Truck camping - need a lot of guidance

[tombaxter]

I will start out by stating the obvious, I need a lot of help figuring out what items I need to get this system up and running. I have tried to figure this out myself, and I am frustrated and feel clueless. I do have a lot of knowledge about different aspects of solar energy from my research, but I have zero organization of the knowledge and have no idea what is important and what is not important for my situation. I do not know where to start in order to get this system up and running.

My situation:
I will be living out of my truck for the upcoming summer in some pretty extreme environmental conditions as part of a new "field" job. I have a Chevy Colorado with a 6 foot bed and a bed cap where I will sleep most nights.

My goals in order of priority:
- Run a minifridge
- Run a small space heater occassionally
- Charge phone and lap top
- Plug in a lamp
- run these things one at a time, not simultaneously. I may be interested in charging my phone or lap top while running the fridge but not running the space heater at the same time as the fridge.

Equipment that I intend to use, please advise on this:
- very thin, light weight style flexible 100 watt solar panel (do not know how many I need)
- A 12 volt deep cycle battery (I only need it to work for this summer so I would prefer to save money and buy something that will work rather than something better if that is an option)
- a solar charge converter (again do not know what type I need)
- a battery inverter for plugging in appliances

I am really having difficulty with sizing my system. For example, I have been shopping strictly online and I am having difficulty even selecting a mini fridge because I can not seem to find information on the wattage and amps. Some provide the wattage but not amps. And saving the best news for last, I have about 1 month to get this figured out! I can do it! lol

[Logan005]

Small space heater?

[Logan005]

there are a number of chest type fridge/freezers (not Thermoelectric) that run directly from 24 volts. you should consider a propane space heater

[LETitROLL]

I will start out by stating the obvious, I need a lot of help figuring out what items I need to get this system up and running. I have tried to figure this out myself, and I am frustrated and feel clueless. I do have a lot of knowledge about different aspects of solar energy from my research, but I have zero organization of the knowledge and have no idea what is important and what is not important for my situation. I do not know where to start in order to get this system up and running.

My situation:
I will be living out of my truck for the upcoming summer in some pretty extreme environmental conditions as part of a new "field" job. I have a Chevy Colorado with a 6 foot bed and a bed cap where I will sleep most nights.

My goals in order of priority:
- Run a minifridge
- Run a small space heater occassionally
- Charge phone and lap top
- Plug in a lamp
- run these things one at a time, not simultaneously. I may be interested in charging my phone or lap top while running the fridge but not running the space heater at the same time as the fridge.

Equipment that I intend to use, please advise on this:
- very thin, light weight style flexible 100 watt solar panel (do not know how many I need)
- A 12 volt deep cycle battery (I only need it to work for this summer so I would prefer to save money and buy something that will work rather than something better if that is an option)
- a solar charge converter (again do not know what type I need)
- a battery inverter for plugging in appliances

I am really having difficulty with sizing my system. For example, I have been shopping strictly online and I am having difficulty even selecting a mini fridge because I can not seem to find information on the wattage and amps. Some provide the wattage but not amps. And saving the best news for last, I have about 1 month to get this figured out! I can do it! lol

Well on a positive note, it can be done. You basically have 2 reasonable choices (most people don't like either), you can get propane appliances (refrige, heater) and set up a simple solar system for lights, electronics charging, etc., or you can design/build and large, expensive, solar system to run everything (all electric). The only exception would be simple (cheap quality & price) trucker type dc heaters and refriges are available and do not need a tremendous amount of electricity, but they only put out microscopic amounts of heat and cool and are more like toys than actually functional in your described situation.

[tombaxter]

I want to use a heater because I will be at high elevation sometimes and the night time temperatures can be very cold. I do have cold weather gear and the truck cap will provide some shelter from the elements, but in a perfect world I would like to produce even the slightest amount of heat. Admittedly I was working on the assumption that I would be able to find a heater that would use less than 100 watts on a low power setting, but after a little searching I am not turning up any results.

As for a propane heater, is that safe? I would have thought that using a propane appliance in such a small unventilated space would be out of the question. This is actually why I decided against using a propane refrigerator.

In regards to the mini fridge reply from Logan005, I apologize but I am not sure that I understand what you mean, specifically the 24v part.

I appreciate you're advice!

[LETitROLL]

Sun Frost (they make good DC elec. refriges), has a good article on Solar elec. vs Propane that you may pick up a few bits of knowledge from, both are expensive for initial purchase, unless you can find used, like out of an old camp trailer or something.

http://www.sunfrost.com/blog/off-grid-refrigeration-solar-electric-vs-propane/

[tombaxter]

Well on a positive note, it can be done. You basically have 2 reasonable choices (most people don't like either), you can get propane appliances (refrige, heater) and set up a simple solar system for lights, electronics charging, etc., or you can design/build and large, expensive, solar system to run everything (all electric). The only exception would be simple (cheap quality & price) trucker type dc heaters and refriges are available and do not need a tremendous amount of electricity, but they only put out microscopic amounts of heat and cool and are more like toys than actually functional in your described situation.

I am interested in exploring the option of building an expensive solar system to run everything with electric. Expensive is a pretty relative term though, am I off base to think that this can be done for under $1000? That is not necessarily my upper limit but I would start to reconsider if it was a lot more than that. I am going to be living in my truck for 4 months and not paying for rent or morgage, paying for an expensive solar set up is an option. I am looking at flexible 100 watt solar panels that are about $200 each, I have seen videos and understand the mounting method that others have used for putting these style panels on the roof of a vehicle. I was hoping to use 1 or 2 of them, mainly to power a mini fridge. My #1 concern about my situation is the ability to refrigerate food because staying healthy and well-nurished is difficult for me to begin with. The space heater would be nice, but if that is not realistic then I would rather power the mini fridge than the heater.

My conservative budgeting guess:
solar panels = $400
battery = $200
PWM charge converter = $30
sine wave inverter = $300

Is it this simple? Probably not....

[LETitROLL]

They make small ventless inexpensive propane heaters like Mr. Heater Buddy series that seem to work good for that, I think they still recommend a small amount of fresh air/ventilation for most applications. Refrigeration seems to be a bigger problem than heat in your situation, cheap refriges need a lot of electricity, they make low consumption ones but they are very expensive.

[LETitROLL]

I am interested in exploring the option of building an expensive solar system to run everything with electric. Expensive is a pretty relative term though, am I off base to think that this can be done for under $1000? That is not necessarily my upper limit but I would start to reconsider if it was a lot more than that. I am going to be living in my truck for 4 months and not paying for rent or morgage, paying for an expensive solar set up is an option. I am looking at flexible 100 watt solar panels that are about $200 each, I have seen videos and understand the mounting method that others have used for putting these style panels on the roof of a vehicle. I was hoping to use 1 or 2 of them, mainly to power a mini fridge. My #1 concern about my situation is the ability to refrigerate food because staying healthy and well-nurished is difficult for me to begin with. The space heater would be nice, but if that is not realistic then I would rather power the mini fridge than the heater.

My conservative budgeting guess:
solar panels = $400
battery = $200
PWM charge converter = $30
sine wave inverter = $300

Is it this simple? Probably not....

I think the one Sun Frost model (may be other brands also) shows that it can be run from between 100 -200w solar setup in the summer time, but it cost's around $1800.00, otherwise not even close to running the cheap bar/dorm type inexpensive AC refriges on that size solar setup.

[LETitROLL]

The only inexpensive way I know of to have "real refrigeration" for cheap is a used propane model from camper, etc.,

[Logan005]

also look at DOMETIC and Norcold, I think reasonably priced.

[Mike90250]

Mr Buddy (brand of propane heater) has a small model you can get a couple nights use out of a stubby 16oz propane can. Forget electric heat. Just forget it,
But to do a fridge, will take a fair amount of solar Panels and at least 12V 200ah of battery (a pair of 6V golf cart batteries in series)
You may be able to build the PV panels onto a rack over your camper shell (if you are not on the "go" daily) and shade the shell somewhat, But you need
full sun and maybe 400w of panels at the very least. You have to work up the load budget, and then size the batteries to support the load, and THEN size the panels to support the batteries. And it all falls apart with one cloudy day.

[Logan005]

I have a Mr Buddy, in a camper shell, you will be able to heater right up in just a few min's. the unit I have has 3 levels, pilot, low and high. in close quarters you may find "pilot" will keep it warm after you use low to get it there first. Highly recommended.

[tombaxter]

I am going to take the advice of many in this thread and buy a Mr. Buddy Heater. It sounds like using solar for refrigeration is unlikely. I may have to just go with a Yeti cooler or something. I am simply not understanding how solar works, a 400w solar system for a 50-100w refrigeration unit is not what I was expecting.

there are a number of chest type fridge/freezers (not Thermoelectric) that run directly from 24 volts. you should consider a propane space heater

Could you elaborate on this with regards to the refrigerator please? I am unfamiliar with what it means to run directly from 24 volts. Does that mean that you just run a AC style refrigeration unit powered by a solar system with two 12v batteries coupled together? If so is this still going to require a 400w or larger solar system?

[Logan005]

You can not run an AC style refrigerator w/o an inverter, a 12-24 volt designed unit will run directly from 12 volts at 2X the amp rating it operates on 24volts. you can keep it relativity simple if you chose the correct refrigeration unit. I prefer the Norcold chest type, as it requires very lil power and does not lose all of it's internal cold when you open the door.