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weredoingit · 02-10-2018, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoot4ua

looking for similar input from experienced users. I have a 2017 coleman TT that has a solar panel plug on the camper near the battery box. I've seen a 100 watt panel kit at Harbor freight that comes with charge controller. I run 1 12v battery the couple of times that we don't have power hookup available and generators are not allowed. Is 100 watt enough to keep my battery topped off? basically am using lights, refrigerator, and water pump.

I have a harbor freight solar charger my neighbor gave me, I think it's 45 watts per panel mine has 2 panels with a very cheap C/C it works for keeping my 2 batteries on my boat charged while in storage. Very cheaply built, but it keeps my 2 batteries alive.

wa8yxm · 02-10-2018, 06:55 AM

Short answer: YES

Panels----Solar Charge Controller----Existing converter's battery connection (Output) works fine in most cases.

About teh smallest 120-12 volt converter made is 35 amps.. That is about 500 watts so unless you have over 1,000 watts of solar panel (you usually get 1/2 or less the rating) you should be good.

Up the converter (45 amp, 60 amp, 80 amp) you up the wires from there to the battery.

Coolzzy · 02-10-2018, 03:15 PM

Start by replacing all your interior light bulbs with LED, you can buy warm white ones on Amazon for cheap. Believe it or not, those tiny incandescent bulbs are like 40watts vs an equivalent light output LED of 0.5 watts. Run your fridge on propane and that will greatly extend battery time. Also, consider investing in dual 6v deep cycle batteries for more capacity. That should allow you to do 3 nights on battery power, more if you are frugal.

Where do you camp that generators are not allowed? If you get a nice quiet inverter generator it would be best and I've never heard of them not being allowed except during quiet hours. Now the loud open frame construction type generators are a different story and those usually are banned based on the Db level of noise they output. You can get a very quiet inverter generator (2k watts) for 500 or less. I've got a WEN 56200i which uses a cloned Yamaha motor and it is just as quiet as my Honda eu2000i at half the cost (Amazon has them with free shipping). Run it for an hour during the day using a battery charger and it will put more lower back to the batteries than a 100watt solar panel and doesn't rely on sunny conditions.