@taranis17 I've used mine similar to your planned use: boondocking 3-5 days, and concur its pretty much impossible to feed all the devices in the hours planned with only 126w on roof (i had it added on and confirm with
@JohnC the panels are great, driving down the road in full sun they easily charge house battery (i've used lead acid wally world wet cells, upgraded to AGM, and now to the lion 110 precision first version offered - roughly twice the storage...better but still far short.
So you need to basically carry a second power supply sufficient to cover all the extra stuff-
I use the dometic in "The Postman" method Cary once described as another member- freezing temps that keeps frozen meat, icecream, make frozen water bottles and blue freeze blocks by yeti, that I transfer once a day to a second freezer- the Coleman, that holds veggies, adult bev, a hunk of meat to thaw etc at warmer fridge temps.
So two caveats:
1. If you park the spam can in the shade or with a tarp as you must in hottest sun in the desert or parts of TX, FL for example- you arent gonna get enough sun to charge batt
AND to run dometic all day and night.
Never mind the AC or Starlink. You need more solar to run a dometic in freeze mode all day.
(Now ask Cary about the dual space fridge now sold by Ecolab? Power needed all day?
Now sometimes the weather gets ya;
If its raining, snowing -look up Cosmo Weems (RIP) wonderful youtubes sometime; testing solar panels in snow on his wannabe Campinn by Vistabule,
you'll appreciate you need more than solar-
U need a oortable generator- and imho a reliable gasoline not inefficient balky propane version that WILL let you down in a cold morning...a couple 5gal jerry cans can fit on tv bumper, maybe the genny in a fancy box like you see some mount on sprinters, or in the trunk, back cargo area of SUV, stashed in the truck bed if you have a tonneau or topper that locks.
There is a super nice gent who used to post here (David R) who traveled from AK to NE US doing same, early adopter of solar plus lion upgrades and hauled his generator in the TV with gas cans, for rainy days, couple times iirc. Ask Cary for contact info.
You can get by with running AC at end if the day in sweaty Floriduh or smoking hot AZ heatwave that will catch you in shoulder seasons, to cool off the cave enough before bed.
But not all day, thats why you sit in car as mobile office setup at idle with AC on smoking hot days. Or drink lots of water and sweat! If its low humidity enough in high desert you may not even notice! Ask
@Randy ...
You arent gonna wanna park the spam can in hot sun, read owners manual on why get a tarp or find shade for part of the day boondocking...I actually snug my screened room tent up over the galley enough to cover solar panel and get rays thru to charge.
@JohnC is correct: the rooftop solar works well even in shade- I was getting some juice parked in piney woods, and been experimenting parked in a part shade rv storage with cover off...shhhh. Sacrilege!
But, thats not the main source of power- just to recharge battery on Campinn and a couple things like a cpap at nite, laptop, cellphone, and maybe a fridge on cool not freeze mode for part of the day.
So for extra powah you need portable solar panels set up to tap into the side of CampInn but ...
thats limited to the CTEK ability to handle, and
So above that or just keep it simple- you want enough panels to go direct to your second power source- like the bluetti or ecolab or jackery, that you'll want to put in TV and then keep the the dometic in TV...in freeze mode.
and then you have to add up how much time on the starlink, on the labtop, recharging cellphone, and how much extra power you need to run out the door by extension cord AC to run the AC.
So the bottomline is you can manage all with careful planning on good sun days, but you will be moving panels three times a day, morning to catch the rising sun, at 1000 to catch noon sun, and again in afternoon to catch sun on the way down.
Or fire up the gasoline generator, for a couple four hours to recharge everything inc lions in CI and TV and run the AC to cool it down, and dometic to keep ice from melting.
You'll get it, but yes do as Seth suggests, first work up the numbers on your powah budget including some power loss for long cables.
You'll find you are probably parking the spam can in shade/under tarp and parking TV close to Solar panels in the sunny spots.
And adjusting your destinations to follow the weather that works. Like the nomads in Wickenburg who migrate north when it gets too hot, then leave the mtns when the snow comes.
There's a couple folk here that will help,
@Sweeney and more, or just search past threads, on how much powah.
Dont forget the hot tub option. With the mini fusion power plant rumored in production.
