I'm building my own camper pod, after watching your videos. I'd buy a pre-built, but they tend to come with way more than what I want or need. I just bought my custom solar setup that I'll install in my camper. I plan on boondocking 90% of the time, but can hook to shore power to top up the battery if needed. (200W solar, 500W inverter, 100Ah lithium battery. )
For the shading, it really just depends on how much energy you use off the battery. Just running a few LED lights for a few hours won't burn up a whole lot of battery and the energy you get even from the shaded panels might be enough to keep the battery up. It's when people try to run big loads for a long time, like A/C units, heaters, and continuous loads, where getting direct sun on the panels really starts to matter. It starts with a few lights. Then making tea or coffee. Then wanting a fridge... then a toaster oven. Well, suddenly all the comforts of a grid-connected home are desired 🙂 One other item of note is that even though the unit is portable, usually you just want to have it permanently situated somewhere in the cabin so its always available to power stuff. There are several ways to charge it including via the generator or even from a separate 12V battery that you charged elsewhere, connected to the EBLs "solar" input -Matt
For your trip to Yellowstone, I strongly suggest taking your Solar!! But also encourage you to take both!! (or ALL of your options). If you have the space to take all. It is NEVER a bad idea to have extra resources, and or backup. Especially when shore power is not guaranteed.
Try mounting the solar panels on your roof? Or, I have seen boondockers build elevated platforms for their solar panels for optimum sun exposure. I've even seen campers put their solar panels on the windshield of their vehicle. Just some food for thought 😊.
I'm building my own camper pod, after watching your videos. I'd buy a pre-built, but they tend to come with way more than what I want or need. I just bought my custom solar setup that I'll install in my camper. I plan on boondocking 90% of the time, but can hook to shore power to top up the battery if needed. (200W solar, 500W inverter, 100Ah lithium battery. )
For the shading, it really just depends on how much energy you use off the battery. Just running a few LED lights for a few hours won't burn up a whole lot of battery and the energy you get even from the shaded panels might be enough to keep the battery up. It's when people try to run big loads for a long time, like A/C units, heaters, and continuous loads, where getting direct sun on the panels really starts to matter.
It starts with a few lights. Then making tea or coffee. Then wanting a fridge... then a toaster oven. Well, suddenly all the comforts of a grid-connected home are desired 🙂
One other item of note is that even though the unit is portable, usually you just want to have it permanently situated somewhere in the cabin so its always available to power stuff. There are several ways to charge it including via the generator or even from a separate 12V battery that you charged elsewhere, connected to the EBLs "solar" input
-Matt
For your trip to Yellowstone, I strongly suggest taking your Solar!! But also encourage you to take both!! (or ALL of your options). If you have the space to take all. It is NEVER a bad idea to have extra resources, and or backup. Especially when shore power is not guaranteed.
Try mounting the solar panels on your roof? Or, I have seen boondockers build elevated platforms for their solar panels for optimum sun exposure. I've even seen campers put their solar panels on the windshield of their vehicle. Just some food for thought 😊.
I have a couple smaller units and 2 120W solar. Very useful
I think everyone needs a break from life, and there is no better place to be than cabin life.
Can you plug other solar panels in
interested to know how it does in full sun