New member TAshley

[TAshley]

My name's Todd. I currently have a GT system at my home and have been very happy with it so far. I have a very small off-grid system at my camp that I currently only use for 12v lights as needed. I would like to upgrade the system to something capable of running a small fridge 24/7 and my TV/Satellite as needed when we are there. I'm not very knowledgeable of solar system so happy for any pointers. I see several posts about how it's not cost effective to go off-grid, but in this case I would rather spend the money on solar rather than diesel.
I would really like recommendations on a "smart charger" something I can leave connected to the battery bank and wired in to my electric system on the camp so when the generator is on it will automatically charge the batteries if needed, but of course not over charge and damage the batteries.
I currently just use a small 300W inverter that I turn on when we watch TV and turn off...ideally I would like an inverter that can be left on (so my satellite doesn't lose service) without draining my batteries.
My current system is running off several marine batteries which I plan to upgrade and would like suggestions on batteries and 12v vs 24v etc.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[inetdog]

Hi Todd and welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

There are some good existing threads on chargers to run off AC, so searching them would be a good place to start.
As for the battery choice, there are also a lot of existing discussions.
In any case, you will probably get the best answers if you ask each question or set of questions in the forum that fits them best.

[Mike90250]

For an occasional weekend camp, use an ice box.

A fridge will consume roughly, about 1KWh in a day, if it is well made. So you have to have enough solar to charge batteries and run the fridge, depending on your latitude, you can spend a lot of money building a large enough array, that a few dollars of ice per year, would manage.

And if you thought of turning it off on Monday, and back on Friday, it will take a whole day to chill the cabinet down, and then just as it's cold, you switch it off and leave.

I've seen it worked on paper, you have to use it more than 9 solid months a year, and then solar is cheaper than propane or ice.

[paulcheung]

Use a timer, set the timer to turn on the refrigerator on Thursday day and turn off on the night and on again on the Friday morning when sun comes out, there are a lot of the timer can program for seven days. I use that to control my freezer so it turn off in the night and on in the day.