Solar

Well- we have made the plunge, at last, and ordered our 560 Ultra! I can't wait until I get my hands on her in early July!! Can anyone here speak to the use of the solar panel? Is it enough to run your A/C and elec off? I'm just curious. I've never used solar and would need a big primer. But I can see us utilizing it in the "bush". Any knowledge would be welcome.

 

The AC will only run off shore power, not the battery.

There's at least one and maybe more threads about solar on this message board. I'd suggest you search for that and read it. There's lots of good discussion and opinions there.

I am really glad we got the solar option. We have a 30 watt portable solar panel that provides us with all the battery charging power we need. But we are not on the high end of power usage compared to others. For example, we don't run a refrigerator. If we did, I'd guess a bigger panel would be better.

 

You will need at least an 80 watt for fridge but there is a wealth of info on this forum.
MDP

 

Is the sun close enough to the earth in Minnesota for a solar panel to actually work?

And of course, no fridge needed. Maybe a good yeti cooler will have enough insulation to keep your stuff warm enough not to freeze.

Just kidding.

 

We have a 120 watt GoPower folding panel/built in charger with legs, that folds and fits into a hard shell suitcase. It fits in the back of our Mini wagon. It has supplied us with all the power we need, for the refrigerator, furnace, trailer lights and TV, we charge our laptops, phones, iPods, backpack speakers, rechargeable camp light and kindles as well. Even in the southern states we really only get 5-6 hrs of harvest time in the winter. If it is overcast it still charges, just not as much so we won't charge our devices cuz we'll need the juice for the fridge and furnace. We have not augmented the batteries on Dewey, we only use the one battery that came with the trailer. In the summer the fridge is gonna use more power but we won't be using the furnace and of course we'll have way more harvest time. It's so easy too, when we 1st set up camp I'll break it out and set it up, I lock it to the trailer so it won't walk. That's it, if we're in camp I'll clock it with the sun, if we're away I'll just set it for mid day. It's been great for us, sure beats a noisy smelly generator or having to camp next to the big noisy smelly RVs ( I think I have a theme going here ) to get a power post.

Hope this is helpful

Michael

 

So Michael,
It works sort of like this:
1 unpack panels, put in "Sunniest" location
2 Then run the output wire to?? 12v receptor? don't need the Controller as it already has one.
3 Plug in your laptop where? in the TD AC outlet?
4 Plug in the 12 phone into the cigarette plug outlet?

and you're good to go?

I note that the Goal Zero has a "Battery Generator" with the 2 AC/USB/12 outlet and that would be the same thing as the Tear Drop supplies, although a little smaller?

Does that sound about right?

I have Big Ole Brink (BOB) AGM battery that I try to use as the primary, TD batt is a backup, so I'd just run the Solar panels to the BOB and the BOB would be hooked up the to TD..

Or?? Do I need some sort of additional controller. I'm assuming since the 120w panel has one, I don't..

Just unfold, plug into BOB, hook BOB to the TD and we're good to go??

Just a Wandering Mind you know..
thanks...

 

Yes sorry for that last post, I guess it had a bit of the wam, bam to it.

Let me clarify.

We sent a battery box plug to Camp-Inn during our build. It's just a quick connect plug that is mounted on the outside of the trailer and connected to the positive and negative posts of the battery. Zamp solar panel company sells them. Dave and Dixie had the same plug installed on their trailer. I got the idea from them. It rids you of the chore of putting alligator clips on the battery posts.

Now to charge our laptops we use an inexpensive square wave inverter with cigarette lighter plug. We plug it into the cig light plug in the cabin, the cig light plug in the galley is tied up powering the refridgerator. We have been using this exact same brand inverter on our boat to charge our laptops for years with no issues. In fact I just brought along our boats back up inverter for Dewey's maiden tour, so I didn't have to buy another one, I already had it. That inverter has 2 USB ports so while I have it out I can charge 2 USB chargeable devices, phones, iPods, tent lantern, backpacker speakers etc.

So with the solar panel plugged in to it's own dedicated plug and charging our battery we can charge 1 laptop and 2 USB chargeable devices, when those are charged we switch out the laptop for another one and 2 more USB devices.

The cool thing about having a large panel is that there is almost no modification to a stock trailer, just the battery box plug, everything else is plug and play.

Michael

 

Puzzled. How is that different than using a regular car-charger type plug-in that has one or two female USB ports to receive a computer or cell phone's charging cable?

Well, yes, you would need an inverter for AC to power a laptop's power brick, but not for a cell phone or ipad, right?

But I'm still not understanding the need for the extra 'battery box plug.' sorry if i'm missing something.

 

We do have a cig light plug with USB outlet that we use to charge our devices, but we do not have a cig light plug for our Mac Books so we use the inverter. The inverter has 2 USB outlets, so if we are charging our computers we can also charge 2 devices, if we are not charging our computers then we use the cig light with USB outlet. Like most Camp-Inns we have only 2 cig light outlets on our trailer, we asked Cary if we could get 2 in the galley, he said there isn't enough room and that most people use a splitter. He did say that there is room for 2 in the cabin, but I did not see the point, if you are going to use a splitter in the galley you can just as we'll in the cabin. With only 2 outlets there is a lot of juggling, everyone has their own solutions for keeping things charged.

If you were to order the solar option from Camp-Inn they would install an outlet or rather an inlet on the outside of the trailer, wire that to the solar panel controller and then wire that to the battery. We have a solar panel with a built in controller so all we needed was a inlet on the side of the trailer.

Michael

 

Didn't answer yor BOB question Frank, yes you can charge your BOB directly from your panel with built in charger. My original point is/was that with a big enough panel you may not need the extra batteries.

Michael

 

Yah, I think I'm getting it now...

I installed 4-cig outlets on the back-lower quarter and 1 above the RT Kitchen shelve and 1 inside cabin next to the other one.
I figured what the "Hey", they'er there, put in what I think I might Need (again overkill).

So my standard hook up would be park TD, bring out Gawd-awful heavy battery (BOB), place under Outside side table & TD.

I have battery wired with the quick harness.
I then Switch the switch inside (had installed) on the pot/pan wall. See Mick's 2nd Batter install. to change power from the TD battery to the outside one.

I then am able to plug in the cig-male from BOB into one of the 4 outlets on the lower side. So the TD battery is off line and all power is now running off the BOB.

What I wanted is to hookup the Solar panels to BOB to keep it charged. Since that particular 120w Solar panel has the Controller on the Back side, I figure I can just connect it to BOB with a quick harness.

Sigh, this is one of those times when a "Picture" truly is worth a 1000 words.. I thought I had them but can't find right now...

Anyway, Me thinks I got it...
Thanks Michael & all.. 10th time around it finally sinks in. heheh

 

>> Dope Slap <<

OK. Now, I get it. Michael, thanks for being patient and walking me through it.

 

No problemo, it is raining pretty good now, good for Caifornia bad for campers, but we haven't had any significant rain for over a month so I guess 1 day of rain won't hurt too much.

Michael

 

We have had beautiful days here and cold at night. It is supposed to rain soon though. I'm really enjoying your posts Michael. I wish I could take a trip like that when I pick up my trailer. My mom turned 94 the last day in January so I'm a little more tied down. We have a great time together and I hope she will go some in the teardrop. That is one more reason I got the 560. She doesn't like camping but I'm thinking if she has a really comfortable bed maybe we can make trips to see relatives. My brother is in Eastern Wa. and one in Wi. Lots of relatives in Kansas. We have made a lot of trips to those places and her compaint it always about sleeping in a different bed every night.

 

Yes Pat, I agree with your mom I don't like to sleep in motel/hotel beds or even friends and relatives beds, we love Dewey's bed, we get to snuggle in between our own sheets and rest our heads on our own pillows. I think your mom is going to be as comfortable in Pattywagon as we are in Dewey. We are having fun getting Dewey home, you are going to have a great time with yours, spring is right around the corner.

Michael

 

The days are getting longer and time is going fast but still feels like winter here. In Montana where Carol is it is 29 below zero. Holy Cow thats cold.

 

Solar Panel Mounting...

Just tossing some ideas around that I might try. Won't fit on "Le Droppe" but for a Toy Hauler sorta related to camping?? heheh

So the question is: Roof Mounting? good or bad. I believe Evan has them mounted on the roof and wondered if that works well or better to just place and angle as needed.

I would think that roof mounted wouldn't be receiving the sun as well as the Ground angled ones, but it's working while traveling

I'm looking at the
Goal Zero Yeti 400 generator
Zamp 120 Watt solar Panel

If I can confirm how to hook them up together... Goal Zero said they have a lot of adapters but not positive it will connect to the panels... or "Verse-Visa" heheheh..

Just a wandering mind.....

 

Roof mounted: at least it won't walk away when you are not in camp.

Ground mounted: security is an issue. If I ever invest in a solar panel, will be ground mounted. I like to put a canapy over the tear drop, so no use having a roof mounted solar panel.

 

Ahh-soo... cover, good point, I"m covering mine now in storage, so need it...

Security, I would hope that there is come locking mech or hole to run a cable through... but haven't really thought about it yet...

Thanks...

 

I have a Zamp panel, and there really isn't a secure way to lock it. Yes, you can run a cable through the handle, but that's not really all that secure. An enterprising thief could certainly disconnect the handle from the panel.

But it would slow down a thief, which may be all you need. I think campgrounds are pretty safe places, but I am sure many folks have had stuff disappear. And we don't always camp at campgrounds that are populated. We camped in southern Utah last Spring and ther was no one around, at all. Then again, we were 15 miles down a dirt road.....Probably at greater risk of theft when the panels are home in the garage.