This really helped me calculate what setup would be needed. Why should it be as high as 1.2 for a PWM controller or 1.3 for an MPPT controller? per day - Draws, {Time - Laptop:162:value} hrs. At night when the temperature drops, the compressor won’t be clicking on and off as much. For a 12V battery bank, this will be between 13.5V and 14.8V depending on where the batteries are at in the charge cycle. I purchased 10 gauge extension cables but the wire is so thick that it does not fit into the holes on the bottom of the charge controller. Power is defined as “the rate of doing work”, and is measured in a standardized unit called the “watt“. The calculator compares summer VS winter and works with the "worst" case scenario (most power usage). Your solar panels will have a selection down here for how many sun hours you think you’re going to use during the day. Oh that vent fan is on maybe 4 hours of the day, at night to cool the van off. So once you have that all figured out, how do you put it all together? The most I’ve ever seen it pull is 150 [watts] and usually it’s closer to 120 [watts]. It will significantly reduce the lifespan of your battery if you’re doing a constant high power draw from it, especially the lead acid battery types. Hope this helps! Choose the amount of time that appliance would typically be used on the bar to the right. In series wouldn’t the CC stepping down use some of the potential power? 200Ah (x2) Battery (AGM option) Thanks for your work, its the best place for information I have found.  Flexible polycrystalline, Charge Controller Solar Load Calculator For Off-Grid and RV Solar Power Systems; Free Solar Panel Calculator For Off-Grid&On Grid Solar Systems; Free Solar Cable Size Calculator; Free Solar Battery Calculator: Calculate Fast & Easy The Solar Battery Bank Capacity And The Number Of … Ok, next up is the inverter. Majilé, the face behind @gypsybuslady, is newish to the Skoolielife, but with her kitty-cat, Sir Raisin (@sir_raisin), they arebuilding a beautiful home on the road! So I don’t need anything more than a 200 watt inverter. 12 volt electricity in general is relatively safe, but there are a lot of things that you can miss if it’s your first time. We recommend calculating both your summer and winter numbers. It’s possible that it would work out, but there is a significant chance that they will end up costing you more in the long run and cause frustration on the road. Also some of the newer lithium batteries on the market (if you’re getting a custom Tesla battery or something), those are measured in watt hours. Is there any down side to this approach? It’s based on your battery size. Now if you want to get your batteries to last longer, you can discharge them to only say, 20%. We fund our effort and research through affiliate links and advertising, so just by being here and using the site you’re thanking us. Type in your total Wh for “Watts” and 1 for “Hour” and the rest of the solar calculator will function as normal. My camper is stationary (used as a permanent camp) and off grid. But if you’re using your RV, you will need more. Please enter a number less than or equal to, The draw with the season worked in to affect demand. The CC takes that fluctuating energy and turns it into a tame charge voltage that the batteries can handle. *Fuses and wire gage size are going to vary depend on how long your are running the wires. Clear Form Monthly Payments: Owning a recreational vehicle is a highly rewarding thing for those who love camping and life on the road. But this will at least give you an idea of how the components will be acquired together. So we have this calculator here. Using your calculator, rounding up with worst case, I will need a 12v 200 ah battery and 300 watts of panels. Everyone is going to be different so maybe you’ll find one 240 watt solar instead of two 100 watt panels. It doesn’t take much just to run the laptop. If you do a lot of dry camping then you know that battery life is one of the most important things you must plan for, especially if you have a small battery bank. I am looking at getting Solar and all of the installs suggest connecting to the existing wiring inside the camper. An Unbound Renewable Energy Company Open Mon … Fill out the calculator below to find out how many solar panels you need for your DIY solar panel system. Hi power magnets with screw in eye bolts worked well for me. per day - Draws, {Time - Stereo:148:value} hrs. In your 400W diagram, you have the following battery recommendations: 200Ah (x2) Battery (AGM option) So after your battery, the next piece of equipment that you choose is your solar panels. A gaming laptop is a lot more efficient than one of the towers just because the CPU is designed to be able to run off the battery. They will run off of a 30 amp power cord or a 50 amp … We always recommend giving us a call to discuss your … There’s no reason to do that. Visit ParkedInParadise.com/solar-calculator for more information. Now our charge controller, this is determined by our solar panel size. You are running short by. It is a DC powered fridge, so that means it’s plugging right into the DC electrical system. For instance, can I buy 2 lithium batteries now and add more a few years down the road? Select whether your device is DC powered or will be using an AC inverter. per day - Draws, {Time - Blender:160:value} mins. 21 Gallery of Solar Sizing Calculator Excel. I live in CO and travel a lot West and South, I sized expecting nearly unlimited sunny days. 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. 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. Remember that the calculator is determining what system size that you need based on your inputs (not how much output you will get from an existing system). Appliance Qty. See what is drawing the most power and look at ways to reduce or eliminate it. Permits, guides and interconnection provided. Go Power! Generators can also be used, but you’ll trade your electricity costs for fuel costs. Great article Very good explanation of solar basics. So in this case, I have two 90 watt DC powered components in my system.  100Ah (x1) Battery (Lithium option), Solar Panel Kits We have our solar panels running to our charge controller, our charge controller running to our battery. 2. We do have this in there. Hey Andy, for winter camping, adjust the list of devices and number of sun hours.  100Ah 12v (x4+) Lithium Battery. Hence the large batts. I have included some sample numbers simply fill in the areas with green shading and let the orange ones do the calculation. Any of my wire runs are no more than 6-8 ft… so #12 AWG should be fine for wiring, but I’m way confused on this current/amp boost that will happen between CC and batteries in a 12 volt system??? Hey Ross, good catch! This calculator kind of walks you through the order that you need to figure things out in when you’re sizing this. We see this common mistake pretty often.  6 circuit fuse block + bus bar  Battery terminal connectors But if it’s just charging the battery and I’m surfing the internet – 120 [watts]. Figure out your monthly payment with the calculator below. (IMO), I used your Calculator and was wondering on the Solar Panels could i use a 360 Panel instead of 3- 100 Watt panels? Not to mention fans and other incidentals, and losses throughout the system.  6 way fuse block + bus bar A lot of this stuff is variable and that’s why the solar diagrams you see online get kind of wonky and complicated because they’re for very specific set ups. per day - Draws, {Time - Cell Phone Charger:153:value} hrs. per day - Draws, {Time - Coffee Maker:159:value} mins. And some of the things that are covered in it. So why is solar_factor greater than 1? I have looked for 10 gauge ends to crimp onto the end of wire that will fit into the holes but have had no luck. Because they’re meant to be plugged into a wall. Victron Energy B.V. De Paal 35 1351 JG Almere The Netherlands.  Flexible polycrystalline, Batteries Battery life is affected by how quickly you are using power. What time of year do you use the RV or trailer the most? The numbers you’re looking at function in this purpose. Battery Type Recommended Min Solar Watts I find that to be a little redundant. Your wire size is going to vary greatly depending on how far you are running them. B2B charger (compatible with lithium). So once you know your total watt hours, the next thing that you need to pick in your system is your battery size. I have a setup that’s going to be all DC, no AC required. Going into a solar controller rated at 12v. Excellent page guys, nice work. 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. This calculator may come in handy when you buy solar panel (s) for your RV vehicle, boat, camper or home solar system, and you want to get a real estimate for the production capability of your solar panel (s). per day - Draws, {Time - Other:303:value} hrs. Assuming we get 5 hours of direct sunlight, we know a 100 watt solar panel will produce 30 amp hours per day.. For our experiment, 5 hours of direct sunlight without clouds x 6 amps generated per hour = 30 amp hours per day that the solar …  20A MPPT (most efficient), Batteries The best option is a battery to battery charger, many of which double as a solar charge controller. AGM and FLA batteries should only be discharged up to 50%. Your batteries do need to be able to be charged all the way as well so you can’t get too big of a battery bank or else you’ll start losing some of the charging efficiencies and your solar won’t be able to charge up those last few steps. The other thing to note is you can always go smaller. Lithium Battery 135Ah (x2) I’m using 2- 100 Ah AGM battery’s that I’ve wired together in paralell w/ 2, 8 gauge cables. This is my first solar project. Charge Controller 30A (40A) Some general rules to follow are: We based our calculations on a 10% efficiency loss that occurs when using an AC inverter. 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