70000salmon
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2020
- Messages
- 23
Hi Everybody,
A lady and her cat here. I am new to this page and also to electronics but have been religiously educating myself via YouTube lately and am feeling much more informed. However, I still have some maybe nobrainer questions that are just so obvious that no one mentions them explicitly...
1. My work schedule is 4am-1pm-ish. It does not reach peak heat of day before I'm home but I care about my cat and have a little insulated box bed/tray that i insert ice packs into so she can chill in there; I leave the windows open with screens (I have a 23ft 1982chevy vandura); and I also want to keep a 120vac fan on for her. So, I am planning my solar around this fan more or less, plus charging phone and laptop in evening. I am hoping my gas lines are ok to run my built in camper fridge on propane, booked a safety check for next Monday. It is dual but I have only run it on shore power so far. I have the option to park beside a creek in the shade, which is ideal for everything except solar obviously...What do I do? It's a secure private campground as far as they go. I would feel okay leaving my solar in the sun on a pallet for instance. But this is less than ideal... To not mount them on my road unit. There also won't be much room for finickiting around once I claim a spot so I really need to make it count and am at a loss.
2. I'm looking to get the least expensive but most cost effective 200W solar set up. I'm already thinking of the 20a rich solar mppt charge controller from the will prowse review...My van is old as balls so weight really matters for driving/when I'm driving, which is not too often yet. But I can barely go 100km/hr on a flat straightaway...which doesn't happen in BC. Driving with an empty camper is more like crawling up a hill with signals on doing 60. So any weight must be carefully added. That being said, currently, I have no idea how long I plan to continue living this lifestyle out of a van. Could be five years or I could sell it next year. I'm at a career crossroads but having solar will make this living arrangement very independent and stable for this transition period regardless. Should I get a lithium battery or not? I'm leaning toward noooot...but the Capricorn in me hates the long term economic reality of that choice.
Haha please Judge me, please help me, any and all input is welcome. Thank you for reading.
I forgot a third thing: I have an old-ish deep cycle battery for the camper that came with it, from the previous owner not from the 80s. It's hard to access and has almost no info on it. Like I mentioned, I have been only plugged into shore power all year on a farm. How can I tell in a budget way the amp hours of this? And how do I know if it's good to keep using say if I get a second battery? Which would be soo heavy but I will be stationary for three months after moving across town on Monday. Chances are, I know I will probably need another new battery. (I just bought a new starter battery bc the last one I let freeze stupidly this winter). The question is tho, how to tell if the old one is worth hauling around later?
Edit: the campground I am moving to is an orchard/family farm with no rv electrical hook up options. So solar would really enhance quality of life and privacy. There are outdoor common areas with plugs for charging personal electronics etc. But given the state of things, I want to not rely on common areas so much.
A lady and her cat here. I am new to this page and also to electronics but have been religiously educating myself via YouTube lately and am feeling much more informed. However, I still have some maybe nobrainer questions that are just so obvious that no one mentions them explicitly...
1. My work schedule is 4am-1pm-ish. It does not reach peak heat of day before I'm home but I care about my cat and have a little insulated box bed/tray that i insert ice packs into so she can chill in there; I leave the windows open with screens (I have a 23ft 1982chevy vandura); and I also want to keep a 120vac fan on for her. So, I am planning my solar around this fan more or less, plus charging phone and laptop in evening. I am hoping my gas lines are ok to run my built in camper fridge on propane, booked a safety check for next Monday. It is dual but I have only run it on shore power so far. I have the option to park beside a creek in the shade, which is ideal for everything except solar obviously...What do I do? It's a secure private campground as far as they go. I would feel okay leaving my solar in the sun on a pallet for instance. But this is less than ideal... To not mount them on my road unit. There also won't be much room for finickiting around once I claim a spot so I really need to make it count and am at a loss.
2. I'm looking to get the least expensive but most cost effective 200W solar set up. I'm already thinking of the 20a rich solar mppt charge controller from the will prowse review...My van is old as balls so weight really matters for driving/when I'm driving, which is not too often yet. But I can barely go 100km/hr on a flat straightaway...which doesn't happen in BC. Driving with an empty camper is more like crawling up a hill with signals on doing 60. So any weight must be carefully added. That being said, currently, I have no idea how long I plan to continue living this lifestyle out of a van. Could be five years or I could sell it next year. I'm at a career crossroads but having solar will make this living arrangement very independent and stable for this transition period regardless. Should I get a lithium battery or not? I'm leaning toward noooot...but the Capricorn in me hates the long term economic reality of that choice.
Haha please Judge me, please help me, any and all input is welcome. Thank you for reading.
I forgot a third thing: I have an old-ish deep cycle battery for the camper that came with it, from the previous owner not from the 80s. It's hard to access and has almost no info on it. Like I mentioned, I have been only plugged into shore power all year on a farm. How can I tell in a budget way the amp hours of this? And how do I know if it's good to keep using say if I get a second battery? Which would be soo heavy but I will be stationary for three months after moving across town on Monday. Chances are, I know I will probably need another new battery. (I just bought a new starter battery bc the last one I let freeze stupidly this winter). The question is tho, how to tell if the old one is worth hauling around later?
Edit: the campground I am moving to is an orchard/family farm with no rv electrical hook up options. So solar would really enhance quality of life and privacy. There are outdoor common areas with plugs for charging personal electronics etc. But given the state of things, I want to not rely on common areas so much.
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