Starcraft RV Owners Forum

Thanks for the responses about solar charging panels. That is the same model that I've been looking at on the internet on ebay, amazon and Walmart. Thanks again. I just need to decide whether or not and when to purchase it.

I checked my stuff:

The furnace is appx 12amps at 12 v. 250w plus or minus ...

You figure it turns on for 10 minutes 12 times per night and that works out to about 500 watt hours.

At 60% sunlight on average you will be able to recharge. Any increase in wattage 100w won't keep up. I don't boondock more than 3 days straight. So for my purpose it works well.

The concepts are the same portable or permanent. I use eco worthy 100w and the yellow eco worthy mppt controller. It is fantastic, except that mppt control isn't really being used to its potential unless i get another panel in series to push 24 volts.

I also have a 10w solar panel with alligator clips to trickle charge when we are docked at home.

I do boondock and i ran the current draw of the furnace in my calcs to determine 100w would be plenty. I took out all of the 10 light bulbs and replaced them with 0.7w led bulbs. Believe it or not those bulbs would require more charging power than 100 w by themselves, assuming 60% sunlight power ... if you have more questions just ask.

I am considering purchasing a portable solar battery charger for my travel trailer (as it is pre-wired) to maintain the house batteries while boon docking. I am mostly concerned about the amps/wattage that the furnace fan uses during the night. I'm not desiring to use it in conjunction with an 12volt to 115volt inverter to run other trailer appliances, like some folks want do.

Has anyone purchased any of the portable solar charging units that our out there; Samlex, Go Power, Renogy, Eco Worthy or Zamp? I'm specifically looking at the 100watt units. I do not want to permanently install it on my trailer roof as I would rather have a portable unit that I can take anywhere.

I appreciate any feedback or comments relating to this post.