Residential Refrigerator and solar panels

[Tucsonmike]

I just ordered a 36 Phaeton with the res fridge. I would like to add solar to keep the batterys close to charge when I dry camp for several days to minimize gen use. Any one have any experience with the size needed for the fridge batterys ?
Thanks

[old bullfrog]

See posts at:
Not enough battery capacity with 4 6V batteries
for information. HandyBob is rv living full time with solar charging. I am interested in the same question. Good luck! Old Bullfrog

[Stevegd007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by old bullfrog See posts at: Not enough battery capacity with 4 6V batteries for information. HandyBob is rv living full time with solar charging. I am interested in the same question. Good luck! Old Bullfrog

Oops...your post "link" is not working for some reason.

[old bullfrog]

Another good thread is: Solar That Really Works

"Solar that really works" thread posted by ralper.

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Not enough battery capacity with 4 6V batteries

link is: Not enough battery capacity with 4 6V batteries

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Good luck with your project. I tend to rely on people that are "walking the walk" (".....ie: proven full time long time rving with solar charging as the only source) rather than "talking the talk".

Old Bullfrog

[BryanL]

I don't find "Phaeton" in the government's energystar refrigerator list so I don't know its specifications.

My home fridge runs at a bit less than 1 kWh/day that can serve as a referent.

Lead acid batteries run at about 12 usable watt hours per pound so you'd need a bit over 80# of batteries to run the fridge for one day. Those 6v batteries in bold all over this thread weigh about 70# each. A group 27 is about 60#. For a 3 day reserve, that'd be about 4 batteries.

The rating (the 20 hour rate) is for about a watt per pound so if your fridge ran at more than 250 watts or so, you'd need to give Peukert some due and and add some leeway.

Rule of thumb is that you need at least one watt of solar per pound of battery. That suggests a 250 watt panel.

The energy harvest for solar is like running at full spec for 2 - 4 hours depending upon location. That means a 250 watt panel could provide maybe 500 to 1 kWh energy harvest per day. That's cutting it slim but workable if just extending the battery is the idea rather than full replenishment. You also need to allow 25% or so for losses and battery recharging efficiencies.

This sort of 'back of the envelope' calculation should give you an idea of what is needed. Since it appears that the sort of solar and battery system you can put on an RV is a bit stretched in roof for solar panel and load carrying capacity for battery bank, the discussions can get rather lively.

[Tucsonmike]

Looks like 2 more batterys and a couple solar panels and i will be in good shape. Thanks

[wagon217]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tucsonmike I just ordered a 36 Phaeton with the res fridge. I would like to add solar to keep the batterys close to charge when I dry camp for several days to minimize gen use. Any one have any experience with the size needed for the fridge batterys ? Thanks

The Bus comes equipped with one 125 watt panel. Folks I know who dry camp for days at a time use two panels and 8 house batteries. Can't advise on their performance.

[rjncat]

We had 4 135W panels installed on our new Phaeton in January. They can keep up with the fridge during the day. We turn off the inverter at night. We still need to use the generator but not as much. We havent had the setup long enough to do a real study. we are interested what summer will show us.