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Old 08-28-2017, 02:05 PM   #21
Bus Geek
 
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I left a couple of tablets plugged into USB chargers in my red bus for about 2 weeks. . they were suspended but not turned off.. i forgot about them.. and my bus still started fine.. I did notice the ammeter charging heavy for the first few minutes.. seems like even a small solar panel in the windshield when its parked my be enough to over-come the parasitic loads and keep the batteries from going dead.
-Christopher

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Old 08-28-2017, 03:10 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
seems like even a small solar panel in the windshield when its parked my be enough to over-come the parasitic loads and keep the batteries from going dead.
-Christopher

These are wonderful. Military uses them heavily. Solargizer

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Old 09-01-2017, 02:00 PM   #23
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Low voltage means big current which means big wires and heating.

Every time you step up or step down in voltage you take an efficiency hit and leaving those power supplies to idle is going to create a drain too.

When I first started looking at RVs, I started looking at solar, then I started looking at DIY Tesla style power walls. A 14s lithium ion 48v system makes a lot of sense.

If you have a big roof, more solar makes a lot of sense.

The bigger you go, the less you need a generator. Go big enough and you might be able to use excess solar to heat your water (when your house battery is fully charged excess power is wasted otherwise).

My dream setup would be 2-3 kw of solar with just a small propane tank as a backup for heating and refrigeration. Not cheap but I might never have to run a generator and boondocking might only be constrained by my black tank.

Any way, if you want to run a microwave off of 12v, you need a good inverter and it's probably going to draw 60-70 amps from your battery. A 48v setup pulls 15 amps or about 250ma per cell (if it's 14s 60p) which is nothing for a Lithium cell.

If you want to charge your house battery from your altrenator, look at solar charge controllers. They can boost or buck your power and limit the charging current so your altrenator won't die.
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Old 09-01-2017, 05:52 PM   #24
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That's essentially what I now have and will have. I have 2kW of PV on the roof, with also enough space remaining for two solar water heating panels of 20 sq.ft. each. My little 3500W Champion generator is now converted to propane, but is for emergencies only. I intend to be able to manage for three days of no sun if I'm thrifty, or two days if I'm not. And on sunny days I could use excess PV power that would otherwise be wasted to heat water with the 6 gallon water heater's 120V AC heating element. With 220 gallons of fresh water I should be able to comfortably boondock for a month or more by myself.

John
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