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- Oct 18, 2020
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When you are engineering a solar power system, you need to address "what happens when you get bad weather for a week".What happens if you have bad weather for a week?
That question is why I do not trust solar
In heavy overcast, good solar panels still produce about 10% of their rated full sun capacity. Large enough batteries will power low current devices for several days.
Pick fridge freezers that draw the least current (like Engels) and then combine them with a big enough battery bank with good deep cycle capability and a big array of high efficiency panels charging through an MPPT controller, that makes the most of what the panels produce.
My camper trailer can produce about 140 amps of current in full sun. That is charging about 1000 Ah of LiFePO4 batteries.
My Dometic and Engel fridge freezers draw about 10 amps combined.
The best way to test systems like that (and develop trust in them) is to actually go off grid for weeks at a time.