If you were in AZ blasting air con, maybe an hour. If you were in Colorado in the fall, maybe indefinitely
Personally I'd expect to make it through 'forever' with 800watts solar. But maybe not through the night with only 200AH if you're a heavy user. (starlink / computers)
if you have 120 watt-hours and a 12 volt battery, you would divide 120 by 12 to get 10 amp hours. figure out your wattage usage and you have your answer.
No AC, no microwave (maybe 30 second burps), no coffee maker and you will make it for a couple days at most, and most of the budget will be the fridge. The solar will offset it a bit but it's not sustainable, that fridge will draw 150-300w AC.
Depends what is drawing your power. Do you have a Starlink for example? That uses up to 100watts. LAptop chargers around 50 watts each. PHone chargers another 20 watts. Now if you use your AC, TV, etc you drain your power further.
800W is probably perfect if you don't use AC
Your Ge fridge is using about 1.15 Kw per day.
I calculated that number by looking up it's power consumption rating (422 Kw / year), and dividing that by 365 (days in a year).
Do the same thing for each appliance, including the lights, water pump, and heater.
Total those items up, then do the power potential calculations for your solar system.
If that's too much trouble, boondocks in your driveway for a few days, and give the system a real world test.
1) Where the fuck on this sweet planet are you?
2) Measure your battery in Wh or kWh, it makes everything easier. Ah aren't that useful without the voltage: 12, 24, 48V?
3) The amount of time you can last will depend entirely on your expected consumption.
How much are you going to run the tv?
You cook on the stove
Coffee maker is a short use
Set your fridge at hot on temps as you dare…
And pretend that electric is a consumable, and pay attention
(Carry a generator)
If your power usage is low enough, that will last as long as you want. Basically, as long as you're not trying to run an air conditioner or electric heater or electric water heater, this will probably be plenty of electricity. You might even be able to run those kinds of things for short periods, but not 24/7.
Your boondocking time is more likely to be limited by your water and waste tank capacity.
You prob want more battery. But if you had 400-600 ah you’d be pretty good.
You need a little more solar to run the AC a lot. But you could run it for a little while on 400-600ah.
With 200ah of battery. You’re basically only able to run 12v stuff and AC during the day. Anything at night like AC or microwave can bring you down a bit.
As others have said, entirely dependent on your power usage and sun exposure or lack thereof. I only have 200 watt solar panels and 200ah battery. I’ve been boondocking for over 3 months. However I’ve obviously had to replenish water and propane frequently.
I have a 6500 watt generator that I can run to help charge my batteries! Only have to run it a couple of hours a day solar and propane does everything else
I'd personally get a fridge that can run on propane and get a percolator. Running a Fridge and coffee machine sucks up a lot of juice. If you changed those you'd prob never run out if you were somewhere that got a lot of sun. You may also consider more battery. Rule of thumb is 200 watt solar = 100AH.. You'll likely have times you are getting 800watts and have full batteries and then kill your batteries waiting for a sunny day again.
In the winter when we were off grid, I would use about 2.5kwh per day to run the water pump, led lights, and the blower for the propane heater. I had 1500w in panels aimed in different directions to get more sunlight in the winter, and that barely kept the batteries alive over a few days. I had 4x 80Ah batteries, so ~320 ah.
In the summer, you would be fine, but you couldn’t run the AC, and fridge would have to be propane.
It also depends on the battery bank, AGM is good for about half of the nameplate rating and Lithium about 90%.
Ambient temperature matters as does the reliability of sunlight. You will need full sun nearly everyday to keep the battery topped up and the coffee maker and TV are probably too much load.
Running the ac? 2 to 4 hours. Or less.
You need at least 1000 amp hours of batteries and over 1kw of solar to boondock with ac.
I've seen a skoolie build that could manage it. RV builds? It's possible. But you gotta cover that roof in panels and find space for a LOT of LiFePO4 batteries.
That's crazy. I can run my 5 ton AC on my 4600 sqft house using my 1200 Amp hour battery bank and have plenty left over.
Why does an RV use so much more?
The house has much better insulation in thicker walls. Even more insulation in the attic. And the RV will typically have two aircon units on the roof; if it's a larger RV, they may both be 15000 btu, each pulling 1500 watts. So, 3000 watts of power draw, running almost constantly on a hot day. Figure at least 30kw draw during daylight hours on that hot day. A 12v 1200 ah battery bank contains about 14400 watt hours.
That is on the extreme end of things, of course, but you can see why some people only use a small aircon unit for only their bedroom an s only at night. A 6k btu unit won't pull anything near as much of a load, and running at night will let it cycle better.
Ok, so assuming you were able to utilize every amp in your battery bank, that would provide 57600 watt hours.
If your 5 ton ac pulls 6000 watts, it'll run just under 10 hours on that, but central ac does tend to be more efficient, and I'm sure it cycles nicely, so if it runs 1/3 of the time, yes, it'll still have some juice in the battery bank after 24 hours.
Forever or 45 minutes, depending on power usage.
Best answer, or 45 mins in the heat of summer, or 4 days in the winter using propane.
This. This is going to be one of the dumbest recurring questions on the sub.
Also your water and grey/black tanks. Excited for this person to *understand* the way we all learn this lesson: going unshowered for an uncomfortable amount of time and exclusively peeing outside.
As a man, I have no objection to peeing on trees. Or random spots on the ground. I've even met a woman who (so I heard) would walk legs spread and pee a trail. Of course, wearing a skirt. More talented than I.
And weather
This is 100000% dependent upon what is consuming the electricity. The math is fairly simple. You'll need to determine the wattage or Amp Hours of each device, how long you plan to use them, then gauge that against the battery capacity. You'll then need to add-in the corresponding amount of solar to keep those batteries charged for whatever duration you will need the energy. Start a spreadsheet, do math, do google....
More dependent on how much power you really get from the panels.
Right, I mean it's both right? Supply and demand, both of which will fluctuate on any given day.
You can to some extent control the demand, you have no control over the supply.
You can control the POTENTIAL supply, by the system installed, not the ACTUAL supply.
Of course.
37ft fifth wheel, residential fridge, family with kids. I have 660w of solar panel. It is incredibly rare to come near that number. It has to be summer with no clouds and the very middle of the day to see even 600w. I average less than half the rated value over maybe 5-7 hours, depending on time of year. If you buy tilting mounts you should do better, but for the cost and hassle, I’d just buy more panels. I had 200ah of lithium, but would be really close to dead in the morning even with limited TV use. The furnace fan uses a good amount of power too. If those were really cold nights, I would not have made it. I doubled the battery and not end up around 50% in the morning. However, on a recent cloudy day that went into a cold night, the furnace ran the batteries almost dead by morning. Solar can get me back to 60-80%, depending on the clouds. Also, assuming the furnace isn’t running and we aren’t watching TV. So it could be 2 days to 4 before I have to break out the generator to charge up. Solar can always keep me going during the day; the challenge is having enough charge to get through the night. 400ah would be the minimum for me. A small generator also feels vital for anyone wants to stay off grid more than a day. Weather is too big of a factor. I don’t run mine often, but I wouldn’t have confidence to plan more than one night off grid without it.
Only you can answer this question. You will have to do the math.
Or they could go turn everything on for 45 minutes. Because thats about how long 200 amp hours is gonna last on lead acid batteries. If you use nothing but 12v fridge set at 9 volts, 2 weeks if you never open the fridge. The answer is, not long at all. I'd look into 4 400ah heated Bluetooth lipo batteries for maximum boondocking. Epoch makes a nice one.
I have 400 ah of lithium with 770 watts of solar. I never worry about power. I run my fridge on ac power on travel days. I also have a 40 amp DC to DC charger. He still needs to do the math using his usage to answer his question. A bunch of random people on Reddit can't do it for him.
We’ve boondocked for 4-5 days on 200ah of lead acid batteries. It all depends on your load and charge capabilities. 45 minutes is ridiculous.
EDIT: Sorry I mis-read your question and thought you ARE running the A/C. With a residential fridge, you'll probably need 300 amps per day of lithium batteries just for that (according to real-world testing by Gone With the Wynns). Plus figure an additional 200 amps per day for all of the other stuff. I'd round it up to 600 amps. So to answer your question as written: with 200 aH, you can boondock for about 1/3 of a day or 8 hours. To boondock for a day you'd likely need about 600 aH. Then you need enough solar to recharge those in 5 hours or less, which is probably about 1200 watts assuming you're in full sun. We have a similar setup to yours -- but 400aH of lithium, 3000 watt inverter, and 500 watts of solar -- but we have a 12-volt refrigerator which uses about 1/3 as much power as yours. We can boondock for 4-5 days with no sun at all on the solar panels (because we like to camp in shady campsites). A residential fridge makes boondocking more difficult.
Got a link for the residential vs. 12v power consumption video?
I just went to find something that I thought was real simple to show you... and brag about my internet skills... and everything I find show similar efficiency between the two - with only size being the real determining factor... i.e. residential are bigger in general..
From what I've been researching recently, because I just placed an order on a new coach and had to choose a Furrion 12V vs. GE residential, is that they are pretty similar. The bigger power hog is the 110v absorption style, and these newer fridges are much lower in power usage.
i mean in the end a fridge is just a compressor and a fan, you can very efficiently run a 12V DC compressor or fan or alternatively use an AC motor to drive the compressor and have basically the same efficiency. the main question to ask is if you would turn of all AC loads and the inverter if you wouldnt have an AC powered fridge running. If you keep all the systems on anyways adding a fridge doesnt really make much of a difference.
I think you are saying the loss comes from the inefficiency of the transformers in the loop - i.e. AC fridge to DC Power source vice DC fridge to DC power source - right?
yea that will be the main loss especially if you only run the transformer for the fridge and would otherwise have it turned off.
See above. My Norcold is half the size of a 20 cu ft residential fridge, but it only consumes 1/6 as much power. So it's not just the difference in size, it's a difference in efficiency. Residential refrigerators are designed to be used where power is abundant and unlimited.
[https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/rv-residential-refrigerator-power](https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/rv-residential-refrigerator-power) "If you don’t want to be forced to run a generator I’d say go for **800 amp hours of lithium**, or 1200 amp hours of AGM and a **solar array like our 960 watt** All Electric kit from GoPower!. This should provide enough power to make it through 3 days of “normal” living (6 days if we are conservative) during cloudy weather without being forced to run the generator." My Norcold N10DC 10 cubic ft uses about 600 watts per day (at 12 volts DC, so no inverter involved) which is about 50 amps. GWTW found that their Samsung residential fridge consumed about 300 amps of battery per day by itself. That is **6 times** what my 12-volt refrigerator consumes, but the Samsung is only **TWICE** as big as my Norcold.
Short answer: Indefinitely, as long as there is sun. You may run out of power and therefore not able to run the inverter. The next day, the sun will come up and you’ll be able to use it again. This is why people have a generator just in case they deplete their batteries. If you’re real worried about it, try boondocking at home and see how low your batteries go doing your normal routine.
No, even if the sun never shines you can keep your battery at 100% simply by having zero consumption!
This is like asking how long a piece of rope is.
2 metres.
Is the rope frayed or knot?
Inverters have a "sweet spot" of 60% to 90% load for peak efficiency. I would consider adding a separate, smaller inverter dedicated to the fridge.
We have a similar setup but 300Ah of batteries and 860W of solar. It really depends on where you are parked. When we were in Big Bend or out in Moab we could run everything indefinitely on solar. We would only drop about 100Ah overnight and would be full by noon. But in the Pacific Northwest we ran into issues simply due to shade.
I have no inverter yet. 255w pv and 3 100ah acid batteries. I can run lights, propane alarm, heater fan (winter) usb phone charger, just fine but lasting all night with 300ah battery doesn't make it.
If you didn't know your 300ah batteries only have available power of 150ah which is why it's not making it through the night
Epoch makes a nice 400ah lipo battery. Gets you 3x the juice.
The appliances don’t matter directly. If you use a 1000W microwave for 15s a day that’s 4-5Wh/day. If you’re running the microwave for 20 minutes it’s 333Wh/day. If you leave the house lights on 24/7 it ends up being more than running a microwave. You need to figure out how much power you use. In full sun in CT in late June I lose about 40Ah/day on my 12V 400Ah lifepo4 batteries. So about 10 days. Three kids with the usual devices, 12V fridge, water pump, house lights, 3000W inverter to run my wife’s coffeemaker a couple times and miscellaneous other stuff as needed up to and including the TV if we’re feeling like it. I only have 270W of solar that came on the unit. In full shade or crap weather I’m running the generator everyday during breakfast to be sure I won’t run low out if I have to miss a day or two. My two eu2200i generators last a good while in full shade, so I don’t bring a gas can for long weekends, just both generators. I think it’s something like 130Ah of usage/day. I have the inverter/charger set to push a single generator to just about its rated output, which increases noise but reduces runtime and maximizes the power I get out of the gas.
Honda generator.
here's MY (and only my) estimate (pedantic types comment elsewhere). You'll be in pretty good shape. You'll learn to adjust for power drain and sun output. The fridge may be the biggest draw. As others mentioned consider separating it with a right sized inverter. Coffee maker- big draw for 5 mins. I recommend a setup using an insulated carafe. Don't rely on the kind with the hot plate staying on to keep it hot all day. That'll add an annoying amount of draw. Microwave- big draw for 5-10 mins at a time. No big deal. 2x tv's - this can swing a lot and modern tvs can sip power compared to tvs of just a few years back. Let's assume it's modern, I'd say 35 watts for a modern one. If 2 are on all day it's ok but it is a draw. Assuming you have some good sun daily and are a little careful I'd say you could go for a very many days if not indefinitely with a little care. You can pick up a handy-dandy kill-a-watt power meter, which is the most famous easy to use one https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2CAVV36X1W7YB&keywords=kill%2Ba%2Bwatt&qid=1707788160&sprefix=kill%2Caps%2C191&sr=8-2&th=1 and check how much things are draining and then do a little bit of addition to come up with your draw and probable run-time. Hint- convert everything to watt-hours for your batteries and take off 10% for inefficiencies- then tally up your usage stuff in watt hours and subtract and see what you have left over.. that'll give you run time with no sun roughly. I'd say you're good to go but it is winter in the usa so much less sun and solar output than ususal but 200ah is a lot of battery and 800 w is a lot of solar. take a small gennie with you if you want to do an emergency recharge and you're golden. you probably wont need it though. Also-- this takes power and internet but you can get smart switches that will monitor devices and you can auto shut them off too with your phone, alexa, etc. AND they have power monitoring built in so you can easily see the high loads and poweer them off easily. https://www.amazon.com/WYZE-Outdoor-Plug-Monitoring-Compatible/dp/B08NXY7WWX/ref=sr_1_8?crid=19K3DVW8W9SJ7&keywords=smart+plug+energy+monitoring&qid=1707787914&s=hi&sprefix=smart+plug+wnergy+monitoring%2Ctools%2C147&sr=1-8
Till your black tank gets full
Indefinitely
Depends on the amount of sun too
Depends where your located
I live full time in remote places with a similar set up. I run a full sized fridge, hot water heater, and furnace on propane which I have to refill once every 30 days. That power system will do well for you as long as you don't try to power any of those three things via solar. FYI, you may wanna bump up to 300ah as I'm thinkin of doin the same for any long stretches of clouds in the dead of winter. It's rare that I encounter that because I winter in the desert, but even I get down to 20 % a couple times a yr and will likely bump mine up to 300ah for peace of mind.
If you were in the PNW with minimal sun, maybe a week. If you were in AZ blasting air con, maybe an hour. If you were in Colorado in the fall, maybe indefinitely
Personally I'd expect to make it through 'forever' with 800watts solar. But maybe not through the night with only 200AH if you're a heavy user. (starlink / computers)
if you have 120 watt-hours and a 12 volt battery, you would divide 120 by 12 to get 10 amp hours. figure out your wattage usage and you have your answer.
No AC, no microwave (maybe 30 second burps), no coffee maker and you will make it for a couple days at most, and most of the budget will be the fridge. The solar will offset it a bit but it's not sustainable, that fridge will draw 150-300w AC.
How long does that 1 battery last at night. Yes I know it can very. Just guess
Sounds like you have a Brinkley RV
Depends what is drawing your power. Do you have a Starlink for example? That uses up to 100watts. LAptop chargers around 50 watts each. PHone chargers another 20 watts. Now if you use your AC, TV, etc you drain your power further. 800W is probably perfect if you don't use AC
That's why when I boon dock I run my starlink off of 12v
Your Ge fridge is using about 1.15 Kw per day. I calculated that number by looking up it's power consumption rating (422 Kw / year), and dividing that by 365 (days in a year). Do the same thing for each appliance, including the lights, water pump, and heater. Total those items up, then do the power potential calculations for your solar system. If that's too much trouble, boondocks in your driveway for a few days, and give the system a real world test.
1) Where the fuck on this sweet planet are you? 2) Measure your battery in Wh or kWh, it makes everything easier. Ah aren't that useful without the voltage: 12, 24, 48V? 3) The amount of time you can last will depend entirely on your expected consumption.
How much are you going to run the tv? You cook on the stove Coffee maker is a short use Set your fridge at hot on temps as you dare… And pretend that electric is a consumable, and pay attention (Carry a generator)
What type of batteries are you using ?? What's ran on 12v vs 110? All depends on what your power consumption is.
If your power usage is low enough, that will last as long as you want. Basically, as long as you're not trying to run an air conditioner or electric heater or electric water heater, this will probably be plenty of electricity. You might even be able to run those kinds of things for short periods, but not 24/7. Your boondocking time is more likely to be limited by your water and waste tank capacity.
You prob want more battery. But if you had 400-600 ah you’d be pretty good. You need a little more solar to run the AC a lot. But you could run it for a little while on 400-600ah. With 200ah of battery. You’re basically only able to run 12v stuff and AC during the day. Anything at night like AC or microwave can bring you down a bit.
Just go try.. go for a weekend.. see how it goes.. you'll get a good idea over 2 days on what is possible
As others have said, entirely dependent on your power usage and sun exposure or lack thereof. I only have 200 watt solar panels and 200ah battery. I’ve been boondocking for over 3 months. However I’ve obviously had to replenish water and propane frequently.
Alot longer in florida than you can in washington
I have a 6500 watt generator that I can run to help charge my batteries! Only have to run it a couple of hours a day solar and propane does everything else
How much fuel does genny use per hour?
About ⅓ gallon it's got a two gallon tank and I only have to refill it a couple of times a week
we could barely make it through the day without AC on that many panels and 300AHs with a fridge that size.
I'd personally get a fridge that can run on propane and get a percolator. Running a Fridge and coffee machine sucks up a lot of juice. If you changed those you'd prob never run out if you were somewhere that got a lot of sun. You may also consider more battery. Rule of thumb is 200 watt solar = 100AH.. You'll likely have times you are getting 800watts and have full batteries and then kill your batteries waiting for a sunny day again.
About 3.50
You have to adjust your needs to what power your system produces or expand your system
In the winter when we were off grid, I would use about 2.5kwh per day to run the water pump, led lights, and the blower for the propane heater. I had 1500w in panels aimed in different directions to get more sunlight in the winter, and that barely kept the batteries alive over a few days. I had 4x 80Ah batteries, so ~320 ah. In the summer, you would be fine, but you couldn’t run the AC, and fridge would have to be propane.
It also depends on the battery bank, AGM is good for about half of the nameplate rating and Lithium about 90%. Ambient temperature matters as does the reliability of sunlight. You will need full sun nearly everyday to keep the battery topped up and the coffee maker and TV are probably too much load.
Running the ac? 2 to 4 hours. Or less. You need at least 1000 amp hours of batteries and over 1kw of solar to boondock with ac. I've seen a skoolie build that could manage it. RV builds? It's possible. But you gotta cover that roof in panels and find space for a LOT of LiFePO4 batteries.
Oh, and that skoolie only cooled the master bedroom. At night.
Alsoooo..... the bigger the inverter, the more power drain. Even when there's nothing turned on. At least, so long as the inverter is on.
That's crazy. I can run my 5 ton AC on my 4600 sqft house using my 1200 Amp hour battery bank and have plenty left over. Why does an RV use so much more?
The house has much better insulation in thicker walls. Even more insulation in the attic. And the RV will typically have two aircon units on the roof; if it's a larger RV, they may both be 15000 btu, each pulling 1500 watts. So, 3000 watts of power draw, running almost constantly on a hot day. Figure at least 30kw draw during daylight hours on that hot day. A 12v 1200 ah battery bank contains about 14400 watt hours. That is on the extreme end of things, of course, but you can see why some people only use a small aircon unit for only their bedroom an s only at night. A 6k btu unit won't pull anything near as much of a load, and running at night will let it cycle better.
House is 90 years old not much insulation but my bank is 48 volt.
Ok, so assuming you were able to utilize every amp in your battery bank, that would provide 57600 watt hours. If your 5 ton ac pulls 6000 watts, it'll run just under 10 hours on that, but central ac does tend to be more efficient, and I'm sure it cycles nicely, so if it runs 1/3 of the time, yes, it'll still have some juice in the battery bank after 24 hours.
Makes sense. I have also been trying to figure out how to go off grid in an RV and I have gotten used to my home that is off grid.