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Quote: Originally posted by 777Tony on 08/9/2022

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We have been thinking about trying this out and would welcome any advice.
We have a Jamet Liberty trailer tent ( not that matters much for this post) and we hook up to the electric at sites.
We run a dellonda fridge/freezer, a microwave, kettle toaster,etc ( not at the same time)
We could always use the gas cooker and grill instead of the kettle and toaster.
I was thinking about getting a solar panel, leisure battery and an inverter. What sort of sizes should I be looking for? Or has anyone else got any other ideas?
Thanks
Tony

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Quote: Originally posted by tdrees on 09/9/2022

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Realistically, solar and batteries are going to be tough power any of those high power items, though the fridge is possible. There are two challenges, 1) peak power (how fast you use electricity at any given moment) and 2) total energy (the amount you need to use while you are off grid).

The kettle, toaster and microwave are peak power hogs. You will need at least 1.5kW peak output to support those devices (on low power camping format - not domestic type). Ignoring inverter losses, thats 125A from a 12v battery, for as long as the device is using power. Thats a big battery (to supply the current and sustain it) and a big inverter.

The fridge freezer uses a lot of energy, but far slower. According to the dellonda web site, the smallest unit (DL13) draws 60w peak and 0.3kWh over 24 hours. On a 12v system, 300Wh = 25Ah. A decent sized 12v battery (80Ah or 110Ah) should give you sufficient to power the fridge, so then you just need to refill the battery. If you imagine you need to run the fridge and fill the battery from empty to full while the sun is shining, and have say 8 hours to do so, you need a panel that will support the average draw of the fridge (300/24 = 12.5w) and refill the drain used while the sun is not shining (300/16 = 18.75w) at the same time (18.75+12.5= 32w).
Given that during the day, the sun wont always shine, and your panel will not always be optimally aligned - double or triple that size to allow for head room.

If you want to try the big inverter router, a 1000W inverter run for 20 mins total (microwave, kettle, toaster) per day will use the same amount of energy as the fridge all day. So double the panel again to 160W or 200W, and try and only run them when the sun can recoup your losses.


TLDR - Net net 80Ah to 110Ah battery with an 80W to 100W panel that can be deployed toward the sun SHOULD power a DL13 fridge freezer,( if it really uses what they say) during reasonably sunny days. 110Ah and 160w to 200w + 1000w pure sine AC inverter might give you 20 mins total of the high power devices per day.

As Just-us3 said, using something like an EcoFlow combined battery and inverter, with a matched 160W to 200W pannel, might give the best results.

Tobes

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