CONGRATULATIONS on the JAYCO!!!
...and WELCOME TO JOF!!! The members here are GREAT!!! There is a lot of GREAT information to be found here. I am sure that you will have information and pictures to share with us... so please do!!
I can give you a little (REAL TIME) insight on the heating requirements as we are in the Blue Ridge Mtns (Hiawassee GA) as we electronically speak. The temperature at the moment is 28 degrees outside the TT and it is 69 inside the TT. The temp today will be 62 for the high.
Ok, so with 250 watts of solar, MPPT Solar controller and 260Ah batteries (2 6VDC Trojan T145 batteries) of which I can only use 130Ah of (50% rule = about 12VDC). The batteries were topped off by 3PM yesterday, we have 10 LED lights (
840 Lumens Natural White each) on from the morning until we go to bed at night. DW likes it nice an bright (not WHITE light but more natural feel) in the TT. The TT heater fan is running off of batteries only (TT's battery charge controller has been turned off since I installed SOLAR).
So the heater started up last night around 6pm and comes on about twice an hour overnight. The battery level was at 12.8VDC at 9 pm, this morning I woke up and it was at 12.5VDC. If you had one 85Ah marine/RV battery, you would have been below the 12VDC lower battery limit.
For camping use, I do not recommend less than 200 watts of SOLAR panels or less than 220Ah of battery power (of which you can only use 110Ah). I also recommend installing them on the roof of the TT and if you mount 2 100 watt panels try to mount one at the front of the TT and one at the rear of the TT roof, this way if there is any shading there is a chance that one will not be shaded. Also electronically connect them in parallel, as shading will not affect the output of the unshaded panel. If you go with the requirements above and stay above the 50% rule your batteries will be charged the next day by 3pm. Also remember that everyday is not a bright sunny day, so that is why I recommend 200+ watts of SOLAR. Don't forget if there are kids in the equation, they will up the Ah's used also.
You will need to get a battery monitor to mount inside the TT, so you can keep an eye on the batteries condition.. an expensive one is not necessary.
The thing to remember, as we move to summer temperatures the Ah used for heating will be available for other things....
For a little more info join the
RVing with SOLAR social group... we cover a lot of SOLAR and BATTERY topics... even have a step by step installation process.
A brand that a lot of members have RAVING reviews on is RENOGY... check out the social group or search RENOGY, I am sure that the members that have installed RENOGY systems will give you a little more information on their systems.. It is a very affordable package.
Also remember, that a SOLAR lifestyle takes practice...
Good Luck,
Don