The most I’ve ever seen it pull is 150 [watts] and usually it’s closer to 120 [watts]. If each panel is 12V – why would they be wired in SERIES to obtain increased wattage (but not voltage). You will likely need to purchase a battery, inverter, fuses and wires* separately. I find that to be a little redundant. It’s mostly plug and play and it’s pretty fun doing it on your own not only because you save some money and you can have a system sized exactly to what you need it, but it also helps you diagnose issues later down the road if you know what’s going on. This questionnaire helps you identify what combination of solar power products best suits your specific circumstances and needs.  600W Pure Sine Wave I have a setup that’s going to be all DC, no AC required. Use the wiring diagrams below as a guide to putting together your DIY solar panel system. There’s a little wiggle room, so in this case if you were a little generous with some of your numbers up here, 115 amp hour battery you’re going to find a lot of lithium batteries that are 100 amp hours, you’re probably going to be ok with that. I’m purchasing a single 12V/100W panel and a single 50Ah AGM just to get started. So this is just something to keep you aware. In most cases you can find the Watts listed online, in the owner’s manual, or on the product itself. I think that thing was pulling 2.9 [amps]. Make sure you wire your batteries in a parallel string that maximizes their lifespan: http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html.  1000W Pure Sine Wave, Additional Parts These are just to see which size components and how you want to plug everything together. Say this number comes out to 25 amps, but you know your MPPT specs say that it can go to 240 watts and you only have 220 watts of solar, that charge controller can be a 20 amp charge controller. Working voltages normally are 18V, 36V and so on. What can I do to keep that fan running for at least 7 hours? Solar Load Calculator For Off-Grid and RV Solar Power Systems Last updated on April 1, 2020 By Lacho Pop, Master of Science in Engineering The most crucial step for achieving a cost-efficient sizing of your off-grid and RV solar power systems is the correct determination of the electricity usage. It doesn’t take much just to run the laptop. This is a very convenient way to transport and use solar panels, but it doesn’t help them to face directly into the sun at all times. Select whether your device is DC powered or will be using an AC inverter. Now the other selection you have to do here is whether or not you’re using a PWM or MPPT controller. Actual charging times will vary dependingon geographic location, time of year,  angle of the sun relative to the RV solar panel and, weather conditions. I might pick up a 400 watt inverter just because they’re easier to find, especially ones that plug into the batteries. The problem with that is then you also need to make sure you have enough panels to run that once is does drop for two days worth of use. If it is significantly lower than your needs, consider getting a larger battery bank to compensate. It’s a really good quick reference for your camper van. Rates are based on a 12V system with 5 hour charging times. Thanks for your work, its the best place for information I have found. AGM and FLA batteries should only be discharged up to 50%. Charge Controller We also have two phones, and our phones are I think 3 amps but at 5 volt USB so they’re each running about 15 watts and they’re plugged in 3 hours per day. So after your battery, the next piece of equipment that you choose is your solar panels. Again, we go through all of this on our charge controller post if you want to know details. Solar panel power ratings are provided in Watts also, so in order to work out how many Watts of power a solar panel can supply to the battery, you will need to apply the following formula: Watts (Solar Panel Rating) x Hours (Daylight/Sunlight Exposure) = Total Watts per day Next you choose … That inverter is going to come out blank. Some days I might not be running my laptop, some days I might be running a little more. But if you’re twice daily using an 1800W induction burner, you’ll want a large battery bank to handle the heavy loads or else will be replacing your expensive batteries quickly. Now, this inverter number is only going to pop up if you have AC numbers selected. We can guarantee it for pretty much every situation. So once you have your battery, your power storage, you know your power storage can discharge a full day’s use, you can always boost that if you want. What it’s doing is also charging your laptop battery. Solar Sizing for Your RV. It is a DC powered fridge, so that means it’s plugging right into the DC electrical system. So sometimes smaller systems, say in this case, let’s say you find a couple of 150 watt hour panels 160 watt panels – if you go 300 watts of solar and a PWM controller, you’re going to be paying less for more power than if you were to go with an MPPT controller. And that thing is running about 5 hours per day. If you are in the sun more often, then you need fewer panels to charge your batteries. Your solar panels will have a selection down here for how many sun hours you think you’re going to use during the day. The size of your system is directly related to cost. I’m able to save alot of money on rent this way, and thanks to being knowledgeable about electricity/electronics, I’m very comfortable. Now I’m thinking scrap the [free] group 27 deep cycle battery with ~80 amp-hours capacity and just going with 3 (maybe 4) 35 amp-hour AGM in parallel (again a space issue – fitting “short” batteries under the frame). Solar System  Adjustable tilt mount (optional) So this is in our solar and electricity guide. Generally, you will be able to go down a size from this. Estimated Watt Hours In hotter weather that compressor is going to be on a lot more because that internal temperature is going to raise up a lot. AGM batteries wear out quickly if you use more than 50% of their charge, so they require a larger battery bank to compensate. The solar sizing calculator will then be able to tell you the minimum and recommended system size, as well as the recommended battery output. As you can see, if you run everything DC powered your efficiency is going to be higher in terms of how much power you’re getting out of that.  Flexible polycrystalline, Charge Controller Thanks! I understand possibly amortizing varying power usage over multiple days, but then you would need a larger battery system to support that. There is a lot of different components that have variations on this. On the drawing for the Large Systems: Wiring Diagram (AGM Batteries), you will want to correct the battery wiring so nobody catches a face-full of acid. Laptops are another variable component in that they’re only pulling their max watts. Would you not want 200Ah with the lithium option? Now if you want to get your batteries to last longer, you can discharge them to only say, 20%. At night when the temperature drops, the compressor won’t be clicking on and off as much. When sizing your RV solar system, If your ideal solar calculations call for 3 solar panels but your roof space only allows for 2 panels. This is my first solar project. The CC takes that fluctuating energy and turns it into a tame charge voltage that the batteries can handle. all I want to do is run a 12″ inch 120v desk fan when I go to sleep in my minivan. It’s hard on the batteries. Either way works, it doesn’t really matter. In cold weather, the compressor in a fridge may only be. Sometimes if you size down it won’t quite work for a few specific panels and that kind of thing.  B2B charger (solar CC included, incompatible with lithium) so I use it for 10 minutes, thats 0.6 of an hour so 720/0.6 = wH of use? An 80w solar panel kit is adequate for most applications in the summer months but the 120w brings extra reliability. We go into this a little more in our battery post, there’s a couple of things you need to keep track of. Solar Power Estimate Calculator SPEC. So they can’t supply all of that charge throughout the day like your batteries are going to be able to discharge. This is our general recommendation. If you’re asking if you can do this without a battery, then the answer is no. PWM charge controllers are much cheaper but less efficient than MPPT technology, so they take more minimum solar watts to charge the batteries. So if you notice this number jumps up. This is crucial to building a safe and efficient system to meet your energy needs. Here are some tips to cut back on electronic use. You’ll notice that changes your solar panel size calculation. But alas, after 2 days of clouds I’m struggling with my power consumption. The Panel Selection Calculator will tell you how many panels it will take to keep up with your usage. My wife’s laptop is a Macbook and she’s not running as much high processing powered things. You are welcome to play around with this number, and even combine it with your winter/summer total watts to see what a comfortable system size is for you. These are example numbers, I don’t actually remember exactly what the vent fan is but the numbers are out there somewhere 35 [amp hours]. I have been really strugling to identify this Monocrystalline cells are made up of a single silicon crystal; polycrystalline comprise fragments of silicon. If I use this to calculate, would I just halve the Ah needed for the battery for a 24v setup? Fill out the calculator below to find out how many solar panels you need for your DIY solar panel system. That panel is rated at 100 watts at peak efficiency – meaning on a 78 degree cloudless day at solar noon on the equator during the equinox. If you want me to dig up the formula, let me know, it’ll just take some effort on my part. Thank you for any help. If I have 3 and one stops working, I can re-wire in the field with the 2 remaining? The charge controller can do this with 18V or 24V or 36V or a range of voltage inputs (depending on the controller) and use it to charge 12V batteries. Solar, Alternator and shore power.  Wires and fuses*, Solar Panel Kits Your email address will not be published. So say we have this fuse box here, you’ll be able to jump in this list of all of the components. At first I was gonna run 2 battery banks (as I don’t have same batteries/ ages/use cases, types) but this build is turning into a nightmare (even though I can isolate them for charging – but only PWN chargers can I find with dual battery outputs that never charge simultaneously – bad for different batteries). If you still don’t know how to find these numbers, read our article on calculating your power usage for each electronic device for some tips and real-world examples. At first I thought 20 amp CC was good enough 18 volts x 2 = 36 volts (series) and 5.5 amps x 2 = 11 amps (parallel) into the CC… but everywhere I’m reading seems to indicate I’ll somehow be shedding massive volts down to 14 +/- 0.5. This is excellent. Hello! The calculator takes into account the power consumption you use in your caravan/RV and your travel destinations.  Battery isolator Also, is there a good way to get power use estiments for devices? Those are the only things I plan on running off the inverter. These diagrams are designed to be understood by a beginner for a safe and effective install with readily accessible components. Using your calculator, rounding up with worst case, I will need a 12v 200 ah battery and 300 watts of panels.  Battery monitor (optional) Most people are going to be going MPPT unless you’re on a heavy budget or really running the numbers to get the most efficient system possible for your dollar. I haven’t pulled up the formula to look at the function (I don’t read the script very well, but I do triple check that all of the math is correct). This is the maximum power you will expect to use on any given day. Posted this on wrong Blog entry. Is there any reason I cannot simply connect the solar to batteries outside the camper, and connect the Shoreline to the inverter? Oops….  Renogy 300W Solar Kit (PWM charge controller) You can put your location in a site like this: https://unboundsolar.com/solar-information/sun-hours-us-map to find the average sun hours per day. Your calculator is GREAT!  10A PWM (budget option) But smaller inverters are more efficient. Check out our article on charge controllers for more in-depth info.  WindyNation 100W Solar Kit (PWM charge controller and battery included). If you have to run these, this inverter number is our general recommended max size based on your batteries. Now one thing I forgot is the laptop and the Macbook are both running off of AC power. Now the one thing we don’t really list is the wiring because everyone’s wiring is going to be a little different. Some general rules to follow are: We based our calculations on a 10% efficiency loss that occurs when using an AC inverter. But the main difference (as it relates to this calculator) is the depth of discharge – or DOD. So if I’m running a simulation, a 3D simulation then that thing is going to be pumping out 150 or 170 watts. Now your solar panels, they only have a window of opportunity to gather your electricity. Hope that helps! 200Ah (x2) Battery (AGM option) So as you’re picking one out it’s ok to look at the specifications on this. This solar panel output calculator helps you estimate the real daily energy, a.k.a. A lithium battery can be safely discharged up to 90% without shortening its lifespan. Solar takes the sun's energy and converts it into DC (Direct Current) battery power to charge you motorhome’s batteries. There are a few different ways to arrange panels, batteries, and connectors.  Battery monitor (optional – premium) Our online Calculator, Simple Sizing Chart or Solar Sizing Worksheet will provide you with Go Power!  10A MPPT (most efficient), Batteries I’m WAY over powered as I only use 3 low wattage fans and recharge my tablet and phone. The calculator you used earlier will also tell you the ideal amount of panels in terms of watts as well as the right sized solar charge controller. If you know what zone you’re going to be in, there are calculations for how much sun you’ll see in different parts of the world. Thanks for your input!! Product list and cost of components. The refer uses 5 amps, but cycles hourly, so guessing it’s using 2.5 amps an hour, depending on temperature of the van of course. Seems to me that this would not only run the A.C units but would also charge the batteries inside the trailers. That basically is just saying hey, you can save a lot of money and efficiency by not running an inverter. Enter the distance in feet from your Solar Panels to your Battery Bank / Charge Controller. If you’re in the hot weather all the time you might want to boost that even double it up to 16 hours. In your controller diagram you show the BATT as being the far right terminals of the PMW controller. It’s a more accurate measurement of how much actual electricity you have. Both of those have similar profiles in that you don’t want to discharge them more than 50%. We have some solar panel wiring diagrams just for reference here. Your fridge will not be running 24 hours per day. So in this case were using 1127 watt hours per day. I also have the same charge controller as in your diagram (30A). Head to our electricity main page for further explanations of each solar panel component. So we mitigate for that effect by estimating more solar. Especially like I said if you’re running short bursts of power. I was using a spare 12v car battery with an inverter but it only lasts 2 hours or less before the battery dies. we provide a number of ways to help you determine the right system for your RV. You show the loads directly tied to the battery. Battery life is affected by how quickly you are using power. Oh that vent fan is on maybe 4 hours of the day, at night to cool the van off. We fund our effort and research through affiliate links and advertising, so just by being here and using the site you’re thanking us. You will either need to reduce your off-grid loads or add a portable solar panel to increase your total wattage.  Adjustable tilt mount (optional) Solar kits normally come with solar panels, a charge controller, and z-brackets for mounting. The battery is essential for the system, not just to store energy but to create a balanced energy source (rather than the erratic energy that comes from the sun). I would like to know how I add alternator charging as I drive as well as shore power charging at RV parks. Enter the total Amps that your Solar Panels will produce all together.  Battery monitor (optional – basic) I wish there was any easy formula that said a panel (like a 100 watt panel) would produce x amp-hours of usable power per day, but I can’t. We’ve done tests on it, we can see the average. This is the fewest recommended solar power based on the daily power usage and battery size. Motorhome solar panels: are used to charge the 12v leisure battery and commonly the 12v engine battery. – But I do have a question about the panel diagram. (IMO), I used your Calculator and was wondering on the Solar Panels could i use a 360 Panel instead of 3- 100 Watt panels? Solar.com has substantially upgraded its solar savings calculator to provide more accurate cost and savings estimates with solar. This is the max Amps you can expect to see coming out of your solar controller after the solar controller converts your solar panel voltage to the 14.4v/28.8v/57.6v (for 12v/24v/48v battery banks, respectively) required to charge your batteries when the temperature drops to your estimated low temperature. Charge Controller Size Now that’s on our average, high usage day. Umm… New guy here, but I thought I might point out an error. If you have sleep apnea and you have a breather that you need on you, you can boost your battery size to make sure that you have juice to run a few days without recharging. You can use this as a general guideline while panel shopping. If 300 watt diag (for example) you would have 12v X 3 = 36 volts. Than you might be looking at PWM controllers for anything under about 400 watts. So we have this calculator here. But you suggest in series I’ll then have 36v (12+12+12v) and still 300 watts out? to working out what size solar panel you'll need for your campervan, caravan or motorhome. I’m looking now to drop $2,500 on lithium to solve my problems 8-D I’m thinking about 300 AH of lithium is enough to get me through several days of making no or little power. A PWM controller uses less complicated and less efficient technology. We have our solar panels running to our charge controller, our charge controller running to our battery. Now our charge controller, this is determined by our solar panel size. Also, for the 3 fuses above the positive battery terminal, I purchased 40 amp fuses. A 100W solar panel plugged into a PWM controller will not be putting in 100W of power to your batteries. Each system has several battery options and everything is sized proportionally, so the solar panels, inverter and battery all work optimally together. Your battery can be either AGM and FLA (those are both lead acid battery types).  100Ah (x2) Battery (Lithium option), Inverter (use smallest size required) ... Caravan and motorhome solar panel top tips.  Rigid Monocrystalline Take a moment to think about the electrical appliances and accessories you plan to use Decide on the part of the year you will be using the equipment (spring to autumn, or the whole year). The input depends on many variables but is generally always higher. Go bigger if you can with this, unless you don’t have enough roof space or if you’re on a significant budget. I would then use the CC to step to the 12v needed to charge the battery. Hi can anyone tell me where I can buy a cassette toilet /washand basin/shower unit complete for the back of a sprinter. Read our article on inverters for more information. I live in CO and travel a lot West and South, I sized expecting nearly unlimited sunny days. This calculator may also come in handy. The amount of power you get from the sun is determined by how much direct sunlight your panels get. It is the smallest size charge controller that you will want to use.  ECO-WORTHY 800W Solar Kit, Batteries If you’re in the desert southwest and an angled system you’ll have 6-7 hours of available sun. Batteries are the most expensive component in your electrical system, so you don’t want to wear those out too quickly. Why should it be as high as 1.2 for a PWM controller or 1.3 for an MPPT controller? So in my application, I have a 12V motor that will use 12 amps (144 watts) for 8-10 hours a day. There are many differences between these batteries. First, Thanks for sharing your knowledge. We see this common mistake pretty often.  6 way fuse block + bus bar And those don’t even need to be charged up all the way at the end of each day.  WindyNation 200W Solar Kit (PWM charge controller and battery included), Solar Panels (300W) If you’re running things like an electric heater, include that in your list of devices for winter. If DIY solar power is intimidating to you, we recommend looking at solar powered generators which are plug and play devices that require little to no wiring. And some of the things that are covered in it. Sometimes in some cases there are much more expensive but only slightly better components that we don’t find necessary. Our fridge clicks on and off every 10 minutes or so, and then it will run for a few minutes and then it will click off. You can read more about batteries here.  600W Pure Sine Wave And on days I do get it, I can put out my 5th portable panel and dump 20 AMPS an hour into the lithium’s when I can. We don’t save any of your information. “12V” solar panels typically output between 18-22V, which fluctuates based on external factors (sun, temperature, angle, etc). Everyone is going to be different so maybe you’ll find one 240 watt solar instead of two 100 watt panels. So in this case, to discharge 1127 watt hours per day, we need a 470 amp hour battery if we only want to discharge it 20%. I recharge with a NOCO GENIUS that i hook up and plug in at work, which is an amenity they allow, a grace of God really. Hey! Please be sure to take this into account when calculating and using our 12v solar panel calculator. You’re looking at the formulas, I assume? Most new caravans, motorhomes and, to some extent, campers, have solar panels mounted on the roof or other flat surface. In this case we have a list set up and you can add and delete component lines. We are Kate, Ian and Harper. But with a 20% discharge you need a lot bigger battery if you’re only going to be discharging it the same amount. This really helped me calculate what setup would be needed. Solar 260W (360W) So my laptop brick is rated at 170 watts, it’s a big engineering thing, but my laptop itself is rarely ever pulling 170 [watts]. I am planning to use 2 100W panels. So this is where that [inverter] number is coming from. Maybe you’ll say hey, maybe I want to trade in my laptop or before I buy a laptop I’ll get one that’s more efficient. Is there any down side to this approach? So, you have two choices: 1) wire your panels all in parallel instead of 2S2P. So we’re going to say 47 watts for my fridge. So that’s why we have this choice in here. 100 watt solar panel = approximately 6 amps/hour in direct summer sun (no clouds) Here's an example of our calculation of how much the solar panels are generating to recharge our RV … We spent over two years living in a DIY camper van and visiting 48 US states.  40A MPPT (budget) Thanks for the comment, it shows you understand the Amps x Volts = Watts equation. You don’t want to grab a massive inverter just in case you want to run a power tool or something off of it. You might find that helpful. These are the component sizes I’m going to go with. For example: a refrigerator might be running 8 hrs/day in the summer, but only 4 hrs/day in the winter. I’m resizing now due to an oversight in my original plans. We have a chart in our vent fan article (https://www.parkedinparadise.com/best-roof-vent/) which shows the amperage draw for the Maxxfan and Fantastic Fan at each setting. Now in this battery section we have a total for watt hours as well because a lot of the lithium batteries now are listed in watt hours and like I said, it’s a little more accurate. the system can recharge the batteries the rest of the day. As a side note, the discharge capabilities of lithium batteries are significantly better than those of AGM or FLA. Thank you so much! If I am consuming a certain amount of power throughout the day, then the solar panels alone must be able to source that power. has a number of ways to help you find the right system for your RV, boat or work truck. The second column is the amperage draw of the appliance from a 12 volt power source. This is relative to how much total capacity the battery has, so larger batteries can discharge more quickly (hence a larger inverter). The less you discharge per cycle, the longer the batteries will last. SOLAR SIZING Calculator. If it’s not even charging the battery, if it’s just plugged in and idol it’ll be down in the 50 watt range.  1000W Pure Sine Wave This is kind of just a guide for how to use the calculator itself and what some of the different numbers and that kind of thing mean. This is a helpful starting point for me to figure out what I need.  12 circuit fuse block + bus bar  Solar panel roof mounting z-rack (optional) Lithium Battery 135Ah (x2) Now a lot of systems use amps just because that’s how 12 volt systems have always been measured in the past, and in vehicles it’s a good transition. So for the charge controller this is a very generous size. Is this correct? Recommended Inverter Size I am looking to do the 400 watt hook up, I understand how each component is to be placed but what I am having trouble with is the size of wire to use from the solar panels to the Battery bank, and then to the fuse block to run for the lighting and plugs to power some of the equipment like the cell phone and laptop. These calculations are mitigating the inefficiencies of the solar system. Check for yourself as you review panels by finding the output power or optimum current rating, most will be in the 5.3-5.7 amp range. This electrical usage table will have a number of rows equal to the number of electrical components we use on a typical day.The first column is the name of each electrical device.  WindyNation 100W Solar Kit (PWM charge controller and battery included), Solar Panels For instance, if you need 150W of power, but your system is only 75% efficient, then you would need 200W of panels to get 150W into the batteries. If you have tilt-mounted panels or are mostly living in a sunny place like Arizona, then you might need less solar watts because you’ll be getting 5-8 hours of direct sunlight. 2) Get a MPPT charge controller. Your email address will not be published. Due to the controller needing to adjust voltage to charge properly, some power is lost to the system. Punch numbers into our handy calculators, browse techy articles, or skim a quick guide to installing solar on a boat, motorhome or off-grid house.  Solar panel roof mounting z-rack (optional) Thanks so much!!! That will just print to PDF right there. So it gets a little overwhelming, but it’s not too bad. Look back at your components. This website is fantastic! So they’re a little more flexible in their use. So, with that said, an MPPT charge controller has the ability to “convert” the extra voltage above that charge level to amperage, thus using as much energy as possible for charging the batteries.  B2B charger (solar CC included, compatible with lithium), Solar Panel Kits Maybe I’ll get one that runs on a 90 watt power brick, and now all of a sudden my lithium battery isn’t quite as taxed by running that laptop. I say theoretical because in many ways wiring panels in series is slightly more efficient than wiring them in parallel. No backup as there is no battery. In your 400W diagram, you have the following battery recommendations: 200Ah (x2) Battery (AGM option) Is it to account for solar panel power output during sunrise and sunset? It’s just so crazy expensive. Then I start sweating like a dog. This is how the high efficiency fridges and the fridge in your house work. Please contact us by email [email protected] or on 01903 213141 if you … If you want more information on electricity, head over to our electrical home page. Hi there parked in paradise visitors! Read our, Large Systems: Wiring Diagram (AGM Batteries), Large Systems: Wiring Diagram (Lithium Batteries).  20A MPPT (most efficient), Batteries Now each of these different subjects in this we cover more extensively in a post on our site so if you’re not able to follow along or have some more questions about some details – those you’ll be able to find elsewhere in the electrical guides on our site. Always higher load anyway years living in a van requires cutting down on unnecessary electronics as high! And plugged in and charging about 2 hours or your watt hour.. See 7 or 8 hours a day power products best suits your specific circumstances and needs might only be for... Of lithium batteries to our battery understand possibly amortizing varying power usage note, next... 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