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have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Yahoo Message Number: 57940
Would appreciate info about LD solar panels: What practical difference have they made to you? What would be the practical difference between having one or having two? Has anyone regretted getting them? Anybody gotten one and wished for two? Many thanks.
Maryellen
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] have opinions/experience with LD sol
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57942
At 08:33 PM 9/12/2005 +0000, you wrote:

Quote
Would appreciate info about LD solar panels: What practical difference have they made to you? What would be the practical difference between having one or having two?
We have two solar panels on our recently-acquired 2000 RK, and it's the single biggest improvement we can think of over our dear departed 1980 RB.
We prefer boondocking, and always worried about electricity usage. Now, it is never a problem no matter what we do. We still are careful about using lights and appliances, but have never managed to make a serious dent in the battery charge even after an evening of watching DVDs on the television, reading, and leaving several lights on in various parts of the cabin.
 I would get as many panels as I could fit on the roof. You can never have too much solar power!

Sonsie
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] have opinions/experience with LD sol
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57945
Quote
At 08:33 PM 9/12/2005 +0000, you wrote:

Would appreciate info about LD solar panels: What practical difference have they made to you? What would be the practical difference between having one or having two?

We have two solar panels on our recently-acquired 2000 RK, and
it's the
 
Quote
single biggest improvement we can think of over our dear departed
1980 RB.
 
Quote
We prefer boondocking, and always worried about electricity usage.
Now, it
 
Quote
is never a problem no matter what we do. We still are careful
about using
 
Quote
lights and appliances, but have never managed to make a serious
dent in the

Quote
battery charge even after an evening of watching DVDs on the
television,
 
Quote
reading, and leaving several lights on in various parts of the
cabin.

Quote
I would get as many panels as I could fit on the roof. You can
never have

Quote
too much solar power!

Sonsie
We boondock about half the time and after having Ruby for 13 months, I can honestly say we have never come close to deep-cycling our batteries yet - and we only have one 85W panel! The best option we got on our LD bar none {also the most expensive}. Bilstein shocks were another good addition - Ruby drives like a big car. Caveat, I have never driven an LD without Bilsteins as our test vehicle had them too.

Dave

Ruby the red 04 RK
Dave

2017 TK
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57947
Quote
Would appreciate info about LD solar panels:

Maryellen
We got 2 100w panels on our 2005 MB in April. On the way back east we stayed 5 days dry camping in the tree shaded campground at the Grand Canyon.  We had no problem with using too much 12 v although we got kind of low one overcast day in the shade, but the next day were back to full charge.  Back here in the Northeast we have no trouble watching TV, reading, water pump usage anytime from approx 7 pm to mid.  Get 2 and the mppt controller if getting new or the best avail if used.

Good Luck Don & Bonney Hunt "Silver Wings" 2005 MB NE 45
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57948
Quote
Would appreciate info about LD solar panels:
LD does not include solar panels as standard equipment because their usefulness depends entirely on YOUR camping style. Our panels perfectly fit the bill for OUR needs, which is camping 90%+ of the time without hookups. With reasonable conservation, we can stay camped for up to a week before other resource issues crop up (e.g. gray tank full).
 Still, solar works only with full, unobstructed exposure to the sun, so if you want to site in the shade - they won't work for you. In the winter, not only is electrical use higher and output much lower, but finding a suitable solar campsite is difficult when the sun flits across so close to the horizon. If you live and camp in a locale where sunny weather isn't the norm, solar will do little good.

Now, we have camped a lot in inclement weather, and we tailor our camping habits around that. We tend to move a lot in bad weather, keeping the batteries charged from the alternator. When the sun breaks out, we can stay put again a few more days.

Steve
2004 FL
2013 Honda Fit
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: have opinions/experience with LD
Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57950
Actually, they do include one panel on the 30' IB as standard equipment.

Dick
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57951
As others have mentioned, YMMV.  But here's a technical approach to determining how many panels you need:
 http://www.amsolar.com/systemsizing.html

There's a lot of good info at this website.

best,  paul
 PS> We had 2 factory-installed panels on our LD and never regretted it.

PPS> After you get solar you need to know how to manage your batteries,  The following shows acceptable battery voltages for the golf cart batteries LD uses:

100% - 12.7v 90   - 12.5 80   - 12.42 70   - 12.32 60   - 12.20 50   - 12.06 40   - 11.9 All above "Green" (OK)
 For long life don't go below 12.4v (80%),  Sorry, I don't have the URL of the website I got the above from.  Others here probably do.
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57952
"Has anyone regretted getting them?"
 Having read every one of the 57,951 messages on this board, I can tell you that nobody here has ever said they regret getting solar panels. Plenty of people, however, have regretted not getting more of them! ;-)
 As others have pointed out, it really does depend on your camping style. If allo you do is drive to a commercial campground and plug in, solar panels may not be a high priority. But if you have any intention of boondocking/dry camping, get all the panels you can afford. You can't have too much solar power!

Andy Baird
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] have opinions/experience with LD sol
Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57954
Maryellen wrote: (snip) . . . Would appreciate info about LD solar panels: What practical difference have they made to you? What would be the practical difference between having one or having two? . . . .

To me, this is sorta like - can you be too rich, too thin, or have too many solar panels? Well, probably yes, on all counts. However, I've tried visualizing my LD plastered with solar panels. I guess I fall in the category of 'you can't have too much solar . . '.

I have two 85Ws that the factory put on, and I'm considering 1-2 more, depending on how many more I can get up there and still have a bit of room to walk around.
 Do you like to bookdock more than you like to go to campgrounds where there's electrical hookups? If you enjoy boondocking, do you love to have your computer & printer working when you're off the grid? Do you want to be able to charge up your rechargeable batteries, your cell phone(s) and your digital camera? Do you want use your 110 W electric toothbrush &/or waterpic via an inverter? Do you like to listen to your satellite radio, iPod, tapes, or CDs for hours on end when you're parked out under the stars? Would you enjoy cranking up the satellite dish and taking in some TV some times?

If you've answered 'yes' to most of the above, you're what we lovingly called a 12-volt power hawg, and you should consider at LEAST one, (altho I'd say that 2 or more are better) solar panel.

Sarah Inglewood, CO living the high life in our 26' RB
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57962
Quote
At 08:33 PM 9/12/2005 +0000, you wrote:

I would get as many panels as I could fit on the roof. You can
never have

Quote
too much solar power!

Sonsie
Most will order their solar panels installed by the factory, it is a simpler way to go. Had they offered the larger panels and MPPT controler, I probably would have gone that way. However, if you know of a good quality installer, you can get a more capable and arguably better quality system aftermarket, and probably save a bit of money in the process. If you do your own work, make that a lot of money!

To see a staggering example of "solar excess", visit the photo section album "yonder/solar". Five 80 watt Shell panels on a 26 MB providing 400 watts total.

Remember though, that having lots of solar panel capacity is a bit of a waste if your battery bank is charged by noon on a cloudy day! Solar capacity should be sized keeping in mind both the amount of sun (or lack thereof) where you will camp, your electricity use, and your battery storage capacity.

"Yonder" has an additional chassis frame mounted battery bank, doubling the original capacity, along with a 2000 watt inverter/charger to allow use of the microwave with no need to run the generator.

Total cost of Yonder's solar system, inverter, extra battery bank and instrumentation was about $3000 DIY installed. Excess? Of course!

bumper
bumper
"Yonder" '05 MB
"WLDBLU" glider trailer
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57964
Quote
PPS> After you get solar you need to know how to manage your batteries,  The following shows acceptable battery voltages for the golf cart batteries LD uses:

100% - 12.7v 90   - 12.5 80   - 12.42 70   - 12.32 60   - 12.20 50   - 12.06 40   - 11.9 All above "Green" (OK)
Also remember that these are "resting" numbers when you don't have a lot of pull on your batteries at monitoring time so don't freak out if you have all of your lights on, etc. and the monitor shows 12.4 not long after camp setup!

Dave

Ruby the red 04 RK
Dave

2017 TK
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57965
"To see a staggering example of 'solar excess'..."

Now, me, I'd describe that as "solar nirvana"! :-)

Andy Baird
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57968
Quote

".....So about 2 years for 50% discarge, and 4 years for 80%
discharge....."

 Paul, my friend, I think you misunderstood: The text says, at least in my understanding, that the battery will have 2 years of life if discharged constantly up to 50% (50% left) and 4 years life if discharged constantly up to 20% (80% of capacity left).

Eudoro "zero capacity left" Lemos, Jr.
 
Re: have opinions/experience with LD solar panels?
Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57975
I agree. I didn't mean to imply anything else.

best, paul
 PS> I should have added it was 50% or 20% discharge a specific (large) number of times, which the author equated to 2 or 4 years respectively.