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Old 11-29-2019, 10:34 AM   #1
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Solar Help

I thought I would post this simple little spreadsheet I started to see how much solar I should start with on my 2006 Allegro Bus. It's on Google Sheets on Google Drive. If you have an Apple product you can get a Drive app. It's a good thing to have anyway cuz there's a lot of free storage on there.
Anyway, as you can see it's pretty simple and I'm sure some of you will greatly improve it. Plug your numbers into the yellow cells and the green cells will reflect the changes. I left microwave and ac off because that's for generator or shore power for me. I even took the coffee pot off, I have a gas stove and I decided to get a French coffee press (wonderful coffee). The 600W inverter is just for my fridge (a Norcold/Amish HVAC hybrid). As you can see I haven't tested my computer or cellphone yet but it can't be too much to charge them!
Well as I said this was just something to help me get started maybe it can help someone out there too! I hope my link works.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing
Phil
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Old 12-01-2019, 11:30 AM   #2
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I would just suggest that wherever your calculations end up and you decide, be sure to consider where you spend your time. I have much more solar on our TT roof than a spreadsheet like yours would say is needed. I could probably use even more. The reason is that I felt it important to cover the time of year and days of minimum yield. In the summer, I usually have full batteries before I finish breakfast. In the winter, on the Oregon Coast, even with my oversized array, it takes much longer. If I spent winters in the southern desert, I could have gone with less.
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Old 12-01-2019, 06:29 PM   #3
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Just a beginning

O.K., this is just a starting place for beginners. You can change anything under "application" and put in the amps and hours and it will give you a "starting"place for panels and batteries. My advice for anyone starting out is to get a Trimetric 2030 or equivalent and get a feeling for how much you're using.
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Old 12-02-2019, 07:46 AM   #4
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Thank you for the excel sheet. Beginners like me will especially find it useful.
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Old 12-02-2019, 08:42 AM   #5
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New Link

I've found that I didn't turn on the edit button for my link. For some reason I can't edit my original post so try this one: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing
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Old 12-02-2019, 09:29 AM   #6
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More Help

OK, I just realized that we will all be editing the same file so please download the file to your computer and rename it, thanks
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Old 12-03-2019, 06:45 AM   #7
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You never have enough Solar until you run out of real-estate
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Old 12-03-2019, 10:30 AM   #8
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You never have enough Solar until you run out of real-estate
That's funny, but very true. I have 900W on a 26'TT but this time of year feel a bit uneasy because I still have room up on top for 2 more 180W panels.
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Old 12-03-2019, 12:25 PM   #9
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Yep. I'm a fan of putting pretty much as many watts as roof allows. Time of year, flat mounting, and latitude can reduce by upwards of 50% from rated output. Plus cloudy days, self shading, external shading. Lots of variables that impact actual production in the real world.
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You never have enough Solar until you run out of real-estate
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Old 12-05-2019, 09:48 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spider78612 View Post
I thought I would post this simple little spreadsheet I started to see how much solar I should start with on my 2006 Allegro Bus. It's on Google Sheets on Google Drive. If you have an Apple product you can get a Drive app. It's a good thing to have anyway cuz there's a lot of free storage on there.
Anyway, as you can see it's pretty simple and I'm sure some of you will greatly improve it. Plug your numbers into the yellow cells and the green cells will reflect the changes. I left microwave and ac off because that's for generator or shore power for me. I even took the coffee pot off, I have a gas stove and I decided to get a French coffee press (wonderful coffee). The 600W inverter is just for my fridge (a Norcold/Amish HVAC hybrid). As you can see I haven't tested my computer or cellphone yet but it can't be too much to charge them!
Well as I said this was just something to help me get started maybe it can help someone out there too! I hope my link works.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing
Phil
Nice spread sheet. But, overkill.
I do solar engineering and you just need an average. One thing that would be really easy and good, is to get a KillOWatt meter. Find some shore power and a 120V dongle and plug it in. Go about your normal business for a day or two, without the big loads like AC. Then, take a measurement of total consumed Watts. That will size your battery bank. Once you have the battery sized, then you work on the other stuff. Most do it backwards and size the solar first. But, solar only recharges the batteries. Your power IS the battery system.
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Old 02-22-2020, 10:35 PM   #11
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Nice spread sheet. But, overkill.
I do solar engineering and you just need an average. One thing that would be really easy and good, is to get a KillOWatt meter. Find some shore power and a 120V dongle and plug it in. Go about your normal business for a day or two, without the big loads like AC. Then, take a measurement of total consumed Watts. That will size your battery bank. Once you have the battery sized, then you work on the other stuff. Most do it backwards and size the solar first. But, solar only recharges the batteries. Your power IS the battery system.
I agree, if possible use actual measurement. If you really have nothing to go on and can't run tests, the spreadsheet will be very helpful.

Then, the question becomes whether to provide one day of battery capacity and expect to re-charge one way or another the next day (generator or solar) or put in more so that the generator is needed less often and solar might come back and do the job after a cloudy day or two.

In my case, I've got enough battery for four days of highly inclement weather (near zero sun) or 6-12 days of intermittent but not great sun. More often than not I can make it through to some decent sun and recover without using the generator. We camp only fall and spring; always home by December and usually don't leave until March 1 and only travel in the west. I ran the generator once in 2019 and twice in 2018 with my current setup. I use about 75AH per day. We don't run the heat at night, but turn it on 30 minutes before we get up. Never use A/C.
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Old 02-23-2020, 07:22 PM   #12
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I have been RVing around southern Arizona for months.

Many campgrounds have limited generator hours. 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. Many RVers with only generators have low batteries. They need many more hours of charging to top off their batteries.

I tell them solar is a good supplement. It will help top off the batteries. That last 10% can prolong battery life. So even 100W-200W can be big help.
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Old 02-24-2020, 01:52 PM   #13
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Nice spread sheet. But, overkill.
I do solar engineering and you just need an average. One thing that would be really easy and good, is to get a KillOWatt meter. Find some shore power and a 120V dongle and plug it in. Go about your normal business for a day or two, without the big loads like AC. Then, take a measurement of total consumed Watts. That will size your battery bank. Once you have the battery sized, then you work on the other stuff. Most do it backwards and size the solar first. But, solar only recharges the batteries. Your power IS the battery system.
X2! I love my kill-a-watt. Lots of uses. But, you don't want Watts for the process you outline. You want Watthours or kiloWatthours. On mine that's the pink button on the right.
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Old 02-24-2020, 01:59 PM   #14
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The only problem I have with solar is drilling holes in my rv roof..... I will never do it.
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