To harness the sun’s power for your van life needs, you can create your own solar power grid by combining the basic components: – Solar panels – Batteries – A charge controller – A power inverterr
Things can get a little bit confusing when you’re trying to figure out exactly how much solar power you need.
Your van or RV may have electronics that are powered by 120V AC or 12V DC.
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This information, and how much power they consume, should be listed on the device or in the user manual.
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You’ll need to decide how long you plan to use each appliance per day, figure out the watt-hours for each device, and then add them all together.
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Calculate power consumption: volts x amps = watts
12 volt DC 2 Amp fan
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Determine watt-hours per device: watts x usage (in hours) = watt-hours
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Figure out the total for all devices: device 1 + device 2 + device 3 = daily watt-hour consumption
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Another option for more straightforward calculation is to purchase a battery monitor and spend a day camping using your normal amount of power usage.
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Solar panels are sold based on their power output, typically between 100 and 400 watts.
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However, these numbers are the max output, so you must remember that this is how much a panel can produce in full sun with nothing affecting its efficiency.
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You’ll need to estimate how many hours of full sun you expect your panels to get.
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For some people, this may be around 3-4 hours per day, while others may expect 6-8.
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daily watt-hours / sunlight hours = total solar panel watts needed
2000Wh / 5H = 400 Watts of solar needed
2000Wh needed
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total solar panel watts needed / individual panel watts = number of panels needed
400Watts / 200 watt panels = 2 panels needed
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Portable solar panels often come in a package. If you buy them separately, you’ll need to research the components to make sure all parts are compatible.
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