Solar Panels For Rv
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If I am using a 5500 Watt Generator for RV, should I use inverter? So confused…?
I’m a young guy trying to live in an RV. I have a 5500 WEN generator. It is an early 70’s model RV. Should I get something that can store the power i’m producing to last through the night, or should it just charge my accessory battery? Someone just explain in laymen’s terms what I should do to conserve and produce the most energy with my generator. Even if it means using solar panels.
WEN is the brand name, it has 120 output, I have it converted to use the 4-prong plug thing, sorry im dumb when it comes to this stuff.
What are your energy needs?
If you simply need power for lights and a fan, running a gen all night longs makes no sense at all. Doesn’t the RV have battery powered lights as well as AC lighting? If you have a refrigerator, does it have an LP gas option? If not, that might be an option to explore and probably cheaper than running a gen in the long run.
If you need power for air conditioning then you are out of luck since these are huge power users and will probably kill a battery (using an inverter) in a very short period of time.
Running a gen is very expensive and not very efficient. We ran our house for ten days one winter when the power was out. We ran the gen 8 hours a day, 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening. This kept the deep freezer (huge power hog) at an acceptable temperature and provided lighting for the evening hours. We carried water and ran a wood heater to reduce our dependence on electricity.
I would advise the same strategy for you. Determine what you really need electricity for and switch everything that you can to other forms of energy. This may allow you to downsize your generator to make it more economical to run and run it less as well.
Run as much as you can off the 12V battery at DC rather than using appliances designed for 120V and requiring the use of an inverter. It is more efficient and will allow you to use a small solar panel to help with the battery charging. When you are running the gen you should also use it to help keep your aux battery charged and a second aux battery may be justified. You might be able to use a solar panel to charge one battery and swap it out with the other when it becomes depleted.
The key is analyzing your energy needs, reducing them as much as possible, using alternative sources of energy where practical, and optimizing your use of the gen. If you think about it, this is the world’s challenge as well…
RV solar panel
