# solar for campsite



## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

Not sure if this belongs in this area, but figure it'll be a start. 

Basically bought just shy of 1acre of ground on table rock lake in s.w. missouri.

At this stage i have absolutely no utilities and not sure how quickly I'll get to them. So for now i just have raw land in the middle of a fairly forested area, though I'm starting to get some clearings. At this time i have a pop up camper and that is it. 

What I'd like is to set up some sort of solar set up to at least get some power to do the following:
1 - light up the camper and possible power a radio and charge cell phones, tablets and maybe a laptop. Camper is currently set up to run almost everything off of 12v or 110v power through the use of a convertor. Can pay that info of needed. Not sure about fridge or rooftop ac. Fridge and lights have both 12v wire and 110v wires going to them. 
2 - possibly power a cellular game cam so that i can remotely keep an eye on things.
3 - have enough power to light some landscaping lights so it isn't so dark when we go there. Thinking some led rope lights strung through the trees, etc. As well as some flood lights on various parts of the property. There are deer, bobcats and have been mountain lion sightings very close by. So far no bears, but I'm sure they are there as well. I have seen the deer on my property and a neighbor informed me he saw a mountain lion track on his property. Being as i have an 8 and 5 year old, lighting up the area seems like good idea. 

In any case, trying to find the best and easiest solution. I don't know if that is one solar array with everything tired together with room to expand or if i just buy solar lights and worry about the camper separately. 

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions. ...?


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

You need to make a list of everything you plan to run on the system, how many watts each thing draws, and how many hours/day each will run. Convert to watt hours and add every thing up.

The total watt hours per day is the basis for sizing the battery bank and the panels to charge them.

You also need to calculate the largest draw in watts that will occur at any one time.

Is it a voltage converter that provides 12VDC from 120VAC, or an inverter that provides 120VAC from 12VDC ? How many watts is it, or make and model ?


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## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

It is a Carson vp-06fk-2 convertor. 
Panel input is 120vac 60hz 15amp
Convertor input 1.2amps
Convertor output 12.5vdc 6amps.


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## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

Is there an easy formula to determine how long a deep cycle battery will last when powering a given#of watts or amps. 
I.e. i found a 12v 10watt led flood light. How do i determine how long something like that would run off a deep cycle battery. I realize not all batteries are created equal, but what do i look at on the battery? For instance if i Try one of the c27 marine batteries out of my fishing boat, is there a calculation to use? I believe it is rated at 750mca. 
Then i suppose i have to figure how it would take to recharge on a given sollar cell.


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## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

Btw....i realize what you are saying and ill try to figure that it as well, but it might be a bit helpful to know the above as that might help me determine what is and isn't important as it'll be a bit fluid in the sense of like to keep growing the system and possible stay off the grid when i build a house.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

The 750mca is a figure used for starting service, not deep cycle service.

Your battery will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 115 amphours, based on a 20hr discharge rate.

If you discharge it significantly faster, you will get fewer amphours.

With a 12v system, 12 watts equals one amp. Or if you had 6 of them 60watts/12V=5A 
115ah/5h= 23H

Your problems are going to come in when you try connecting the refrigerator and the AC.

Lets say that your AC runs 5 amps at 120V. That is 50amps at 12V. If your inverter is 85% efficient, your looking at 59 amps on the 12V. While the straight math says that is almost 2 hours, you will get something around 1.3 hours before the battery is flat. If you don't want to go below 80% DOD (Depth of Discharge) about 1hr of run time. The reduced run times are because of the high discharge rate. (see Peukert effect).

So, you will need more batteries, if you are running the high power draw stuff.

I think you would be far better off to get an inverter generator sized to run the big stuff and to charge the battery. Just run the lights and other low draw stuff off the one battery.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

115ah/5h= 23H
S/b
115ah/5A= 23H


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## High Gear (Nov 30, 2009)

We had a popup for about ten years that we had a lot of fun times with.
Your refer should be able to run on propane also.
If it is that's one less draw on your electric. 
Hardly more than a pilot flame ..uses very little gas.


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## dmxtothemax (Oct 26, 2010)

You can do a lot of what you want to do with just 12v !
lights, phone chargers, Led lights, 12v flat screens and dvd's.
even 12v refrigerators.
All these can run off 12v.
For bigger stuff like A/C, washing machines I would use a small geeny.
An invertor could easily run some ceiling fans.


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## mske390 (Feb 24, 2015)

Didn't read everything here but ever see these: 


http://t.harborfreight.com/45-watt-solar-panel-kit-68751-8527.html


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