100% Solar

[Pam Cole]

Hello I am scared to death of all gas well besides the gas I put in my car anyway, I want enough solar to run my Heat&Air also known as my Mini split. My hot water, washer & dryer, my TV, fridge, cook stove I would even try wind if I could get a mini wind machine that I could raise up when boondocking.OK so How much money will I need?

[peteg59]

Better buy yourself a Powerball and Mega~Millions ticket, Pam!
On a more serious note, its really too hard to give you much info without knowing specifics on the equipment you are trying to power up...

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by Pam Cole

Hello I am scared to death of all gas well besides the gas I put in my car anyway, I want enough solar to run my Heat&Air also known as my Mini split. My hot water, washer & dryer, my TV, fridge, cook stove I would even try wind if I could get a mini wind machine that I could raise up when boondocking.OK so How much money will I need?

And I'd like to be a millionaire. You would need panels lining the roof and both sides and back to get enough power solely off solar to run those items for more than 5 minutes assuming everything you mentioned is 120v. Look at the usage of each appliance and their electrical needs to determine how much solar you will need

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by Pam Cole

Hello I am scared to death of all gas well besides the gas I put in my car anyway, I want enough solar to run my Heat&Air also known as my Mini split. My hot water, washer & dryer, my TV, fridge, cook stove I would even try wind if I could get a mini wind machine that I could raise up when boondocking.OK so How much money will I need?

You may have better luck if you drop the Heat&Air also known as my Mini split. My hot water, washer & dryer. Those are loads better supported by shore power or generator.

[john61ct]

Yes a couple Honda eu2200i capable of running in synch

will supplement a roof full of solar, let you run pretty much whatever you want.

But the key to fuel affordability is

non-electric alternatives for long oven / stews cooking, hot water and space heating

reducing aircon as much as possible, and heat producing devices

maximum insulation, dividing the living space into smaller sections

[Iceni John]

Unless you have a lot of solar, forget about running an A/C or any resistive loads such as heaters or for cooking. I have 2kW of PV, tiltable for maximum harvest, but even then I don't plan on heating water unless I have excess power after charging the batteries each day. Cooking and interior heating should be propane, and the only way to run A/C from solar would be a mini-split no larger than 12K BTU using a large solar array. Wind power is a complete waste of time and money on a bus - a typical 400W wind turbine only produces that much power in a continuous strong wind and only if it's elevated very high above the ground and out of any wind shadows. Sorry!

If you carpet your roof with PV you can have 2kW or more of panels, but if they're just laid flat on the roof they won't be much good in winter when the sun is low or if you're in more northerly latitudes. It's a serious investment to have a usefully-large PV system - I have as much money in my complete system as what I paid for the bus originally, but it will pay for itself. For other folk the numbers may not work as well.

I suggest reading all you can about PV and wind on the Northern Arizona Wind & Sun forum: the members there know a lot about renewable energy.

John

[Native]

Originally Posted by Pam Cole

Hello I am scared to death of all gas well besides the gas I put in my car anyway, I want enough solar to run my Heat&Air also known as my Mini split. My hot water, washer & dryer, my TV, fridge, cook stove I would even try wind if I could get a mini wind machine that I could raise up when boondocking.OK so How much money will I need?

If you are dead set on not using "gas" (propane) but are okay with using gas (gasoline) then using solar AND geberators (yes, plural as suggested earlier) would be the way to go. Bear in mind that you *could* run part of your AC (alternating current) devices on one generator and others on a second or third. It all depends on your loads and planned use. So, you would do well to find out how much power each of the devices you wat to run and how long (running time) you plan to use them. This is a basic energy audit and is a first step in planning a system.

[Pam Cole]

I know wishful thinking, Thanks away

[Pam Cole]

Thanks very much, wishful thinking I reckon