To figure out how to size your solar system take your daily kwh energy requirement and divide it by your peak sun hours to get the kw output.
What size solar system do i need for camping.
To work out the size of the panel we need we simply take the 28 45 x 18v average voltage of a solar panel 512w.
You need a battery in your system.
Now as i said before this is a high power example more typical of a large offgrid caravan or motorhome but the approach is the same.
Assuming we get 5 hours of direct sunlight we know a 100 watt solar panel will produce 30 amp hours per day.
The inverter is the final component we need to size for our rv solar system.
This will allow you to calculate the solar size required to run all your appliances and what size battery you ll need also.
Hello james i have a 45 renegade motorhome and want to install solar we do a lot of dry camping in glamis ca sand dunes for 4 8 days at a time.
Hello there i m steven yes i have two 800 watt solar panels on my rv for the lights and refrigerator and coffee makers is this ok to run on my 1976 dodge sportsman layton rv motorhome runs good don t need know work on it i just hook up the solar panel and i m happy this is my house ok i live in it just remember i m steven and i love rvs ok now.
Calculate the size of your solar system.
These devices generally have a small size mainly designed for charging electronics such as smartphones laptops ipads etc.
What size battery do you need to run your fridge how long will it run for.
I was looking at 300w panels maybe 2 to help not have to run generator as much.
What the sun will provide.
To assist further in choosing a solar panel size we have created a solar panel calculator.
The typical homeowner will need 28 34 solar panels to cover 100 of their energy usage dependent on location and roof size.
The best solar panels for camping are the so called solar chargers.
For instance there are three types of camping solar panels.
John september 15 2020 at 2 00 pm.
The job of the inverter is to convert 12 v dc electricity from the battery bank to 120 v ac electricity.
For our experiment 5 hours of direct sunlight without clouds x 6 amps generated per hour 30 amp hours per day that the solar panels are generating to.
I m making up figures here you want to run a 12v fridge rated at 2 7a max and 2 camping lights each.
To get these numbers we used high and low panel production ratios to calculate how many solar panels are needed on average.
A popular solar panel size to charge your batteries to run camping fridges is around 120 160 watts.
This is then sent to the rv s ac panel to power the various 120 v ac appliances and outlets throughout the rv.
You ll also need a solar controller between the solar panel and battery to regulate the charge going into the battery.
290 thoughts on how much solar do i need on my rv.