Solar charging

[kelkat]

For my little QS6's battery what kind of solar panel or wattage do I need for 4-5 days?

Thanks,
Kellye

[thudd3r]

I use a 10w battery tender panel.  Effective and easy.  Not sure if it would be enough to keep yourbattery topped for 4 or 5 days though since i also use a generator for a short time each day

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-Watt-Solar-Charger/dp/B004VJTUU2/ref=sr_1_12?s=automotive&srs=2582981011&ie=UTF8&qid=1455334821&sr=1-12&keywords=Battery+tender+solar

[charliem]

[font size="3"]What do you have that runs on the battery? I can only see a light and a USB charger. Do you have the propane package with a furnace?
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[catmanriff]

I've been looking into this myself. besides adding another 12v battery, I was looking at solar recharging. So far, with absolutely no experience, i like the Zamp systems.. But, so far I've only used the lights and 12v fans that came with the trailer. 

[kelkat]

i'm probably 75% off grid with just the need for lights, fan and charging for phone and maybe a 12 volt coffee brewer.  the guy at camping world tried to sell me a $400 solar panel.  i just don't think i'd need that much??  

[catmanriff]

That's seems like a minimum solar recharge to me actually. How many watts was it?

[admin]

A fan, if run over night can actually draw a lot more amp hours than you would think. A coffee maker I belive is also a high amp draw even if it's just a relatively short time. Lights can be minimized if you use LEDs though.
If you have a good quality battery, or even better 2 6v gold cart batteries, you could get away with a minimal solar panel but it may not fully recharge your system in one day.
It all comes down to Amps used vs Amps charged.

[charliem]

[font size="3"]I don't know all the fans available out there, but a FanTastic vent on low speed only draws 1 Amp while moving a lot of air. Running for 12 hours that's only 12 A-H. That should be typical of small fans. LED lights should draw ~ 0.2A so are minimal. I would think a max of 15 A-H per day would be very adequate for small trailers. I would look at solar panels around 15-20 watts. When added to a fully charged battery that should last the 4-5 day mission and cost a lot less than $400! The first obvious solution would be the two 6V golf cart batteries, but I don't know if there is enough room on the smaller QSs. Need some input from current QS owners here. 

On the 12V coffee brewer, that seems a task better left to a small butane/propane stove. Coffee brewing is a tall task for a 12V battery. A quick look at 12V coffee makers doesn't find many good[/font][font size="3"] reviews[/font][font size="3"]. 
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[charleschapman]

I bought a folding 80 watt charger years ago for our 6.0.  It takes care of keeping the phones and tablets charged and running the fan at night. Also all interior lights where converted to LED and the battery upgraded to an AGM battery.  Which ever solar charger you get make sure it has a control unit.  I also got an extension cable for the solar panel so I can park the camper in the shade and the panel in the sun.

[pinstriper]

[quote source="/post/18662/thread" timestamp="1455342018" author="@kelkat"]i'm probably 75% off grid with just the need for lights, fan and charging for phone and maybe a 12 volt coffee brewer.  the guy at camping world tried to sell me a $400 solar panel.  i just don't think i'd need that much??  [/quote]We really need better answers to give better advice.

What kind of lights, how many for how long ? Ditto the fan. Using Charlie's data (1W vs 0.2W) 5 lights will be the same as one fan.

Are you just wanting to keep the phone alive for 4-5 days with no calls ? Your phone may well live that long on its own, and get a $10 USB battery stick "just in case". Or are you streaming video or music ? For how many hours a day ? You may be dropping the phone charge below 20% twice a day.

How many watts for the solar panel ?

Keep in mind that the wattage rating of the solar panel is in "ideal" conditions. Full sun, straight on the panel. Will that be  your weather ? Every day ? What time of year ? Even if you need 15W, it may take a 50W panel to throw off 15W under your conditions. Or even less.

I think the big pull, however, is the coffee pot. That's 500-1500W draw, for 10 minutes give-or-take.

[charliem]

[font size="3"]A few comments: The 80 watt panel is certainly adequate, even overkill, but it does have the advantage of rapid recharge with limited sun or time. Something of that size will definitely require a charge controller as stated. The advantage of a smaller panel, in addition to lower cost, is it will not require a controller if used in a typical daily routine and can even be used as a maintainer if no shore power is available during storage. Due to the mysteries of physics and rating schemes even a 20W panel will only be delivering ~1 Amp in direct sunlight.
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[catmanriff]

agreed the coffee maker might be the issue.

I was looking at the Zamp systems, like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Zamp-Solar-40P-Portable-Charge/dp/B00K1LBR1E

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/18669/thread" timestamp="1455383953" author="@catmanriff"]agreed the coffee maker might be the issue.

I was looking at the Zamp systems, like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Zamp-Solar-40P-Portable-Charge/dp/B00K1LBR1E[/quote][font size="3"]That would work, but it's very expensive for a 40W panel. You're paying a lot for the folding aluminum stand etc. A simple home built stand of wood or PVC would be cheaper. Even the fancy 8A PWM controller is overkill since the max current for a 40W panel would be 2.3 Amps. [/font]

[catmanriff]

True. I think you can later  add a panel to that controller.

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/18672/thread" timestamp="1455386477" author="@catmanriff"]True. I think you can later  add a panel to that controller. [/quote][font size="3"]Certainly, or two more. [/font]