We have been thinking about trying this out and would welcome any advice.
We have a Jamet Liberty trailer tent ( not that matters much for this post) and we hook up to the electric at sites.
We run a dellonda fridge/freezer, a microwave, kettle toaster,etc ( not at the same time)
We could always use the gas cooker and grill instead of the kettle and toaster.
I was thinking about getting a solar panel, leisure battery and an inverter. What sort of sizes should I be looking for? Or has anyone else got any other ideas?
Thanks
Tony
------------- Jamet Liberty trailer tent and a Nissan Elgrand
Have you thought about a portable power pack and panel like an ecoflow. Be easier to uses and carry around.
As for what you need thats all down to amp hours and some simple maths. Once you know what amp each things takes and how long your likely to use them. you'd have a better idea what your needs are.
If you go with your plan you'd need to work out what battery you need ie ah size and what inverter. The inverter will need need a higher wattage than what ever you put though it. Remember that with a normal basic battery what ever the ah you get you can really only run down to 50% so really your getting 1/2 the ah. But with eco flow or similar you can run them flat. The other handy thing you can charge them on main, solar or 12volt. Ecoflow is not cheep but they are a nice bit of kit we really like ours.
Quote: Originally posted by 777Tony on 08/9/2022
We have been thinking about trying this out and would welcome any advice.
We have a Jamet Liberty trailer tent ( not that matters much for this post) and we hook up to the electric at sites.
We run a dellonda fridge/freezer, a microwave, kettle toaster,etc ( not at the same time)
We could always use the gas cooker and grill instead of the kettle and toaster.
I was thinking about getting a solar panel, leisure battery and an inverter. What sort of sizes should I be looking for? Or has anyone else got any other ideas?
Thanks
Tony
Realistically, solar and batteries are going to be tough power any of those high power items, though the fridge is possible. There are two challenges, 1) peak power (how fast you use electricity at any given moment) and 2) total energy (the amount you need to use while you are off grid).
The kettle, toaster and microwave are peak power hogs. You will need at least 1.5kW peak output to support those devices (on low power camping format - not domestic type). Ignoring inverter losses, thats 125A from a 12v battery, for as long as the device is using power. Thats a big battery (to supply the current and sustain it) and a big inverter.
The fridge freezer uses a lot of energy, but far slower. According to the dellonda web site, the smallest unit (DL13) draws 60w peak and 0.3kWh over 24 hours. On a 12v system, 300Wh = 25Ah. A decent sized 12v battery (80Ah or 110Ah) should give you sufficient to power the fridge, so then you just need to refill the battery. If you imagine you need to run the fridge and fill the battery from empty to full while the sun is shining, and have say 8 hours to do so, you need a panel that will support the average draw of the fridge (300/24 = 12.5w) and refill the drain used while the sun is not shining (300/16 = 18.75w) at the same time (18.75+12.5= 32w).
Given that during the day, the sun wont always shine, and your panel will not always be optimally aligned - double or triple that size to allow for head room.
If you want to try the big inverter router, a 1000W inverter run for 20 mins total (microwave, kettle, toaster) per day will use the same amount of energy as the fridge all day. So double the panel again to 160W or 200W, and try and only run them when the sun can recoup your losses.
TLDR - Net net 80Ah to 110Ah battery with an 80W to 100W panel that can be deployed toward the sun SHOULD power a DL13 fridge freezer,( if it really uses what they say) during reasonably sunny days. 110Ah and 160w to 200w + 1000w pure sine AC inverter might give you 20 mins total of the high power devices per day.
As Just-us3 said, using something like an EcoFlow combined battery and inverter, with a matched 160W to 200W pannel, might give the best results.
very interesting reading, it's given me lots to think about. The fridge/freezer I have is a 60 litre version. Sounds like it will be best to use the gas for the kettle (We normally either eat out or get takeaways) and the gas toaster for my hot buttered crumpets in the morning. We do use the microwave for ready meals sometimes,but it is not regular so we can get away without a microwave.
I'm now thinking about getting something like a 120 ah battery, a fairly decent inverter and a solar panel, plus we can also top the battery up on our car as well
Going to have to do a bit more reading up before I take the plunge
Many thanks
Tony
------------- Jamet Liberty trailer tent and a Nissan Elgrand
Have you thought about other changers to your set up?
I'd ditch the gas toaster and get a ridgemonkey much better bit of kit great for toast and makes a mean toastie. You can use it for cooking other things and even warming stuff up. You tube is full of ideas. So may get round the microwave.
Do you need a full on fridge? Could you manage with an icebox ?
We use a Yeti when off grid and with right prep before we easy get 4 days before thinking about need to top up with a bit of ice.
See what you think and if it will fit with your needs. You may with a different set up not even need to worry too much about your power needs.
Quote: Originally posted by tdrees on 09/9/2022
Realistically, solar and batteries are going to be tough power any of those high power items, though the fridge is possible. There are two challenges, 1) peak power (how fast you use electricity at any given moment) and 2) total energy (the amount you need to use while you are off grid).
The kettle, toaster and microwave are peak power hogs. You will need at least 1.5kW peak output to support those devices (on low power camping format - not domestic type). Ignoring inverter losses, thats 125A from a 12v battery, for as long as the device is using power. Thats a big battery (to supply the current and sustain it) and a big inverter.
The fridge freezer uses a lot of energy, but far slower. According to the dellonda web site, the smallest unit (DL13) draws 60w peak and 0.3kWh over 24 hours. On a 12v system, 300Wh = 25Ah. A decent sized 12v battery (80Ah or 110Ah) should give you sufficient to power the fridge, so then you just need to refill the battery. If you imagine you need to run the fridge and fill the battery from empty to full while the sun is shining, and have say 8 hours to do so, you need a panel that will support the average draw of the fridge (300/24 = 12.5w) and refill the drain used while the sun is not shining (300/16 = 18.75w) at the same time (18.75+12.5= 32w).
Given that during the day, the sun wont always shine, and your panel will not always be optimally aligned - double or triple that size to allow for head room.
If you want to try the big inverter router, a 1000W inverter run for 20 mins total (microwave, kettle, toaster) per day will use the same amount of energy as the fridge all day. So double the panel again to 160W or 200W, and try and only run them when the sun can recoup your losses.
TLDR - Net net 80Ah to 110Ah battery with an 80W to 100W panel that can be deployed toward the sun SHOULD power a DL13 fridge freezer,( if it really uses what they say) during reasonably sunny days. 110Ah and 160w to 200w + 1000w pure sine AC inverter might give you 20 mins total of the high power devices per day.
As Just-us3 said, using something like an EcoFlow combined battery and inverter, with a matched 160W to 200W pannel, might give the best results.
Tobes
I'd say that's pretty much spot on and shows how hard it can be to power anything other than the most efficient appliances.
The other thing i'd add (if I missed it) is that the constant current ability of your battery or battery bank is relevant when powering an inverter. I've seen people buying 3000watt inverters that are powered from a couple of cheap 100ah 'so called' deep cycle batteries which are just not capable of that. Our 2 x 100ah LifePo4 batteries can provide a 100ah sustained current flow each so 200amps from the parallel bank which is only just 2500watts at 12.8vdc
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Topic: Solar electric!
via mobile 08/9/2022 at 8:45am
