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should i buy a solar panel on roof of small teardrop. or get a panel that can fold up

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  • should i buy a solar panel on roof of small teardrop. or get a panel that can fold up

    i am buying a small teardrop. u cant stand up in it. i would like to heat it during cold weather with a 200 watt heater. now when i drive down the road my two parallel deep cycle battery will be charged with the car going down the road. so what good will a solar panel be on the roof of the camper if the car is gonna charge the battery when going down the road? i don't plan on stopping more than one day at a site. ...........also, if i put a solar panel on top of camper wont it be limited in charging when i park near trees. if i got a portable panel i could just move it around via a cord to the sun?

  • #2
    Hello yogavnture and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

    I will say that a folding or flexible panel will be a lot more expensive then a rigid panel. And if you need enough to run a 200watt heater you will probable need 3 times that wattage in solar pv along with a big battery.

    Maybe look into a ground mount system instead of putting the panels up on the roof.

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    • #3
      I'd consider either using a small electric blanket, or a propane heater. Solar & batteries to run a electric heater will be costly.
      Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
      || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
      || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

      solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
      gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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      • #4
        if you look on outbound trailers hastings Nebraska you will see the solar they mount on top of camper and includes inverter inside and controller. all for 500 bucks . could i do better myself or should i just buy it from manufacturer?

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        • #5
          I'd probably do it myself using an MPPT charge controller instead of the PWM controller they provide, and my own panel, which would harvest 20% or so more energy. You could probably run a 200W heater for maybe a half hour per night if you have good sun for a whole day. But I think you're better off forgetting solar and using the vehicle to charge the battery.
          Last edited by sdold; 11-28-2020, 02:22 AM.

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          • #6
            For an idea of space and portable panels, Portable panels to run that heater will take up the entire passenger seat of your vehicle when you move it.

            I have 400 watts of portable panels hooked to a 100 volt 30 amp charge controller. The four 100 watt panels are two feet high, and take up half the back seat of my pickup. On top of that sits a combiner, circuit breaker box, and cables. I’m confident that on a sunny day, my panels would power your heater in the daytime, as long as you set them up facing the sun at sunrise, turn towards the sun at noon, and then face them towards sunset. However, very little would go back into the batteries for what I need at night. Arizona has 300 days a year with no clouds in the sky, so its rather reliable.

            If storage space is a factor, I believe its best to “Fill up the roof,” before going to portable panels.

            I have not measured wattage on an electric blanket, but I heard from a solar user that its the most efficient form of electric heat. To me I’d always thought electric blankets were wasteful, but she had spent three months off grid in a trailer with 500 watts of panels. So the blanket worked for her and must not be wasteful.

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            • #7
              Renogy Flexible Solar Panel is good. But ALLPOWERS Solar Panel also good and the price is cheaper.
              Last edited by AndrewCoates; 12-17-2020, 10:23 AM.

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              • #8
                I have a portable panel for our RV and while it works for charging the battery, it is portable so you need to be near your camper/rv or it can easily walk away. Roof mounted makes more sense.. For heat resistance heater re electric suck energy big time. One of the big draw backs of a Buddy type heater is the moisture they put out after a few days of using one in a small camper in cold weather everything starts to feel clamy, I used one in my camper for a few years ich. for heat you can get a small forced air furnace that just sips fuel and electricity. It is made by Propex and originally made too replace heaters in VW Vanagons. If room is a constraint they make an under mount one also thatt mounts outside.

                Heaters and Furnaces • Propex North America (propexheatsource.com)

                Propex heater mounted behind the passengers seat of my van


                Last edited by AWS; 05-15-2021, 10:36 AM.

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                • #9
                  www.batterysurplus.com has clearance on renology batteries and solar panels. will save you 10 to 30% off amazon prices.
                  I'd use a propane heater and a good sleeping blanket if you only use it a few weeks a year. if you use it 365 days a year solar might be best.

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