Refrigeration for food during extended trips?
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I have a 300Ah AGM battery bank running the Whynter, lights, ceiling fan, 3000 watt inverter (hot pot, laptop, photo). With a little driving here and there, it stays charged. If you wanted to go completely native, a 200ish watt PV system would generate enough power to keep the fridge running and the batteries topped off. I know all of this sounds like a lot of trouble and expense to keep beer cold but... |
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Matt Wolski wrote:I have a 300Ah AGM battery bank running the Whynter, lights, ceiling fan, 3000 watt inverter (hot pot, laptop, photo). With a little driving here and there, it stays charged. If you wanted to go completely native, a 200ish watt PV system would generate enough power to keep the fridge running and the batteries topped off. I know all of this sounds like a lot of trouble and expense to keep beer cold but......but we're all adults here who really like cold beer! Thanks for the feedback... def awesome setup! |
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Well thanks. And for the record, my profile pic is about 10 years old. I'm old enough to (legally) buy beer now. |
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Matt Wolski wrote:Well thanks. And for the record, my profile pic is about 10 years old. I'm old enough to (legally) buy beer now. As far as solar charge controllers go, I've had best luck with Bly Sky MPPT units because for long term applications--posting up at the Creek for a month--where you might inadvertently deeply discharge your secondary battery system. It will restart off the panel when the sun comes back out, whereas other units (i.e. Samlex) need a threshold voltage to operate...which means a trip to town to borrow a battery charger. These are very first-world problems.I cant believe Goal Zero 30W panels go for $200 when there are 100W panels out there for $150... |
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Renogy has a 100w Mono panel for $150... great panel. |
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There are a couple of ongoing topics that are discussing solar power. This little trick applies to both. |
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The Renogy with free shipping looks nice. |
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I like the dry ice option too for extended refrigeration time with a cooler. |
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For anything longer than a typical weekend, I employ two coolers. One is fairly small, tightly packed with ice on the bottom and meats dairy and other goods on top. It doesn't get open but maybe twice a day, and that is an important factor in how long the cold temperature can hold. The second cooler is a little larger which i have things like beer water gatorade etc that gets opened much more frequently. This method is admittedly only good for 5 days max in the hot SoCal weather, but it helps. |
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Propane-fueled coolers work, and you get the large-tank adapter. But they can go out in very high/gusty winds if stored outside. |
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mattm wrote:The Renogy with free shipping looks nice. One thing to consider for these panels is size/weight and how/where you'll be transporting them. I found anything above about a 60W panel was pretty bulky to fit in the back of my Jeep. If you're mounting it on a roof etc then not as big a deal. While a bit more expensive, those Renogy folding suitcases with the protective cover and built in angle adjustment look pretty nice. I DIY'd mine but wish I had a padded case to put them in. With the sharp frame edges and glass, raw panels are a bit of a PITA to transport. A padded case would make that less of a hassle. If one is really looking to top tier then opting for the much more expensive PowerFilm folding panels is worth a look. The ThinFilm solar tech, while much more expensive, can also be much more efficient than a similar mono or poly crystalline panel. See here: youtube.com/watch?Although that video makes a valid point regarding shading, it is quite deceiving. If you are putting your solar panel behind a pole, tree or other shadow, you missed the solar 101 class. As you can see, the output of thin film is significantly less than mono and poly panels per area. So you need a lot more area for the thin film for a comparable output. This may or may not be an issue but can affect cost too. I agree the ability to fold up a soft panel vs a rigid panel may be advantageous in the back of your suv. Of course, there are other cost benefits to each so it depends on your intended usages. But, that video is lame. |
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I would also add I've accidentally dropped mine a few times or had it blow over leaning against my cabin and fall onto a wooden deck and not a scratch. . . The hard panels are very durable from what I can tell. |
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^^^ Yes, most are rated to take a 1 1/4" hail stone at terminal velocity if it has the SRCC rating. Also, warranty of at least 85% output after 25 years. |
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A bit of apples and oranges here but I will throw this out for the sake of comparison... |
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I've been living without electricity since 2009 and for the last four years have refused to pay for water, even if it is frozen. So - what Dan Bachen said. |
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I've seen dry ice slabs placed on the bottom of a cooler. Then freeze your meats and such and add block ice. There's a YouTube video on it. It keeps your water ice frozen for much longer. Add a good cooler and you might have over a week or two of cold food. |
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I was living out of my trailer for 3 months in Bishop this summer in raging heat, and pretty quickly got tired of spending a lot of money on block ice. The Yeti's seemed prohibitively expensive, but Coleman has recently started producing a line of thick-walled coolers to compete with Yeti. |
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With any solar set up, you don't want to be beating your batteries down to 50 every day..the they can take it, but the longevity hurts. |
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Greg D wrote: Although that video makes a valid point regarding shading, it is quite deceiving. If you are putting your solar panel behind a pole, tree or other shadow, you missed the solar 101 class. As you can see, the output of thin film is significantly less than mono and poly panels per area. So you need a lot more area for the thin film for a comparable output. This may or may not be an issue but can affect cost too. I agree the ability to fold up a soft panel vs a rigid panel may be advantageous in the back of your suv. Of course, there are other cost benefits to each so it depends on your intended usages. But, that video is lame.Yes and No. What one chooses for a panel varies a lot on intended usage and location. In residential installs (I have an 8k system on my roof) things like location, energy output per area and costs can play major roles. One most likely has a finite amount of space up there AND should be getting the best cost per installed watt to make the investment a good one. Right now, this almost always means Crystal Silicon Panels. I actually priced out Dow Solar Shingles (Thin Film and their cost per watt made the investment a non-starter. Also, since the system is a fixed installation, one can design specifically for things like shading issues via sun path modeling etc etc. If shading issues are present, opting for Micro Inverters (higher cost) vs single inverter might make sense. In large, utility scale projects, the space limit is often not an issue or perhaps less of one, so Thin Film and its benefits (higher shading performance and less sensitivity to high heat being some) come into play. Thin Film is also more competitive price wise in the large installation segment but I'm not very knowledgeable in that realm. More on Thin Film Now, if we look at "solar camping" we have different variables. 1) We're not really looking for a "good investment" per se as we're talking about energy convenience vs cost savings. Yes, a crystalline panel is cheaper but if it doesn't provide the power or convenience we want then it really isn't a good investment. What is "worth it" will be an individual decision. 2) Solar camping can have a LOT of site limitations. While out west sunny days and clear views of the sky are the norm (no shading problems in camp) other areas of the country are NOT that convenient. Wooded locations or gray skies will hamper solar production so while yes, we don't want to put our panel behind a pole, we might not have a choice (canopy overhead, clouds etc etc) 3) Admittedly, the massive pole shading the panel is a bit extreme but I can attest to shading having a dramatic effect on production. In testing on my 60W crystalline I'd put the shadow of a #2 pencil on the cells to see what would happen. Big Time drops on output. I'll have to dig up the numbers if I have them but it's not a couple of Watts. If you're out climbing all day and a leaf blows onto your panel your output drops. Thin Film might serve you better. 4) In the sizes we're talking about (100W or less) the size of a ThinFilm vs Crystalline panel isn't that big a deal, particularly if the Thin Film folds up for transport. Flopping a ThinFilm onto the hood of your car or over your tent is simply no big deal. I'm hoping the continuing drop in Thin Film tech costs finds it's way into the folding market so the cost benefit makes more sense to a casual camper... |
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mattm wrote: Yes and No. What one chooses for a panel varies a lot on intended usage and locationYou could have stopped there since that's what I said. But thanks for your lengthy explanation and demonstration of your knowledge and ability to link to an article. I'll spare you my credentials but I do this stuff everyday. My point was that video was a marketing tool and quite misleading. |