On
battery. Short answer - single 12 volt is fine for most required uses for a weekend.
Solar can extend that to almost indefinite time.
I just had a conversation with Carol on that subject since I know she camps off grid and used a modest sized
solar panel and I was looking to finally purchase
solar. Nothing like picking the brains of those that have been there and done that.
She replaced inside
lights with LED, has a roof vent fan and a 12 volt water pump, charges laptop, camera and phone. Has to restrict amount of time she runs the
furnace blower due to it's high power consumption. She uses a Wal-Mart group 27 deep cycle 12 volt
battery is good for a couple of days without charging. Provide even modest
solar charging and unless you run a lot of other power drains you should be fine.
Using an inverter to run things like a coffee pot,
microwave or TV will require more solar and/or more
battery storage. As will cold weather camping where the
furnace is required to be run more. Running a 12 volt
fridge instead of
propane would be high demand item that would require both storage capacity and solar capacity be increased.
Golf cart or dual batteries will store more power and golf cart batteries are better able to handle running down below 50% charge but unless you know you need the power storage or are going to draw down battery before recharge I would avoid the
weight, cost and complexity of dual batteries or golf cart batteries.
Now if you want to run the 4 channel stereo with dual 40 watt per channel boosters driving 10 speakers in the middle of the woods all day... may I suggest three batteries with one isolated as a reserve so you don't find yourself with dead batteries when you finally decide to call it a night. I know this one from experience.
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