Panel size and charger question on basic off grid system.

[PhillyTitan]

Me and the DW have a kid-free room in the driveway (a small RV).
I just bought a 35Ah SLA battery to run 12V lights off-grid in the evenings.

Could I get away with a single 50W panel and a 10A charge controller?

Not sure how many details I need, so I'll try to give them all:
I get a fair amount of sunshine everyday.
Total, the lights will be running no more than 50W at a given time.
5 hours/night maximum.

[SunEagle]

Me and the DW have a kid-free room in the driveway (a small RV).
I just bought a 35Ah SLA battery to run 12V lights off-grid in the evenings.

Could I get away with a single 50W panel and a 10A charge controller?

Not sure how many details I need, so I'll try to give them all:
I get a fair amount of sunshine everyday.
Total, the lights will be running no more than 50W at a given time.
5 hours/night maximum.

Your 35Ah battery and 50watt panel are too small to run a 50 watt load for 5 hours.

50w x 5 = 250 watt hours. 250wh / 12volt = 21.8Ah. Battery should be 4 to 5 times your daily usage so 90 to 109 Ah battery.

Now depending on where you live and the type of charge controller you probably will need about 100 watt panel and 15 amp MPPT controller.

[PhillyTitan]

Your 35Ah battery and 50watt panel are too small to run a 50 watt load for 5 hours.

50w x 5 = 250 watt hours. 250wh / 12volt = 21.8Ah. Battery should be 4 to 5 times your daily usage so 90 to 109 Ah battery.

Now depending on where you live and the type of charge controller you probably will need about 100 watt panel and 15 amp MPPT controller.

Not that I'm trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, I technically could swap out the incandecent lights with LEDs and get it to around 10W. Which would be much cheaper than getting that battery and that panel.
Could that make the setup work? If not, is there anything that I can do to reduce the price of the setup?

[SunEagle]

Not that I'm trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, I technically could swap out the incandecent lights with LEDs and get it to around 10W. Which would be much cheaper than getting that battery and that panel.
Could that make the setup work? If not, is there anything that I can do to reduce the price of the setup?

Cutting the wattage from 50 down to 10 would make your 35AH work. That 50 watt panel would have to be aimed South and hopefully not get any shade between 10am and 2pm which are the best hours for solar.

If that 10 charge controller is one of those PWM type then that cuts your panel wattage from 50 to about 35 watts due to the way it works.

I just purchased a half dozen of those LED lamps to retrofit my RV lighting. If they work I intend to get another dozen and do more. It seems to be a really good way to reduce the electric load on the coach batteries.