I do a lot of camping and outdoor travel with my truck and am looking to add either a wind or solar setup now.

I have a built in inverter in the truck already to handle higher wattage devices but would like to add this to learn about the technology more as well as cover the basic low power usage around camp. I calculate my needs at about 200 watts high end for two to four hours with a baseline of 50 watts during the rest of the day.

I would rather spend money on quality than get a cheap unit that is unreliable or inflexible.

Does not have to be mounted on the vehicle..um ok with something that needs setup.p

Possible expansion later..who knows.

Leaning more to wind than solar because the wind doesnt stop at night but open to the arguments on this.

Anybody have a setup they like?

How long will your truck  battery running through your inverter power 4  100 W light bulbs.

The downside is storage you will need a lot of it.
Figure on a trailer to carry your  power wall ( batteries) not meant as a joke.
the wind doesn't blow hard enough all the time  to supply power at those levels.
A combination of wind and solar.
It's deceiving you see those little wind generators but you got to remember
they put out very little power and is has to be stored to build up enough to run your inverter.

You'd probably be better off spending the money on a small but very efficient generator
you can purchase or build enclosures that virtually soundproof the unit.

The truck is my generator..it has a built in 400W inverter. It easily powers all of my electronics and can charge batteries for my power tools and refrig.

For the cost of a good generator setup, i think i can have a setup with two decent AGM batteries and no need for using gas.  I dont think i have the space or budget to create a system that meets all my power needs but one that can save me from running the truck too much when camped out.

When i go to the desert for longer periods, it can be very tight on fuel getting in and out..you can only carry so much fuel.

My alternative is to go with a dual battery system like i had in the hummer(may she rest in peace). If i wanted to do that, i could integrate two or more batteries and then use my Wagan 8k inverter for most everything.

Another alternative is to have my gas tank replaced with the extended range tank thats available but i think thats a waste of money.

Good point about the wind....i definitely will consider amperage when choosing systems...that is one thing solar has going for it, the ability to modify the voltage and amperage of the system depending on how the panels are wired together.

Generally speaking, wind is harder to size correctly for something like what you envision. To ensure you get the right amount of power back into the batteries, you probably have to oversize the size of wind turbine you need, which makes it harder to store when not in use.

On the flip side, there are a number of folding solar panels that generate 200W or more. They're pricey, but less than a similarly sized wind turbine. I have two, a 105W and a 200W. The 105W unit folds into thirds and can fit (barely) into a rolling duffel bag. The 200W unit is much larger but can still be stored in my Jeep if I need to. Fixed units are available rated at 300-320W but are obviously larger, heavier, and in a metal frame. There are some semi-rigid panels, too but they take up a lot of space just like the fixed panels.

I may have missed it but have you calculated the amount of power you need for how long? (For solar, remember winter days are shorter than summer ones.) From what I've seen with my small folding solar panels, I'm getting the rated output in full sun when they're deliberately pointed sunward. If I just set them up and leave them be, they generate varying levels of power depending on the sun angle.

Buy a Honda EU1000 generator and forget about all the wind/solar hokum.

As much as solar appeals to the disconnected feeling of being off grid, what do you do if it rains?

I agree with fxntime, buy a Honda/Yamaha/Champion or whatever inverter generator and you’re done. At the wattages you mention I’d do a dual-battery setup with a large deep-cycle(or two 6v), a good smart charger, and keep it topped off with the generator every day or two. You’d arrive topped off as your alternator would charge it while underway. Solar would be a cool power source but you would need a minimum 300 watts of solar under ideal conditions(and ignoring conversion losses) for your daily use.

A decent folding solar panel wouldn’t take up much space, get both?

No, a folder, be it a 12vdc, or 5vdc USB, doesn't take up much space, but 21w USB isn't going to get you much juice, which is at the top of the rung for 5vdc USB folder.  If you have the cash, a 60w PowerFilm folder, at 12vdc, would be nice.

12vdc rigid (typical) solar panels can be stacked, for storage, face to face and they do weigh a bit.  They do take up some square footage, but they do give you more power, versus the 5vdc USB folders.

The key is having a mother battery, that you can charge during the sunny hours and then charge crap up by night.

This is a hurricane system I built 6 years back.

60w 12vdc solar panel system...

With solar, the bigger, the better.

While I only have 22Ah and 12Ah mother batteries for my condo needs, you can go bigger with 30Ah, or even 50Ah and be good for 'some' applications'.  Your're not running a freezer, or a flat screen, but I can put about 3.5Ah back into the batteries.  This isn't a lot, but it's just for replenishing the 'smaller' SLA-AGM batteries that I have, which is fine for my 12vdc fans and NiMH/li-ion chargers.

If you wanted to splurge for something bigger, get a 100w single panel, a digital charge controller and you might be good for 5A+.

If you have good solar hours, you could be set.  You just have to crunch the numbers, based on your usage and what you can put back into the battery.

Anyhow, that's just what I did, being a noob, 6 years back.  It helped me out during IRMA, back in September.

Chris

The two solar panels I have are:

105 tri-fold I took to PR with me
and
200W 4-fold bigger panel

I've got them set up to either connect to a regular 12V charge controller or plug in to my Bioenno Power Pack 400 that has a 35Ah LiFePO4, 300W pure sine inverter, and a LiFe solar charge controller built in:

Bioenno PowerPack 400

My only complaint with any of the above is that the wal-wart charger for the PowerPack is really, really noisy on vhf. I brought that to the attention of the Bioenno folks but they don't seem to care, which is odd since they market most of their stuff to hams.

Those are the type of folders I was talking about, like you mentioned earlier. Not sure how USB solar panels got into the mix. Either way OP is looking at needing probably 400 watts of solar(depending on size and quantity of panels) or more, with one of the 200-watt panels you mentioned measuring roughly 7ft x 2.5ft. That’s getting to be a sizable canopy, but doable if necessary. Until it rains all day.

200watts x 5.5hrs peak solar(rough estimation of sun power in a sunny area)=1100 watts daily, and OP’s needs are 1400-1800 watts daily. It all depends on battery bank size, number/size of panels, weather... Or just grab a little generator and one gallon of gas may get him through an entire week of operation. If gas needs are really that desperate I lean toward one more Jerry can but a 200-watt folding panel may just limp him along.

If you get both you could make it a $100 generator from Harbor Freight(I have a champion 2000watt inverter generator but a 1000watt honda/Yamaha will be much smaller and enough for this use), the $249 200-watt panel or two that planemaker posted, an extra can of gas, and you’ll have enough power to not worry about it.

Rough power calculation on my phone...

200w * 4h + 50w * 20h = 1800wh / 12v = 150ah battery
Typically you don't want to discharge lead acid below 50% so that's 300ah of batteries.

Now figure on a decent day you might have 6 hours give or take of solid solar production...
1800wh / 6h = 300w worth of solar panels

These calculations assume 100% efficiency of chargers and inverters. So there's a ballpark figure for batteries and panels

Appreciate all the input here.

Thanks for the input on the wind - I can see where generation using wind could be more of an issue from a theoretical capacity to reality.

As far as Honda generators go, I definitely am not looking for a solution that requires a stockpile of gasoline and oil.  And that solution does nothing to serve as a learning experience with alternate energy.

I'd say the above wattage calc is about correct.  They do not seem to require a "trailer of batteries".

As far as a rainy day, I'll just wait until tomorrow.  Alternative power is not something I want to completely and solely rely upon, and I have other methods to use.

Amazon is having a "lightning" sale on that Dokio 200W panel I linked. It's currently $199.

I've seen mine put out 180W but some reviewers were indicating they were not so lucky. Most of the bad reviews were actually for the included charge controller. Mine did OK on a regular deep cycle battery. Mostly, though, I just hook powerpoles directly into that Bioenno power pack that has its own charge controller. Works great that way.

Dokio 200W folding panel on sale

Yeah, I keep coming back to your items above.... looks very interesting.... I will update you guys on what I end up doing.

Have you had any output issues with the Dokio?  There are some bad reviews but seems like the same person "sticking the knife in" so maybe not valid.  The complaint is actual output from the panels.

https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/power-systems-12v-solar-gen.48/

Forget wind for a moveable setup.

I'd recommend a hybrid system. Solar combined with a small generator. Convert the generator to propane and carry a few tanks. You can use the tanks to feed lights and stoves and grills as well. A small Champion inverter generator won't break the bank and will allow you to charge your batteries when your use exceeds your solar's capacity to charge.

A small inverter generator won't use much fuel at all and hardly takes up any space in a truck.

So far, I haven't had a problem with the Dokio or its output. I'll probably do some more measurements when there's actually enough sun instead of rain.

I used to have a large portable wind turbine manufacturer as a client.  They would always tell me its only feasible in areas where there is lots of wind all the time.  Mainly on boats.  I would not consider it a reliable source.

Your best bet is to look into solar systems for RVs which are paired with 2-4 deep cycle batteries.  Usually you determine what kind of draw you will have over what time period, determine what batteries you need to service that then determine what panels you need to charge the batteries (given a certain amount of sun each day).

Here is a decent write up.  https://preparednessadvice.com/solar/many-solar-panels-batteries-power-grid-system/

I would start searching for expedition forums where there are LOTS of write ups for systems like this.  The Earthroamer is one rig that runs off of nothing but solar.


Are we allowed to cross post?

I was in a similar situation and ended up with a 200 watt solar rig on my camper and a small Honda generator.

I did a 2 100 watt panel renogy kit with 2 100 amp hour batteries.   The Honda is one of the 2800's and it can run my roof ac.

It was a lot of fun doing all the research and getting it up and going.

For your application I would look at the small ryobi lp 900 watt generator.

This past weekend, I got outside and used my 3 solar panels (105W ACOPower, 2 x 200W Dokio) and charged up 2 deep-cycle batteries and my Bioenno PowerPack. I had forgotten that I hadn't made a mod plug for the newest Dokio so I could use PowerPoles. So, made a quick cable for that. In theory, I could have 500W going into battery storage. Not enough for very much but it would keep my radios going.

For any kind of real power outage, I'd have to use a generator. I'm somewhat spoiled by air conditioning. Even as a kid, I couldn't sleep in heat. If I want A/C via solar power, that's going to be a significant investment of both dollars and time, neither of which are in ample supply at my house.

solar with a pretty deep battery capacity and the ability to charge off the vehicle would be hot.

A big 8d battery has what? like 200+ amp hours? Gangs of 6v deep cycles strung into 12v can also add up quick for a lot of capacity.

eta- what's your total power draw? It would be interesting if you would even need a big charging system if a 8D charged at home could last you awhile, supplemented with solar.

Total power draw around 1500 max, but considerably less for the baseline load.  I primarily need a refrig, simple electronics and handheld power tool charging, LED lights at night.  I already have a large inverter (5kw) and started to understand the battery bank size needed for a mobile setup.  Also have the capability to install a second battery in the truck for a charge-by-vehicle situation, like I had in a former vehicle - I'd go with the National Luna system.  I would say no need for the generator as my truck can deliver 400W constant.  Just have to work the bank and the source for offgrid power.

Thanks for the updates folks, there is good info here.