Solar Newby "Plug n Play"

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

DH and I have been both interested in solar for years. I do have a basic lack of comprehension of the subject, and so does he. For instance, neither of us have been able to understand why we couldn't just open a portal doooor and hook an unrolled solar mat/opened lightweight suitcase to the existing battery in our LS.
True, I can see some problem with a/c leaking out, the denizens of the insect worlds wanting to come investigate, and keeping the cats in place,(the 2 cabinet doors leading to the cat haven underbed storage of our Lil Snoozy were removed for our convenience.
If I can understand the particulars about how and why this isn't done, I think it would be a great thing for both of us.
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BTW I printed a worksheet from an RV solar conversion form. It made me a little frustrated. # of incandescent lightbulbs 25 or 50 wattsHalogen bulbs, # of fluorescent & at 15 or 30 watts. #Watts for the following appliances- ac refrigerator, fans (500 cfm, 750 cfm, 1000 cfm) , stereo, computer, B/W or Color TV at 9, or 13 inches, stereo, [/COLOR="Sienna}water pump[/COLOR]e B receiver, Satellite receiver, forced air furnace , vent and range hood, [/COLOR Sienna]DC compressor refrigerator[[/COLOR]e, 3 way refrig on 12V, Blender, B/I vacuum, electric broom, hair dryer, I am going to try to highlight which of those things above we may have. I noticed LED bulbs were conspicuous by their absence and I have always used them even when they were first on the market at $119 apiece.Also have the following-[COLOR="cyan"

Edited to add, we do have water pump,12 volt small truckfridge,
]200 watt and 1000/1500 watt space heater, toaster oven, 2 burner induction cooktop, [/COLOR]Airconditioner, truckfridge builtin 12V fridge/freezer, electric kettle, 1 qt crockpot,7 LED lights.
All these are to be multiplied x hours of use daily.

You notice even slides are conspicuouse by their absence? This Conversion business doesn't have any marking closed or out of business but their worksheet definitely needs a revision if still open.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Mitzi Agnew-Giles

DH and I have been both interested in solar for years. I do have a basic lack of comprehension of the subject, and so does he. For instance, neither of us have been able to understand why we couldn't just open a portal doooor and hook an unrolled solar mat/opened lightweight suitcase to the existing battery in our LS.

If course you can do that. Even better than a "portal door" is a simple plug that is wired to the battery internally.

Get a Renogy suitcase with controller, and plug it into the plug I just mentioned, and you are done. You'll have to make the connecting cord. Make it long enough so you can always point the collectors at the sun and still reach the plug.

Here is a picture of my external solar plug. Water proof and simply wired directly to the battery on the other side:

[thrifty bill]

Sounds like you found a crappy worksheet. Solution? Make your own. Its not hard to do. Certainly if you don't try to run appliances off 12V like refrigerator, inverter for major 120V appliances, etc., then a Renogy 100 watt panel should be more than adequate. As I recall, the Lil Snoozy was all electric, meaning all 120V. Running a traditional RV refrigerator off a solar panel is going to be a problem. Best to run appliances off propane, then the solar just keeps up with Maxxfan, LED lights, water pump and fan on the furnace.

Met a guy camping this weekend. He has almost 1000 watts of solar, and runs a compressor style r4frigerator. He also has two 100 ah Lithium batteries. You are talking several thousands of dollars invested in this stuff. Even then, he is not all electric. He has a propane furnace, propane cook top and propane hot water heater. He also has a marine split heat pump system that he said he is running on 12V for AC.I don't know the details.

Me I am running just the basic stuff with a Renogy suitcase, 100W, that I bought on Amazon Prime Day for about $200. Yes, I can't power all the stuff he is powering, but I didn't drop $4000 to $5000 to get it either. The Renogy suitcase more than meets my needs in either my Escape 19 or my Trillium. Obviously not running AC on it. Just the basic 12V stuff.

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

So my fruckfridge is about 1.9 cf and the freezer is just ice cube tray size. No fans ( well, I have 2 running off D batteries) To use the microwave I have to turn off something else. Even on generator. I'm good with leaving the water heater unplugged, as it has been since pickup. I'm also good with a electric kettle filling an insulated carafe with boiling water for all day use. It's been difficult to wean dh off his microwave addiction, to use the electric kettle for hot water for coffee and instant meals. He's pretty microwave dependent back home.
Can solar and generator be run at the same time? We definitely get a labored wheeze when microwaving on generator.
Thanks for the replies. Will check further into it