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Old 10-13-2017, 05:36 PM   #15
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Dan

It can still get warm in the Rockies. We spent about three weeks "boondocking" at a National Recreational area CG on Blue Mesa Reservoir. It is extremely popular with West Slope folks. The advantage to mesh shade sails is that winds do not blow them away.

We know that others must use this material for shade protection but could find only a few ephemeral references to its use. These were all in reference to use at "Burning Man".

As noted above, we spend much of Winter on beach in Yucatan and brown and black mesh shade sails are quite commonly used on RVs

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Old 10-13-2017, 06:50 PM   #16
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Amazon lists a "used" 12x24 shade for $109

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminet-shad...words=aluminet

Used usually means open or damaged packaging or a returned item. I shop the Amazon warehouse deals first when I need something and save 20-30%.
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Old 10-16-2017, 01:27 PM   #17
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Thank you for all of the replies.

Yes, my current charger HF1000, is only able to charge at 20 amps.

No, I was never intending to run AC from batteries. My question was best performance. Park in the shade so I don't have to use the AC or use it less, but have to run the generator for battery charging vs parking in the sun and have to run the generator for AC use. The new units I am looking at have 3 AC units and only a 5500 watt generator so it is not possible to run all 3.

As much as I would like to pick my spot, that is often not possible to due to my work.
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Old 11-14-2017, 09:02 AM   #18
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If you are willing to go outside the box for your thinking, then it is feasible to run air conditioning in the situations you are describing.

1) Move to a 48 volt DC power system for the heavy loads / inverter operation. 12 volt supplied inverters really don't work that well much above 2 kW, but with 48 volts they are hardly sweating at 4 - 5 kW.

2) 4 kW inverter - can easily support 2 air conditioners from a LiFe battery pack and if the generator is also running, could support the 3rd one if wired slightly differently than is typical.

3) Battery pack - A LiFe pack with 8 - 10 kW-hrs usable capacity size is about right for this application. A full charged pack will run one a/c all night - generator off.

Even if you only have access to a single 120 vac / 15 amp cord, with a large pack and the inverter running the heavy load, most likely the "average draw" will be sufficient to at least run 1 A/C continuously. Running 2 of them might require occasionally auto starting the generator to supplement.

Again, running the third A/C should be feasible with some modest wiring changes with your existing generator, etc.

If there is space in the parking locations, it is also possible to setup some solar panels in sort of a saw horse arrangement that sits in the sun and feeds the power back to your trailer.
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Old 11-14-2017, 09:10 AM   #19
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Off Grid Solar Powered RV Air Conditioning - Is it Possible? - Gone With The Wynns
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Old 11-18-2017, 01:35 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nwcid View Post
...
On the future unit I am looking at a 1000 watt system with a 500-600 ah lithium battery system.

Are there other things I am missing?
Sounds just about what I have. Lithium is the key. As others have mentioned if you are in the shade (as you will be undoubtedly as some point) it allows much less gen run time.
But, install lithium at the same time as solar and you get a nice tax credit for doing so. So ALWAYS do solar with lithium if you want that juicy 30% tax credit. Well, untill the gov't takith away.
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