Which Solar Panel System for 2008 Keystone Montana Running Small Appliances and Air Conditioning

Question:

I am wanting to do some off grid camping, which solar kit will I need to run small appliances and my air conditioning unit. I have a 2008 Keystone Montana mountaineer. How large of a battery bank would I need

asked by: Mack B

Expert Reply:

A lot of this depends on how much power those appliances use, and then the size of your battery bank. If you've got a 2 battery bank will 2- 200 amp hour batteries, you'll have about 400 amp hours total of power; if you're using lead acid batteries you're going to cut that in half since depleting those batteries more than 50% will significantly shorten the life span of those batteries. I'm linking an article that we've put together that helps outline how you can do a test run of how much power you're consuming with your daily activities and make an educated guess as to which solar system is going to work best.

With all of that said, the Go Power Solar Extreme # 34282185 is going to provide you with 159 amp hours of power, which covers pretty extensive power usage and would be a great choice since air conditioners can eat up a lot of power on their own. This system does require at least a 4 battery bank, and is great for families who use a good amount of power. I also really like that this comes with a power inverter included. With this system I would recommend using Lithium batteries, but it does function with lead acid batteries; you'll want to make sure that your bank has at least 600 amp hours of total capacity in the 4 battery bank, but the more amp hours, the less you've got to worry about running out on prolonged trips.

I've linked the article that was mentioned above that I do recommend checking out, since you may be able to get away with a smaller system. If you think you can get away with something a bit smaller, let me know what your estimated power usage is and I can help you choose a system that will do the job for you.

expert reply by: Erik B