|
Smaller 120v items can be run off batteries using an power inverter that takes your 12v from your batteries and turns it into 120v. Your Microwave is obviously 120v, AC, likely your TV although some are 12v.
Anything that heats (Microwave, Toaster, Coffee maker, etc.) EATS 12v power. If you want to identify what runs, don't plug your camper in to 120v and walk around and try operating things.
I haven't quite made up my mind on solar for my Toy Hauler at this point. The plan is in a few years to retire and spend a bunch of time out west where it would be more beneficial due to the lack of trees/shade vs. the mostly campground/state or national park camping that I do currently 90% of the time. I did invest in an inverter genny (3500 watt) that can run my AC and other high wattage appliances if I'm somewhere I can't get shore power.
In my research for the preparation of "someday" what I'm still debating is are we going to be too much of a high usage couple to make it worthwhile. Putting enough solar on the roof and enough battery storage in an RV to power higher usage folks that have a residential fridge, like to watch a 2-4 hours of TV in the course of the day, might have a wife that wants to blow dry her hair, uses the microwave to thaw or cook on occasion, Wants to use the AC for an hour or two at night to cool the camper if it's hot where we're staying, MIGHT be more expensive than just using the genny for those limited moments.
For someone like that (I'm not sure if that's who we are yet but wise enough to know it might be) Lithium Batteries that you can run down lower than 50% would be a must IMO. The weight of using AGM or Lead Acid that you can discharge to 50% vs. to 80% discharged like the lithium would require significantly more of them to equate to the same amount of actual energy storage. Add in that they (AGM and Lead Acid) are heavier and now I'm eating up more space and weight to get the same amount of usable amp hours.
Enough solar panels and controllers for them to replace the huge amount of energy used daily would be the next biggest cost. And even then, a second cloudy day would almost certainly require firing up the genny.
I've watched about 200 hours of YouTube videos on solar and many of them of people that are living small in conversion vans and small RV's. Some of them have huge amounts of solar (1000+ Watt systems) along with large 8 Lithium Battery banks costing Thousands (4k-8k).
So for now, I'm going to wait until we get retired, go out west and see just how much we can chase the 70 degree weather pattern, how we actually use the electrical power each day in those types of camping situations, how costly is it to run a small inverter genny when you need it and then do the cost analysis. I just don't want to sink 4K in batteries and another 1-2K in solar to find out all it's doing is saving me $3-$5 in gas a day ($90-$150 a month).
If I were a low usage camper, ran everything on 12v that I needed, had a propane frig, rather listen to the radio and TV, etc, I'd be all over a couple Battle Borns batteries and 5-600 watts of panels on the roof.
__________________
2020 Chevrolet 2500 LTZ, 2019 Forest River Wolfpack 23Pack15, 2014 EZGO Golf Cart.
|
Linear Mode
