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Old 05-17-2018, 08:10 PM   #1
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1 megawatt solar power

Today I rolled over 1 megawatt hours of solar power generation with my small setup (~1000w) on my 5th Wheel. Thats over a 15 month period.

The average American household comsumes about 10.7 Megawatts per year.

We certainly consumed more than 1 megawatt over the same period as we dont exclusively use solar for power generation. Sometimes we are at a park that has electrical hookups, sometimes we need to use our backup generator.

We full time exclusively and are becoming better at finding off grid locations for our large rig.

Why does this matter? It really only matters to me, but we certainly feel we have dramatically reduced our carbon footprint. Because we are living smaller, we're naturally using less, but being able to power our own home makes it even better.

In the scheme of things, 1 MW power generation is not that big of a deal, as some households consume that in 1 month. It also only equates to a monetary savings of about $120 (@$0.12/kw). We save much more just by choosing non-electric sites if offered (with good solar). Where we are now there is a $15/day difference between electric site and non-electric. In 9 days we save ~$126.

The image below is our power generation over the past 30 days. We are currently in Minnesota headed to Voyagers NP. 3 weeks ago we were on electrical connection, so you can see a huge difference in solar power generation.



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Old 05-17-2018, 08:19 PM   #2
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Congratulations on the milestone. That's a good chunk of your already reduced power needs I'm sure.

What is your setup? How many amps is your charge control?
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Old 05-17-2018, 08:37 PM   #3
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Its a Victron 150/70 charge controller.

3000w Hybrid inverter

6 x 160w solar panels.

6 x Trojan T125 batteries.

Pretty basic setup.
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Old 05-18-2018, 07:58 AM   #4
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Are you able to run any air conditioning off this setup? I have a stationary system of 1.2 kw with 8 batteries and a 4000w inverter that runs a small ductless mini-split. I have been wondering how much it would take to power a rooftop unit on a motorhome.
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Old 05-18-2018, 08:20 AM   #5
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I wonder. How big would a 1 Megawatt solar array be?
Since you did 1 Meg in 15 months. how big is your Array (Square feet please)

I can multiply.
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Old 05-18-2018, 09:32 AM   #6
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The power density of sunlight is 1.4kW per square meter. Solar panel efficiencies are 22% at best. Many are lower. Peak current requires that the sunlight arrive perpendicularly. The angle of incidence significantly reduces the current output. Nighttime doesn’t help, either.

I’ve been powering my ham station on solar since 1990. The cost analysis back then showed that the investment return was negative. It can still be justified as a good choice in remote ares.
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Old 05-18-2018, 09:45 AM   #7
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That megawatt hours is a cool stat.

People talk about the return on investment of solar. You can't compare to on grid power pricing. You also can't compare the quality of life improvement of having silent power generation compared to even a quite generator such as the Honda EU2200. You should amortize the cost of the improvements over the number of years you use the RV. Off grid full time campers get the most out of the investment.

I will have 805 watts of solar on the roof of my Arctic Fox 22G and my truck camper shell. I won't be full time so it will be a while before I will get as much use as the opening poster. I have about 5 more years before retirement.
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:04 AM   #8
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"Today I rolled over 1 megawatt hours of solar power ...."

Wow you made $20 worth of electricity on a nice day. Give the man a gold star!

The value of the electricity when on the grid is based on the cost of generating the power you offset.

Off course since you systems does not use the power when on the grid (unlike PV on houses) so the value is zip, zero, nada.

When I am off grid, it cost me less than a $1 to charge my batteries with a generator. Best of all I can park in the shade.

I do have a question, how do you know how much you produce?
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:18 AM   #9
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McRod nice setup. We're only 280w more but basically the same setup as yours and after 25 months of 95% fulltime boondocking we've generated 3 Mwh last month.
This is the break down from last year of all boondocking living off solar/ batteries.



Enjoy your peaceful camping/ living.
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:22 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mudsock View Post
The power density of sunlight is 1.4kW per square meter. Solar panel efficiencies are 22% at best.
Do you mean capacity factor which is the ratio of actual production/nameplate rating?

The best I have seen is 19% CF for a utility scale (properly designed and maintained) near Tucson. That was for a new system, panels degrade with time. The utility stopped providing real time data so I do how they are doing now.

The same panels get 14% CF in New Jersey.

One of the reason I call solar PV a scam is that savings are based on manufactures expected generation and not actual. If you never get what you expect why not include that information?
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:25 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brob View Post
Are you able to run any air conditioning off this setup? I have a stationary system of 1.2 kw with 8 batteries and a 4000w inverter that runs a small ductless mini-split. I have been wondering how much it would take to power a rooftop unit on a motorhome.
my rooftop unit is using 135a at 12v nominal. i run it.
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:48 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by Itinerant1 View Post
This is the break down from last year of all boondocking living off solar/ batteries.
That is a 14% CF which is better than I thought it would be. Where do you boondock?
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:57 AM   #13
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:01 AM   #14
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My Coleman Mach 6+ uses DC 115 amps when running on the inverter. I plan to run it when I have 805 watts of solar installed. I will have the ability to add 30, 60 or 90 amps of DC charging if I fire up my EU2200 for longer air conditioning run times. I figure if I am at a res t stop eating lunch I will just enjoy the air conditioner without starting up the generator since I will have plenty of solar time later to make up the difference. I need two about 2 hours of solar to one hour of air conditioning when not running the generator.
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