Thor Forums

[AAL787]

Let’s pull apart the assumption that off the grid wants/needs are the same as on grid. Not necessarily. It’s like the cookie they give me along with the sandwich I ordered. I’m only eating it because it’s there.
When I plug in electric the TV turns on and Netflix magically appears. I don’t need the cookie nor Netflix.

That having been said we all know everyone’s energy needs are different. The alternative away from plug-in hookup for us is not a coin toss between the generator or a 2000w pure sine wave inverter with a battery bank that’ll power Las Vegas.

Door number three blends it a bit.
12V runs the fans for 120v needs I plug a 500w inverter into the cigarette lighter and happily charge my laptop computer. I also run the heat when necessary and prefer fans over the ac. The water heater is tankless and doesn’t require AC.

This obviously amounts to some depletion. I can either crank up the generator at 10am and “harsh my chill” while sitting under the canopy, burn gas, aggravate the hippies in the tent next to me, etc or I can let the panels start working on it at sunrise.

My Yogi better half isn’t a fan of generator sound either. The choice then comes to an overpriced hookup, generator use depending on depletion level - gas/noise (the cost of an angry girlfriend), or a piece of monochrystallibe on the roof cooking up some clean amperage. So far the solar has topped off the batteries daily without generator assist so the generator cost hasn’t factored in. The sound of silence is an asset in and of itself.

Also, I didn’t already have solar. I just installed it recently because of these factors. I’m not out to replace the generator but rather create a viable alternative to minimize its use.

The above thoughts go beyond money so here’s my financial math.
Cost. Solar is very inexpensive in the case of my Vegas. On the new pre-wired models the only cost is a solar panel, brackets, and a tube of Dicor. About $200 for everything including a 170w panel. I went slightly beyond that because I plan to expand my rigs abilities for future adventures. Even factoring purely cost (and not peace) that’s a fairly quick recoup against just straight generator cost for my level of activity.

Though the other site isn’t free the $25 dollars I don’t pay times the 20 nights of my stay removes $500 from the bottom line and I’m still sitting right next to the Pacific Ocean. I do believe I’m ahead of the game in that sense. The expense of camping I get is planned but being pragmatic makes it more manageable as some price must be paid to borrow the real estate under my rig.

So let’s take that off the table and run the numbers as solar vs generator as if it’s off grid. The generator burns something like 1.2 gallons/hr. Charge time 2-4 hours daily so let’s use the low end and charge up for about 2 hours. Gas in SoCal $4/gallon today. Roughly $8 daily per charge minimum. At 20 sunny days (just this and last month) that new panel has already paid for itself.

As you state it’s not a one size fits all debate but in my case solar wins hands down.

All the best.