RV solar

>>1193806
>1. Is 160w panel enough for one person, probably running at most a 1.2amp fridge, laptop, tv, charging phone, typical cooking appliances (toaster, kettle)
Math is hard, huh? Crunch the numbers yourself. You being too lazy to do it is definitely not an excuse to have someone else do it for you. Also, ignore the amps of the devices. You want to work with watts.

>2. With the same things in mind, do you think 2 6v golf cart batteries in parallel will run everything overnight (ie: once sun has faded)
Fuck no. Not even close.

>3. I'm thinking because of the fridge alone (it's an old fridge from the 70s) I should likely get at least a 2000w inverter?
Depends. How many watts does it draw? Less than 2k? It is fine. More than 2k? Then, no, it is not fine.

4. Will an electrician be able to hook my inverter directly into my existing AC circuit in the RV?
Yes. 2 options come to my mind but there may be more. Either you have a manual switch, which would cause "bad things" to happen if you had both it and mains power applied at the same time or you have an automatic switch that disabled the batteries when mains AC is detected. The former is cheap but not idiot proof and let's be real here, you are a fucking tard. The latter is idiot proof, until nature births a better idiot (on a related not, please don't have children), but more expensive.

>>1193813

>Math is hard, huh? Crunch the numbers yourself. You being too lazy to do it is definitely not an excuse to have someone else do it for you. Also, ignore the amps of the devices. You want to work with watts.
No, working with watts is not correct. Storage batteries have an amp hour rating. Devices (especially RV devices) are rated for their amperage. Mind you, some devices, like the fridge, require large wattage to power on. But once it is running (my fridge is 1.2 amps) it will run for 12hrs on a 15 amp hour battery.

>Fuck no. Not even close.
I asked about golf cart batteries because they are inexpensive, and I often see them in other people's setups. Although I've never asked about them because at those times I wasn't thinking about hooking up my own solar.

>Depends. How many watts does it draw? Less than 2k? It is fine. More than 2k? Then, no, it is not fine.
I don't know exactly about RV refrigerators. Mine lists it's wattage, but I've read that rule of thumb is multiple that by 10 to see how much it will use to power on. Theoretically, I could power it on on AC and switch my system to solar once it's running.

"Yes. 2 options come to my mind but there may be more. Either you have a manual switch, which would cause "bad things" to happen if you had both it and mains power applied at the same time or you have an automatic switch that disabled the batteries when mains AC is detected. The former is cheap but not idiot proof and let's be real here, you are a fucking tard. The latter is idiot proof, until nature births a better idiot (on a related not, please don't have children), but more expensive.
Valid points. I'd be the only one operating it. I already have a manual switch for my lights, from a battery vs AC. Should be doable.

Should lead acid batteries only be drawn down to 50% or can you go lower?

>>1193826
>No, working with watts is not correct.
You need to use watts and watt hours. Multiply the battery amp hours by the voltage to calculate watt hours.

>fridge is 1.2 amps [...] it will run for 12hrs on a 15 amp hour battery
Only if it's the same voltage, and I doubt you have a 6 volt refrigerator ["2 6v golf cart batteries in parallel"] that only draws 1.2A. Presumably, your fridge runs on mains voltage, I'm guessing that's 120V for you. 120V*1.2A = 144 W. To draw 144 W from a 6 volt battery would draw 24A, and run your 15 Ah battery completely dead in about 40 minutes. That's not counting the possible >1kW startup requirement. Plus, toasters and kettles can be >1kW. How long do you think your 15Ah is going to last when you sometimes draw over a thousand watts for a couple minutes?

TL;DR: what you want can be done, but you're gonna need a lot more solar and battery power, or much less power-hungry devices.

>>1194164
Or less if you can help it. You could go lower than 50%, but the less you discharge them the better. The further they are discharged, the shorter their lifespan before the batteries become worn out and no longer hold a charge.

>>1193806
I suggest you take a look at this website to get an idea of what you need.

http://www.letsgosolar.com/solar-panels/solar-panels-for-rv/

A minimum you need 500 watts of solar panels and batteries capable of 18/24 volts, 18 amps

The batteries is what you will need to run over night at least 8 hours of no sun continuous.

It's better to go over than under. SOlar is not cheap when you calculate in batteries, inverters, etc.

To make this work you're looking at around 2k, prolly more toward 3k when all is said and done.

But youll be able to survive pretty much ability to cook and keep food cold, hot water, etc.

Ive traveled and been in a few communities that live off the grid...like Cold Creek Nevada...They are all solar except the fridge which is propane. Since they live at roughly 9,000 ft asl they have little need for heat or ac since the average temp is 70 deg.