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RV Energy Audit Results...Seriously?!?!?!

You are in a very similar situation as me. I have a 45' RV with 3 ACs that we live in full time, but I have gone way overboard IMO for what most want to do. Take a look at my sig for my build-thread. I've fit 2880 watts of solar on the roof, with an additional 3000 watts on the ground, and 16x 272 ah cells to a MPP Lv6548 inverter/all in one.

It gets me through almost everything, but I have the grid to fall back on, should the battery go dead (which happens occasionally in the night). And I run all 3 ACs quite consistently.
 
Lt.Dan said:
You are in a very similar situation as me. I have a 45' RV with 3 ACs that we live in full time, but I have gone way overboard IMO for what most want to do. Take a look at my sig for my build-thread. I've fit 2880 watts of solar on the roof, with an additional 3000 watts on the ground, and 16x 272 ah cells to a MPP Lv6548 inverter/all in one.

It gets me through almost everything, but I have the grid to fall back on, should the battery go dead (which happens occasionally in the night). And I run all 3 ACs quite consistently.
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Nice, I was wanting the 381M until this Cyclone 4214 popped up. Wife loved the front living and I still got my 14' garage for a 4 seater side by side. Wow, you have one heck of a build out. With all three A/C's running consistently, do you have any hearing left? LOL!
 
LivingTheDream said:
Nice, I was wanting the 381M until this Cyclone 4214 popped up. Wife loved the front living and I still got my 14' garage for a 4 seater side by side. Wow, you have one heck of a build out. With all three A/C's running consistently, do you have any hearing left? LOL!
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Yeah the 381M is super nice and we're very happy with it. Good thing i lost my hearing from my 2 year old before I bought the trailer ? ??
 
My concern with your power draw is the desire to run 12v. If you are drawing big continuous current, and don't have a handle on DC voltage drops, proper cable sizes, or how to properly crimp/clamp connections to a dc battery bank and it's infrastructure - there is a a safety factor involved here, where I'd suggest moving to the next voltage level up.

The general rule guidelines for inverter choices for \continuous\ draw is: (for every 1000 watts of AC, add 12v)

12v = < 1000 watts ac inverter
24v = 1K - 2Kw
48v = 2Kw or more (only because 36v inverters are rare)

What I'm saying is that a 3kw inverter at 12v might be ok for temporary heavy draws, pulling the trigger on motorized machine tools every now and then, but trying to cook a turkey dinner in a microwave? No. Move up in voltage.

Others may disagree.
 
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Substrate said:
My concern with your power draw is the desire to run 12v. If you are drawing big continuous current, and don't have a handle on voltage drops, proper cable sizes, or how to properly crimp/clamp connections - there is a a safety factor involved here, where I'd suggest moving to the next voltage level up.

The general rule guidelines for inverter choices for \continuous\ draw is:

12v = < 1000 watts
24v = < 1Kw
48v = 1Kw or more

What I'm saying is that a 3kw inverter at 12v might be ok for temporary heavy draws, pulling the trigger on motorized machine tools every now and then, but trying to cook a turkey dinner in a microwave? No. Move up in voltage.

Others may disagree.
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According to his energy audit, he plans to run 24v.
 
Substrate said:
My concern with your power draw is the desire to run 12v. If you are drawing big continuous current, and don't have a handle on voltage drops, proper cable sizes, or how to properly crimp/clamp connections - there is a a safety factor involved here, where I'd suggest moving to the next voltage level up.

The general rule guidelines for inverter choices for \continuous\ draw is: (for every 1000 watts of AC, add 12v)

12v = < 1000 watts
24v = 1K - 2Kw
48v = 2Kw or more (only because 36v inverters are rare)

What I'm saying is that a 3kw inverter at 12v might be ok for temporary heavy draws, pulling the trigger on motorized machine tools every now and then, but trying to cook a turkey dinner in a microwave? No. Move up in voltage.

Others may disagree.
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As @HRTKD stated, the audit shows 24v as well as my description. I have a close friend who is a commercial electrician and I have a history in electronics as well, albeit, was a long time ago. He doesn't know about solar, but he does know and have the correct tools for all connections to be made. Thank you for your concern though, safety is important here!!!
 
Yikes - my bad. Too much coffee. Just had too many incidents of friends just buying the biggest 12v "Zarper 5000" without knowing the implications. :)
 
I have 950 watts of panels on the roof of my RV and 5.3 kWh of lead acid batteries. I feel like my family of 4 could live forever out of it. There would be no AC or other high wattage appliances, except a blow dryer and a microwave for about two minutes, three times a day, everything I could, including the fridge would be gas.

I’ve decided that in AZ weather in the summer, AC is not doable for me without at least tripling my panels and batteries.

I could probably run my AC off my my inverter, but I max out at 74 amps production when I add 400 more watts of ground panels, but my AC would use at least twice that to stay on.

Ive also found that I can only produce that 74 amps for 4 hours a day. So the tripling my size of my panels would have some angled East, South, and West to maximize sun production at different times of day

It’s only in the 90s today, and the RV AC runs nonstop set ro
 
chrisski said:
I have 950 watts of panels on the roof of my RV and 5.3 kWh of lead acid batteries. I feel like my family of 4 could live forever out of it. There would be no AC or other high wattage appliances, except a blow dryer and a microwave for about two minutes, three times a day, everything I could, including the fridge would be gas.

I’ve decided that in AZ weather in the summer, AC is not doable for me without at least tripling my panels and batteries.

I could probably run my AC off my my inverter, but I max out at 74 amps production when I add 400 more watts of ground panels, but my AC would use at least twice that to stay on.

Ive also found that I can only produce that 74 amps for 4 hours a day. So the tripling my size of my panels would have some angled East, South, and West to maximize sun production at different times of day

It’s only in the 90s today, and the RV AC runs nonstop set ro
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That's why we are up on the 260 between near Happy Jack. I don't want to run AC if at all possible since it is ridiculously loud and I would HAVE to run the generator non-stop. As the weather warms up, we are heading to CO, WY, and MT.
 
LivingTheDream said:
That's why we are up on the 260 between near Happy Jack. I don't want to run AC if at all possible since it is ridiculously loud and I would HAVE to run the generator non-stop. As the weather warms up, we are heading to CO, WY, and MT.
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If that’s your plan to travel to avoid AC, 2200 watts or whatever you came up with for panels can-be cut way back.

Energy conservation is much cheaper than solar power, but sometimes costs a lot to get there. Replacing 5 incandescent bulbs in my trailer cost around $60, and if you change the fridge out that can be costly, and may require something smaller than you want.

I mean you as in the others that inhabit your trailer. If you’re case is anything like mine, the three others that are with me are not so motivated to wear two sets of sweat pants and sweat shirts scarves and gloves and hats to sleep to keep from turning the heat on.

I’m currently set up in central AZ by one of the reservoirs not to far from Phoenix, lake Pleasant.
 
Another way to look at this is to compare with me ... I just completed an install -- 3350 watts of panels and 27kWh of battery. 38' 5th wheel. If I'm not running the mini-split, my typical usage (just me; TV, computers, full size residential fridge, propane hot water and heat) is 5-7 kWh per 24 hours. My 3350 watts of panels can make about 18kWh per day right now up here in CT on a fully-sunny day.
Best way to think about this is to size your panels for your average daily draw and the battery bank for covering the gaps in solar production (nights, bad weather, etc). The bigger the battery, the longer period of averaging you can do.
Check out the panasonic panels I used (link is in the parts list in my signature) - this is what allowed me to fit the panels up there as their size is atypical for 335w panels.
 
chrisski said:
If that’s your plan to travel to avoid AC, 2200 watts or whatever you came up with for panels can-be cut way back.

Energy conservation is much cheaper than solar power, but sometimes costs a lot to get there. Replacing 5 incandescent bulbs in my trailer cost around $60, and if you change the fridge out that can be costly, and may require something smaller than you want.

I mean you as in the others that inhabit your trailer. If you’re case is anything like mine, the three others that are with me are not so motivated to wear two sets of sweat pants and sweat shirts scarves and gloves and hats to sleep to keep from turning the heat on.

I’m currently set up in central AZ by one of the reservoirs not to far from Phoenix, lake Pleasant.
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We were just there! We spent about 1.5 months on Old Carefree Highway west of Lake Pleasant Pkwy, just up the road from Canyon Speedway. I'm going to look into the fridge to see if there are other options.
 
The electric compressor fridges are much more efficient than the dual propane/electric absorption fridges. Some guys have talked about keeping the fridge powered by solar in the day, shutting electricity off at night, and transferring some frozen water bottles in it in the late afternoon, and avoid opening it until the sun comes back up. Says it keeps their food good. This works if everyone can stay out for the frequent after dark snacks.

I run my absorption fridge on electric in the daytime and then turn to propane at night. If I forget to shout the electric off, costs me as much as 300 watts per hour, and that drains batteries pretty good.
 
GSXR1000 said:
you could drill a hole and run a cable thur the panels and lock them... keeps lazy theifs away
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Speaking of thieves, judging by your handle, you’ll understand. I had an Aprilia RSV Mille stolen right out of my garage. It was one of five in Arizona the first year they started importing to the US. Not cool.
 
I didn’t have a particular source/brand in mind because I’ve never shopped for 250w panels. I remember seeing some (amazon?) that were wider and shorter and thinking, “hey, those would utilize trailer roof space better.” mostly because they were like 40” wide and not as long as the typical ratio of common 100w and 200w panels.
 
@Will Prowse, Just watched your review of the ET Bifacial. What do you think about those on an RV if I could rig up a tilting system that could tilt both directions? Thinking that I could have them tilted towards the morning sun, drop flat at 11am, tilt towards the evening sun at 2pm...approx. Or is this just silly and not worth the hassle?
 
LivingTheDream said:
@Will Prowse, Just watched your review of the ET Bifacial. What do you think about those on an RV if I could rig up a tilting system that could tilt both directions? Thinking that I could have them tilted towards the morning sun, drop flat at 11am, tilt towards the evening sun at 2pm...approx. Or is this just silly and not worth the hassle?
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Waste of time and money. Most bifacial panels require 1 meter of elevation from the reflecting surface.
 
LivingTheDream said:
@Will Prowse, Just watched your review of the ET Bifacial. What do you think about those on an RV if I could rig up a tilting system that could tilt both directions? Thinking that I could have them tilted towards the morning sun, drop flat at 11am, tilt towards the evening sun at 2pm...approx. Or is this just silly and not worth the hassle?
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HRTKD is correct. If you want good output, they need to be lifted high above an extremely reflective surface. Better off getting some cheap mono panels instead.

Because space is a constraint, you could go with sunpower cell glass panels. They produce a crazy amount of power for their size. But cost quite a bit.
 
Will Prowse said:
HRTKD is correct. If you want good output, they need to be lifted high above an extremely reflective surface. Better off getting some cheap mono panels instead.

Because space is a constraint, you could go with sunpower cell glass panels. They produce a crazy amount of power for their size. But cost quite a bit.
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Ok. Being in AZ, is there anything at SanTan Solar you’d recommend? I was looking at those Hyundai’s, but can’t find any reviews. It would be very cost effective to just pick them up locally vs. shipping costs.
 
LivingTheDream said:
Ok. Being in AZ, is there anything at SanTan Solar you’d recommend? I was looking at those Hyundai’s, but can’t find any reviews. It would be very cost effective to just pick them up locally vs. shipping costs.
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This morning I set up 16 t series panels and the output looks good so far. Will have max irradiance in fifteen minutes.

Just be sure to test your panels VOC and dead short current.
 
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