Solar Panel?

[schrederman]

I have a '16 White Hawk 28DSBH that's solar equipped. I have never tried to use that and though I've been in an electrical related field for many years, I never had anything to do with solar. So I'm looking for solar panel advice for this trailer. The connector is there and I'd get the manual out and have a look, but it's miles away in storage. We're also looking at possibly buying a 1000 - 2000 watt power supply for with solar panels for emergencies and getting rid of our gasoline generator. If anyone has suggestions for either or both... please respond... Thanks!

[ARoamer]

Lots of ways to go with your post! Is your rv Solar prepped or solar equipped?
It's been said you can never have enough solar panels on your rv. I have 2- 320 watt panels flat mounted on my roof. They do well in summer, but the low sun angle and shorter daylight hours cut their output over 1/2 in winter. If you can tilt your panels into the sun it would be much better. Portable panels may be the way to go if you also want to also use them for power outages. But then you will need a large battery bank and an inverter to run AC loads. Example following, estimated math! A 1000 watt microwave oven will draw approximately 8 amps at 120v AC. For your inverter to supply that 8 amps it needs approximately 80 amps DC at 12v. 1- 100 AH lead acid battery can supply 50 AH, going lower will eventually ruin your battery. So, you may run your microwave 15-20 min and your battery is close to done. Lithium batteries will perform better, you can usually get 100AH from one without harming it.
I'd hang on to your generator. The sun won't shine every day, and panels only supply power during daylight hours.
I have 640 watts solar, 300 AH of lithium batteries and in the winter if I was boondocking I would be running the generator to suppliment the solar.

[schrederman]

It's my understanding that it's prepped for solar and that all I need is the panel(s) and the cable. It has the placards and the wire and plug for the panels is in place. Looking online at units with Lithium Ion batteries for home use I'm thinking that if I buy one of these units with 4 panels that I can use 2 of them for the trailer when we need to. These panels typically seem to be 100 watt units. If we are in a situation requiring this I doubt I'll be worrying about air conditioning, just the absolute necessities.

[ARoamer]

Probably best to figure out what you want to run and for how long, then it will be easier to size your system properly.

Yes, running AC off of solar isn't impossible, but generally buying enough solar and batteries to do it for hours at a time is very expensive and takes lots of panel space on your roof. Way cheaper to buy and run a generator.