School me on a solar panel for my RV (1 Viewer)

[FLATU8ER]

First, I have a standard small trailer (19ft) with a brand new interstate 12 V marine/RV battery, and recently bought a Yamaha 1600W generator. (To run the micro wave, and lights at night, and charge the battery.) The fridge is propane and battery, pretty standard.
I have been wondering if I should get a small (maybe 100W) panel for maintenance during the day.
When the rig is parked at the house I plan on disconnecting the battery. We only use the rig about 2 or 3 times a year. And if I need power to the trailer while at home, I can plug it in to the house.
Looking on the interweb most packages start at $400+. I did see a solar package at Harbor Freight for
$199, 100W with small clamps to hook directly to the battery terminals.
Is something like this worth the investment? I really don't do "Off Grid" type of stuff, and mostly camp in regular camp grounds.
The trailer is only to get my old bones off the ground, out of a tent, and better temperature control, along with more convenience.
Is a solar panel something I need, or will I be OK with out one?
Thanks, Jim

 

[spressomon]

Maintenance during the day when camping? Or for when its parked at home? Either: What's your hourly/daily current draw? Does the trailer sit in the shade?

Need to start with what your current draw down is...

 

[FLATU8ER]

Thanks Spresso, How do I find out what my draw down is?
When sitting at camp the only things running are water pump (at pressure, not running), a gas/propane detector (no control over that one)
When parked, there is zero draw, as I will disconnect the battery.

 

[FLATU8ER]

No interest in this question huh ?
Guess I will just pass on the solar, as I can't get much of an answer.

 

[spressomon]

Put an amp meter in between your battery and your appliance(s) to determine current draw/load. But given you are in established camp grounds, don't do "off the grid" camping, have a generator, etc., etc., I'm going to say solar would not really do you any good and/or not worth the cost and complexity of hauling, connecting and keeping someone from walking away with it (relative to what you describe as very light current draw/loads, just guessing, on the battery).

 

[FLATU8ER]

Thanks Supresso,
See you in Campfire Cuisine, and Chat.
-Jim

 

[e9999]

of course if you will be in campgrounds with AC, no need to worry about solar. However, if you are running a generator, I think solar becomes more attractive. First for your neighbors who may feel that their calm night under the stars is ruined by the generator noise. Also, running a generator adds up $ wise if you use it a lot because of gas cost, but admittedly if you only go 2 or 3 times a year for a few days it would likely be a number of years before you would get back the cost of a solar system in saved gas and propane.
I would definitely not buy from HF but you could buy a decent 100W panel and controller for about $200 online. (Which is probably more power than you need for a pump and detector and a few lights; assuming you don't run the fridge on the battery.) Maybe $50 for wiring, connectors and the like on top of that also. But, if you are uncomfortable with using an ammeter, you may want to do some research before doing the installation of the solar system yourself.
So, yes, I also tend to think that a solar system may not be a compelling need for you given your circumstances. However, I will also say that it's quite an interesting topic to learn about and you may have fun learning how to put the system together and spending inordinate amounts of time playing with the panel afterwards...

 

[coleAK]

We do a lot of off grid camping in AK. I have two Costco interstate 6v (bridges to 12v) golf cart batteries on my TT. I have a Yamaha 2000w generator that I seldom use now that I have done solar.

I have one 270w panel that I run through a charge controller to the battery bank then from there to a sine wave inverter with 2 outlets. I don’t have the inverter ran to the entire camper I just use extension cords to run: coffee maker, TV, wife’s hair dryer, boot dryer. I can go 7-10 days easy (Water is my limiting factor) as long as we don’t get too many consecutive days of overcast. Solar will not run microwave or AC, well you could do it theoretically but would be mega bucks and heavy. I made a wood stand to prop the panel on the ground and manually move it based on the sun.

I put 26 panels on my house so just ordered one extra for the camper. With my set up I’m out about $800 total. Looking back I wish I would have done two 100-120w panels just due to ease of moving and storage.