Cost of solar

[justinm001]

the OP was about solar vs gas geny costs. gas generator produces about 4-7 kwh per gallon, smaller gens are less efficient. the last pic i saw showed they had 1200 watts of solar, depending on location that will yield an average of 6-6.6 kwh per day so likely more than what one gallon will produce with that generator, however, it is unlikely they will use every photon every day so lets just say that solar system equals one gallon of gas per day. right now average price is 3.63 and rising but based on where you are the price is around 3-5 dollars. it is unlikely they will be camping everyday so lets just use 300 days. that will be $900-$1500 per year in gas so in a few years the solar will be cheaper.

My 20kw generator burns .34 / .68 / 1.50 gallons of diesel/hr for 25/50/100% load. Diesel is $4/gal so 10kwh is $3.

20 kW Diesel Generator Details

ENCLOSED CONFIGURATION OPEN CONFIGURATION EPS 20kW Tier 4 Final Diesel Mobile Generator Specifications Configuration Enclosed Open EPS Model Number S10020J4ENC S10020T4C3 KW – Stand-by (1) 20.9 20.9 KW – Continuous (1) 19.4 19.4 120 / 240V

www.enginepowersource.com

 

[Nobodybusiness]

I just put in a generic $0.50 / W. I can get 375W mono panels off of Facebook marketplace from a guy 8 miles away for $135. That's $0.36 / W. Been thinking about getting two of them.

Does he have 60 of them?

 

[Nobodybusiness]

What started me down this nutty path of big blue shiny stuff was when I installed a Victron smart shunt and found this rat's nest:
View attachment 209502

My electrical OCD just couldn't handle that. So I redid the whole system. This is what I took out:
View attachment 209504

That rat's nest was replaced by about 10 ft of wire. Now I can look at my system and not get brain pain.

Those obligatory self reset breakers that almost all RV have.
I helped my son redo his because it looked just like that.
Drove us crazy too.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

It pays to be frugal. I’m less than $10k in to 60kwh of battery, 23kw of panels, and 10kw of inverter.
Obviously panel racking is gonna kill me but one can be fairly simple/cheap too.
A pair of 3kw inverters and 4 eco-worthy batteries sets one back less than 2500 bucks. Could easily get as many panels as you can fit for under 500. That just dropped your buy in, in half

and mold, water leaks, cheap plumbing, cheap hvac, r5 insulation at best, 7mpg wherever I want to go instead of 15, 60ft of length pulling in and out of parking lots, endless propane usage.
It gets old.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d still rather “camp” but we have also rented hotel rooms so we could simply spread out as well

We had a 5th wheel for a while and for bondocking it was great.

20+ foot F-350 + 40 ft 5th wheel trying to make kiss your butt turns in small resort towns.

Paying $60 night for a pad in a beachside resort.
Trying to park between 2 trees and a guy with his lawn chair staring at you daring you to hit him.
Then the slide out. Hooking up sewer,water, electric, leveling, awning, rugs,etc.

In my case every time we went to use the thing something wasn’t working.
Im sure it was my fault but dead battery or Frig suddenly decided to spew its ammonia all over the side of the camper, propane auto valve between tanks failed, random leak we never found were water pooled on the bedroom window seal, on and on.


It’s just got to be easier to Airbnb or something else.

Very much a personal thing I guess.

 

[corn18]

Does he have 60 of them?

I think so.

 

[rustythorn]

My 20kw generator burns .34 / .68 / 1.50 gallons of diesel/hr for 25/50/100% load. Diesel is $4/gal so 10kwh is $3.

20 kW Diesel Generator Details

ENCLOSED CONFIGURATION OPEN CONFIGURATION EPS 20kW Tier 4 Final Diesel Mobile Generator Specifications Configuration Enclosed Open EPS Model Number S10020J4ENC S10020T4C3 KW – Stand-by (1) 20.9 20.9 KW – Continuous (1) 19.4 19.4 120 / 240V

www.enginepowersource.com

yep, i said smaller generators are less efficient, which the OP is using. a larger generator will be a slightly different story but even with your generator solar will still pay for it self in a few years in gas costs alone not to mention the price of the generator, the hassle of dealing with it [fueling, etc...] and the nuisance of noise and smell, as well as other negative aspects of using a generator.

 

[SoggyShoes]

We had a 34 foot class A. .....
..... But after being stuck in DC traffic with my little girl crying because she had to go to the bathroom, the RV was worth it.

That's why we got a class A and love it.
It pretty much eliminated the never ending "are we there yet?" and "how much longer?"
Packing two kids in and out of hotels is a pain and something always seems to get lost or forgotten. And we like the flexibility of random roaming and do a lot of boondocking. Some of our best days were completely unplanned.
Plus, boarding the dog cost about $60/night.

Back to the thread...
Using the generator is easy and convenient. Especially as ours is built in and runs of the engine gas tank.
But, I really hate hearing the generator when we are in the middle of beautiful nowhere.
Solar and batteries are perfectly quiet and peaceful. My goal is that the loudest sound coming from our RV when we sleep is, as my kids say, my wife and I sounding like Darth Vader from using our CPAPs.
I can't wait to get my system installed! (Waiting on the slow boat from China.)

 

[RvNaut]

But, I really hate hearing the generator when we are in the middle of beautiful nowhere.

Boy Howdy... my first year of full-timing I relied on generators. I was noisy. I did not like it. Now, I run them to exercise them.

 

[corn18]

Went out to the 5er today to do some things inside. It was 65 deg F outside but inside the trailer it was 77 deg F. Time was 1500 and it was a clear day. So I powered up the system, turned on the solar and one AC unit. AC was drawing 1200W and my solar was cranking out 1200W. So I got free AC for 20 minutes. That made me giggle.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Went out to the 5er today to do some things inside. It was 65 deg F outside but inside the trailer it was 77 deg F. Time was 1500 and it was a clear day. So I powered up the system, turned on the solar and one AC unit. AC was drawing 1200W and my solar was cranking out 1200W. So I got free AC for 20 minutes. That made me giggle.

It’s the start of an addiction…

 

[Sojourner1]

It’s the start of an addiction…

Or a lifestyle.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Ya came to the right place!