RV Solar programs could be something from a single panel you goal on the solar whilst you’re parked someplace, to a dozen or extra panels mounted to your roof. How a lot photo voltaic is the correct quantity? Sizing your RV Solar system correctly can prevent money and time in addition to be certain your system performs as anticipated. This article is targeted on determining simply what number of photo voltaic panels you want.
RV Solar System Sizing
People have instructed us their solely large street block to getting a system, will not be figuring out how a lot photo voltaic they want. I’ll even admit I didn’t know both, and bought an multi functional package that works nice, however isn’t fairly as large as I wanted. You can learn my evaluate of that package right here. It doesn’t matter when you’re residing the Van Life or RV Life or rocking a School Bus Conversion, the best way you decide the dimensions of your system is similar.
The first step is to learn the way a lot energy you’re going to be utilizing. This is essentially the most tedious half, but additionally an important. You want so as to add up the entire electrical energy used from each equipment you’ve. The simplest way to determine the entire energy is to transform your entire calculations into watts. Don’t fear, there may be a simple method to do that too!
RV Solar Power Math
All of your main home equipment could have a sticker on them someplace that claims what number of Amps its attracts and what number of Volts it runs on. For instance, we’ve a residential fridge in our RV and contained in the door I discover the facility ranking sticker under.
Here you see that our fridge runs on 115 Volts and attracts 3 Amps. To convert this to watts, we use the method AMPS x VOLTS = WATTS. So doing 3 x 115 = 345, we all know that our fridge is utilizing 345 Watts per hour when it’s working. I determine the fridge is barely really working half of the day, and in standby mode the opposite half, so we take our Hourly Wattage (345) and multiply that by the Run Time (12) per day and get 4,140 Total Watts Per Day.
Easy proper? Now we simply have to do this similar factor for all of the home equipment in your RV, and write it down, so we are able to tally up the entire watts per day for all of them. Once we’ve a complete wattage for all the pieces we’re going to be working in our RV, then we are able to transfer on to the following step, which is selecting a sort of battery to retailer our RV Solar Power.
Flooded Lead Acid
When it involves RV Batteries there are 3 principal sorts it’s important to select from. The commonest one, and the one that’s more than likely in your RV from the manufacturing unit, is a Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) Deep Cycle.
It is much like the battery in your automotive, however designed to have the ability to drain down earlier than being recharged. The FLA type of battery is able to a 50% discharge with out damaging it earlier than it must be recharged.
A FLA Deep Cycle is sweet for a mean of 5 years earlier than they have to be changed. While they do have the bottom up entrance prices, they do require some upkeep to maximise their life span. After a mean of 200 discharge and recharge cycles, a FLA battery will begin to have a decline within the quantity of power they’ll retailer.
FLA batteries additionally have to be in an exterior compartment, and that compartment must be vented to the surface air. During the charging cycle they produce fuel emissions that might kill you if they’re in an inside space of your RV or Van.
AGM Batteries
The subsequent kind of battery known as an Absorbent Glass Matt (AGM) Battery. An AGM battery is a sophisticated model of the usual FLA Battery. One main attraction to them is that they’re fully sealed, so there isn’t a hazard of battery acid being spilled out of them.
AGM Batteries are additionally upkeep free and final on common twice as lengthy than an ordinary FLA Battery. On the up entrance price they’re going to price 20 to 50 % extra per battery relying on the dimensions of the battery.
LiFePO4 Batteries
The final kind of battery is a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4). This is taken into account to be the holy grail in RV Solar programs. A LiFePO4 battery could be discharged 80 % with out lack of energy or doing harm to the battery itself. Most LiFePO4 batteries will final by means of 5,000 charging cycles.
At a price of 1 cost cycle per day with a photo voltaic system, it ought to final you round 12 years in your RV. Another benefit to the LiFePO4 is it could actually deal with a lot bigger sustained energy utilization than its lead acid counterparts. If you might be planning on working an AC unit together with your photo voltaic system, that is the best way to go.
The LiFePO4 does have the best up entrance price, at a mean of three occasions the value of a FLA battery, nevertheless they’re additionally just one third the burden. Depending on the dimensions of your RV Solar system you could want a number of batteries to retailer the facility, in order that weight can add up quick.
How Many Batteries?
Once you’ve determined which kind of battery is the perfect match on your price range and energy wants, the following step is to determine simply what number of batteries you want. For this we’re going to confer with the Total Watts Per Day from step 1. So let’s imagine that after you added all of it up, you bought a complete of 10,000 watts per day.
You can convert the Amp Hours of the battery you select into watts utilizing the identical method to maintain all the pieces straightforward. For this instance lets assume we’re going to use a 200 Amp Hour LiFePO4 battery. So doing our math of 200 Amp Hours X 12 Volts = 2,400 Watts.
In order to run all the pieces for twenty-four hours and not using a recharge, you would want 5 batteries. If you need to have the ability to run all the pieces for 48 hours and not using a recharge, you would want 10 batteries. You are solely restricted on the variety of days you go by your personal price range and out there battery house.
Many RV Solar professionals suggest with the ability to run for 48 hours on battery energy alone in case of foul climate.
How Many RV Solar Panels Do I Need?
So right here is the place the mathematics will get a little bit difficult, however not inconceivable. You have to know the way a lot Peak Sun you’re going to get every day to cost your batteries again to 100 Percent. Near the equator you get extra, close to Canada you get much less. We are going to make use of Average US Irradiance of 5.3 to assist determine this one out. Since we’re going to be touring all over, the quantity will change anyway based mostly in your location.
To learn the way a lot Total Solar Power you want, you divide your every day want by the 5.3 common Peak Sun time. Using our 10,000 watt instance from above, we divide 10,000 by 5.3 for a complete of 1,886 Watts Of Solar Panels Needed. To give your self a cushion, and make your math simpler, spherical it as much as 2,000 Watts Of Solar Panels.
There are a number of combos you are able to do to attain the two,000 Watts you want. You can do 20 One Hundred Watt Panels. Or you are able to do 10 Two Hundred Watt panels. You can do 5 Four Hundred Watt Panels. You see what I’m getting at.
The approximate RV Solar Panel dimension is 2 Feet by 4 Feet. How a lot out there roof house you’ve, will decide how manel panels you possibly can really match up there, which can let you know what wattage you want. For instance, say you’ve sufficient room on the roof of your RV to solely match 4 panels. In order to get the wanted 2,000 watts, you would want Four 500 Watt panels.
What Size Solar Charge Controller Do I Need?
The reply to this query will rely fully on the Solar Panel Voltage, Solar Panel Wattage, and when you plan to wire your Solar Panels in Series, Parallel, or Series-Parallel. Your finest plan of action is to ask your RV Solar seller what gauge wire you will have to go from the roof of your RV, which method the panels ought to be wired collectively, and which of their cost controllers mates with the remainder of the system the perfect.
