Planning Our Off-Grid Camping Trip – Need Help Choosing Between Solar Panels!

[lyrawinslow]

Hey everyone!

I’ve been planning an off-grid camping trip with a few of my close friends for the past month, and it’s finally happening next week! We're heading to Catskill Forest, and since we live in Albany, we’ll be taking a van and doing the full road-trip-style adventure. It’ll be a 6–7 day trip—super excited!

Now, here’s where I need your help...

One of my friends suggested we carry a Renogy 200 Watt 12 Volt Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel for powering our essentials. It sounds convenient since it’s flexible and easy to store, but I personally feel we might be better off with a 400W Portable Solar Panel, especially since we'll have a few devices and maybe a small fridge or fan.

To be honest, I’m not an expert in this stuff—but my friend does have more knowledge about solar gear than I do (definitely more than me! ). Still, I’d love to hear what the community thinks.

Is 200W flexible panel enough for a week-long off-grid trip with a van? Or should we aim for more capacity like 400W, especially if we want to charge phones, lights, maybe a portable cooler, etc.?

Looking forward to your suggestions, real-life experiences, and advice on what’s more reliable!

Thanks a lot

 

[littleharbor2]

I would keep it simple. Fully charge that battery before you go, single 400 Watt Solar panel, 20 amp MPPT Charge controller, add a couple aluminum angle iron legs on the panel so that you can prop it and aim it throughout the day. 12 gauge twin lead low voltage landscape wire works very well.

Good luck getting everything rounded up before you go.

 

[chrisski]

400 watts of panels is 6’ x 4’, no way around that other than to fold it.

Without knowing your energy needs, I can’t say.

if we want to charge phones, lights, maybe a portable cooler, etc.?

Knowing the kWh per device and number helps. The phone is easy but the lights and cooler cover a broad requirement.

I have a 100 watt panel and a cheap 12 volt dc to dc converter with no battery that will charge all the handheld devices myself plus 1 could use. Could also take care of some other USB charged devices like flashlights.

With a 400 watt panel, a 5 quart crockpot, 100 ah battery, and inverter I could do all the and cook 8 servings per day in the crockpot.

 

[oldbigfoot]

400 watts of panels is 6’ x 4’, no way around that other than to fold it.

Without knowing your energy needs, I can’t say.

Knowing the kWh per device and number helps. The phone is easy but the lights and cooler cover a broad requirement.

I have a 100 watt panel and a cheap 12 volt dc to dc converter with no battery that will charge all the handheld devices myself plus 1 could use. Could also take care of some other USB charged devices like flashlights.

With a 400 watt panel, a 5 quart crockpot, 100 ah battery, and inverter I could do all the and cook 8 servings per day in the crockpot.

Hey everyone!

I’ve been planning an off-grid camping trip with a few of my close friends for the past month, and it’s finally happening next week! We're heading to Catskill Forest, and since we live in Albany, we’ll be taking a van and doing the full road-trip-style adventure. It’ll be a 6–7 day trip—super excited!

Now, here’s where I need your help...

One of my friends suggested we carry a Renogy 200 Watt 12 Volt Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel for powering our essentials. It sounds convenient since it’s flexible and easy to store, but I personally feel we might be better off with a 400W Portable Solar Panel, especially since we'll have a few devices and maybe a small fridge or fan.

To be honest, I’m not an expert in this stuff—but my friend does have more knowledge about solar gear than I do (definitely more than me! ). Still, I’d love to hear what the community thinks.

Is 200W flexible panel enough for a week-long off-grid trip with a van? Or should we aim for more capacity like 400W, especially if we want to charge phones, lights, maybe a portable cooler, etc.?

Looking forward to your suggestions, real-life experiences, and advice on what’s more reliable!

Thanks a lot

Wow those little panels are expensive
Then you need a charge controller and battery (unless one of your group has a solar generator)
What I would do:
Your camping. All cell phones shut off and left in the van listen to nature and each other
A fire and a couple of flashlights should give you all the light you need
Coolers with block ice. Lasts much longer than cubes
Eat the perishable stuff the fist 3-4 days or as long as the ice holds out
After that canned goods soups dinty Moore beef stew canned potatoes etc you can open them and heat them in the fire and eat right out of the can
Nothing better than fire warmed beef stew and a half warm beer you last day there

 

[oldbigfoot]

Wow those little panels are expensive
Then you need a charge controller and battery (unless one of your group has a solar generator)
What I would do:
Your camping. All cell phones shut off and left in the van listen to nature and each other
A fire and a couple of flashlights should give you all the light you need
Coolers with block ice. Lasts much longer than cubes
Eat the perishable stuff the fist 3-4 days or as long as the ice holds out
After that canned goods soups dinty Moore beef stew canned potatoes etc you can open them and heat them in the fire and eat right out of the can
Nothing better than fire warmed beef stew and a half warm beer you last day there

Oh and maybe some bear spray

 

[dopeassjackson]

The catskills from albany is about 1hr drive. Considering it's suposto rain here for the next 5ish days do you have some type of non solar power source?

 

[lyrawinslow]

I would keep it simple. Fully charge that battery before you go, single 400 Watt Solar panel, 20 amp MPPT Charge controller, add a couple aluminum angle iron legs on the panel so that you can prop it and aim it throughout the day. 12 gauge twin lead low voltage landscape wire works very well.

Good luck getting everything rounded up before you go.

yeah it sounds clear and simple.. coz no time I have for more preparations. btw..ty

 

[lyrawinslow]

Wow those little panels are expensive
Then you need a charge controller and battery (unless one of your group has a solar generator)
What I would do:
Your camping. All cell phones shut off and left in the van listen to nature and each other
A fire and a couple of flashlights should give you all the light you need
Coolers with block ice. Lasts much longer than cubes
Eat the perishable stuff the fist 3-4 days or as long as the ice holds out
After that canned goods soups dinty Moore beef stew canned potatoes etc you can open them and heat them in the fire and eat right out of the can
Nothing better than fire warmed beef stew and a half warm beer you last day there

yep really excited.. to take a break from all the work and hassle.. nature is peace and with friends ...its really sounds like and therapy.. thank you

 

[lyrawinslow]

The catskills from albany is about 1hr drive. Considering it's suposto rain here for the next 5ish days do you have some type of non solar power source?

yeah I had discussed with my friends, but not even 1% of the excitement or morale get down by this rain new. However, we are keeping things in this case. For me, they gave me the responsibility to arrange or buy the portable camping stove. So, I did that. Yep, that's it. The rest, maybe they should take care of.

 

[Andrewr05]

It would be expensive if you only ever used it on the camping trip, but I would consider possibly getting a large power station.

Then when you are done with it you can keep it at home for emergencies when the grid goes down.


eBay is having some nice deals right now.
For instance-
EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max ($680)
Bluetti AC200L ($730)

But then you'd need to add in solar panels still.
(if as stated above you thought you would even get any son of the next week anyways, as it's most likely going to be very overcast)

Due to the weather maybe even consider a small generator?

 

[Rmart30]

Camping close to the vehicle, or are you parking and hiking in carrying everything?
Have a harbor freight near you? You could always try out a couple of their power stations on the trip along with their rigid panels and see if they work for you or not.

My wife does a good bit of tent camping with her brothers and sisters. She carries a 6ftx12ft trailer with her every trip. They primitive camp close to their vehicles so Im going to mount 800-1000w of panels on top of the trailer she takes to power and charge a cpl of 12v 100ah batteries for her and see how it works out.