Quote:
Originally Posted by t1bone
Will my 100 watt solar panel keep my house battery charged at night? I shouldn't be using that much power during the day, so I wonder if it stores power for use at night?
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So the answer to your question; "Will my 100 watt solar panel keep my house battery charged at night?" No it won't keep it charged at night because solar panels need sun in order to provide power.
When you ask; "I wonder if it stores power for use at night?" by "it" if you're referring to does the solar panel store energy for use at night? the answer to that is No.
If you're referring to do your house batteries store power for use at night? the answer is Yes.
Maybe you were trying to ask if your 100 watt solar panel will provide a sufficient charge during the daytime to your house batteries so that you have sufficient power to run things in your RV during the night. If that's what you meant then the answer to that in my opinion is Maybe. The reason I say that is because it will depend on how sufficiently your house batteries are charged by the time you want to use them exclusively and how you manage your power consumption after dark.
Also, since you're asking about utilizing house batteries in your RV you need to realize that only certain electrical items are wired through the inverter in order to allow power from the batteries to be utilized for them. Example; in our RV the interior lighting, TV's, residential refrigerator, water pump and a couple AC outlets can be run by electricity provided by the house batteries.
When it comes to running the residential refrigerator off of the house batteries it's been my experience that once the refrigerator has reached the temperature that it is set at it doesn't consume much as long as someone isn't frequently opening the door which allows the cold air to escape. That then causes the compressor to kick on to start cooling the unit down to the setting. When the compressor has to start up and run frequently that is where the most electrical consumption comes in.The interior lighting in most of theses RV's is LED and are more energy efficient. It's still a good idea to manage use wisely.
As far as what a 100 watt solar panel is capable of, it would be my guess that it would not be much. Especially, if you were dry camping and depending on it to keep your house batteries sufficiently charged. If it were me I would utilize my generator during the day periodically to provide power and it will also complete the charge on your house batteries if the single 100 watt solar panel is not capable of doing so. You have to remember that the wattage ratings on the solar panels are optimal ratings and that means that's what it's capable of if everything is perfect. You can figure you're probably only going to get a percentage of 100 watts out of that panel. Dirty panels, and not enough hours of sunlight during the day will affect the efficiency of the solar panels. In my opinion that means that the single 100 watt panel may be challenged to provide a sufficient charge to the house batteries during dry camping. It seems to me that a single 100 watt panel would be sufficient to keep the house batteries charged up during storage and little more than that.
Remember, the electricity that you are utilizing in your RV isn't directly coming from the solar panel(s). The solar panels are basically a solar generator that supply the electrical storage facility which, is your house batteries. The electricity that is drawn for usage from the house batteries has to go through the inverter that converts the Direct Current DC to Alternating Current AC that is needed to operate most electrical items that are used in the RV. Again, Only certain electrical items in the RV are wired to work through the inverter. Also there are different rating or capacity inverters and that will dictate how many electrical items can be wired through them. Storage capacity is the other factor. The more electrical storage capacity (house batteries) you have in your RV the more flexibility you have as long as you can get them and keep them sufficiently charged.
Lastly, I would test out what that single 100 watt solar panel is capable in a more controlled environment like at my house or at the storage facility. My testing would probably involve getting the residential refrigerator cold using the generator or shore power. Then I would cut the generator and/or shore power off and see what that panel is capable of once its own after that. I would also test and see what my house batteries at full charge are capable of doing through the night because at night that's where the power is coming from if you're not on shore power or the generator.
I hope that this is helpful. Sorry, I know that it is long winded but it's also been my experience in this forum that long windedness is not a disqualification for posting.
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