Need help with solar power ideas

[mrsa111]

I'm buying a van in the next week, have it narrowed down to a couple that will be a good base. I'll probably drive it for a little while as is while i plan out the build, but in the end I'm looking for something that would be "comfortable" enough to live out of permanently. which i wont necessarily be doing, but with my job its a possibility I can be on the road for very long periods of time.

So what i'm thinking i'll need to power..
Small fridge/freezer. (freezer not totally necessary)
Charge and run a computer for 2-3 hours a day.
Charge misc phone, camera, gadgets.
Water pump for a sink.
Lights 1-5 hours a night.
Keep A/C running all day in summer if necessary.
Small 1 or 2 burner stove.
Small oven.
Keep some Heat running through the night in winter, some during the day. doesnt need to be room temp necessarily.
And any extra power just incase.

I've been looking at the Goal Zero stuff. Their Yeti 1250 generator, and maybe two of their boulder 90 pannels on the roof, maybe even an additional to set up if im parked in one spot for awhile. I really like how simple it seems, somebody like me with very little knowledge on this subject could probably rig up my van fine. does that seem like a good setup for the solar portion of my power? or could I be doing better? I'd like to keep it fairly simple, not have to be constantly setting things up and taking them down, etc.

What i'm having trouble figuring out, is how much the solar power will be able to run alone. lights, computer, fridge, all seem fairly easy to calculate how much power I need. but there seems to be a lot of variables when it comes to heat/ac and how much power you'll use. It wont be a big space and if I do a good job insulating I'd think I could use a pretty small/efficient unit.

IF solar alone wont be enough, what would you guys recommend as a second source? Keep a small gas generator? Charge additional batteries from the van's alternator? This is where I get really lost. Can keep one battery strictly powering the van itself, and have it charge additional batteries that power everything camper related? Or say have the solar generator, cars alternator and/or gas generator, all charge the same additional batteries?

I'm obviously in the very early planning stages but i'd really like some direction, I've seen quite a few different setups on here and its hard to know what's idea for me, i'm wasting a lot of time looking in the wrong directions.. so any help is much appreciated!

 

[fisher205]

Go to the Power Systems Topic. There is all your answers there.

 

[Bbasso]

While possible to use air conditioning off of solar power its very very expensive to do so.
Just buy a nice generator for air conditioning.
For your heating needs there are many ways to go about it. If your van is diesel you could go with a Espar or Webasto heater, if your van is gasoline powered I know Espar makes a heater but not sure about Webasto.
You always have a choice of running a propane heater.
A quality refrigerator won't use too much power of once it achieves desired temperature.

 

[jonyjoe101]

instead of 2 90 watt panels, just get one large panel. I have a 240 watt panel on the roof of my small astrovan, it gives me 12 amps of power from the ecoworthy 20 amp mppt controller.

solar will power a efficient 12 volt fridge, if you need something larger you can convert a chest freezer to run as a regular fridge, because of the thick insulation they are very efficient in the power use but will need an inverter to run.

To keep cool in my van in california, all I use is a swamp cooler. Even parked in the sun it keeps me cool. Solar power has no problem running a 12 volt swamp cooler all day long. But in my case the entire rear of my van is covered in foam insulation, I even built a door seperating the front of the van to the rear. The front of the van might be 130 degrees but the back of the van will be in the 90's, cooler where the swamp cooler is blowing. The foam insulation also helps out in the winter. to keep warm I just use a mr heater and a thick sleeping bag. Even in 40 degree weather I'm very comfortable.

If you need ac, you need a generator.

To cook, I just use a small 12 volt roadpro lunchbucket type cooker. It heats up most food in 30 minutes using about 5 amps of power total.

I use a small netbook which I can run all day and night off of the solar/battery. Any bigger computer and you have watch your power consumption.

LED lights are very efficent and very bright. You can get a roll of supernight leds for about 10 dollars, and it will light up the van as bright as day. I'm only using 4 feet out of 16 foot roll of the supernight leds and it is very bright in the rear of my van. 4 feet uses about 2 amps of power. You can cut it as small or large as you want.

As long as you are willing to work within the limits of solar power you can be 100 percent offgrid, not once in 3 years have I ever had to charge my battery with the alternator or generator, my house battery is all solar. just get a large enough panel, 240 watt or higher, anything smaller and you might be disappointed when the battery isnt getting charged.