Thor Forums

[winder1]

Originally Posted by saddlesore

The problem with solar is that even if you have a full suite of batteries you will not be able to use the A/C....I would still go with a permanent gen set

Not being able to use solar for A/C is not a problem. Its true you can't power an A/C off of solar, but you can still get a full battery charge in 4-6 hours, for essentially free, after the initial capital investment. Also, most people don't use A/C every day, or even most days.

Lastly, and this is very important, you can combine battery charging between your generator and solar, and utilize the genset to charge to 90%, then let the solar take over. That last bit of charge from 90% to 110% is what preserves the life of a deep cycle battery, and it is very expensive/ineffecient to burn gasoline to run a genset to get that last bit of charge.