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Newbie Solar Questions

aBiNeRaBiNeR Member Posts: 15
in Battery/Electrical & Solar

Hey folks,

I hope everyone is doing well!

So I'm looking into adding some additional solar capability with my 2023 T@G XL BD, which has a stock 135 watt panel on the roof. The goal here is to be able to go three days using a BougeRV 30 quart cooler (24 hours a day), a 12V TV (maybe 2 hours a day), along with some cell phone charging.

I have two gel batteries totaling 230 amp hours that came with the rig.

I'm thinking adding a solar port and a 200 watt suitcase solar panel should do the trick, but I am a total noob here. I'm trying to avoid spending thousands by upgrading to lithium batteries, when it may not even be necessary.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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    JamesDowJamesDow Member Posts: 632

    I woud concure that using a 200 watt suitcase solar panel along with your existing 135 watt panel should do the trick.

    Your planned usage is much like mine. I have lithium and 100 watt solar suitcase plus one other 60 watt panel. In my last test I went 10 days in thr desert.

    Best of luck.

    ______________________

    Below is some additional info I found on the web:

    Charge a 200AH battery at no more than 30 Amps to avoid damaging it. Four 100-watt solar panels will charge a 200-amp-hour battery in five hours. Increase the number of solar panels to account for inclement weather.

    This means you would need three 100 watt solar panels or one 300 watt panel to fully recharge your battery on the average day.

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    GulfCoastGulfCoast Member Posts: 76

    With 230 amp-hours of gel batteries, you have about 115 AH of useful capacity, assuming you don't draw the batteries below 50%, which seems to be the recommended maximum discharge to avoid harming the batteries. Lithium batteries can be take down to 20%, so a pair of 100-AH lithium batteries would give you 160 AH of useful capacity. There are lots of options for 100-AH lithium batteries at less than $350 each. You could get by without changing the converter, but even if you did, you'd still be below $1000. And you'd remove a lot of weight from the front of the camper.

    Without crunching any numbers, I'd guess that you'd do fine with the 230-AH battery bank for three days without much solar input at all. Why not try charging up the battery and running a three-day test in the driveway? Consider other electrical loads, too. Cell phone charging isn't a big load, and moderate LED lighting isn't much more, but the overhead fan can be a significant draw.

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    aBiNeRaBiNeR Member Posts: 15

    Thanks, folks! @GulfCoast Perhaps I'll camp out in the driveway like you said! Great idea!

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