What Watt Solar Panel Do I need In Boondocking

By Aimii | 10 June 2022 | 0 Comments

Instead of hookup, dry camping becomes most popular in the RV and camper van community. It's the best way of getting close to beautiful nature and outdoor wonders, saving costs, and getting more social opportunities. But dry camping means there is no electricity provided by campsites. So, the RVers who plan on dry camping or boondocking often prefer to invest in solar panels to solve this problem. But before that, you need to think about two questions first. How much power do I need for my RV camping and what watt solar panel should I choose? In this article, you would find the answer.

How much power do I need for my RV camping?

In order to have a comfortable off-the-grid experience, many RVers would carry some home and kitchen appliances in their motorhome or travel trailers. Those appliances can add to a large amount of wattage consumed. The exact wattage usage varies a lot depending on the specific appliance. Here we list the popular RV appliances and how much power they take up for regular use per day.

Appliance	Watt (W)	Hour usage per day (H)	Daily Consumption (Kwh)
Coffee Maker	600	0.5	0.3
Portable Grill	1500	1	1.5
Blender	600	0.5	0.3
Water Heater	1200	1	1.2
Microwave Oven	1000	0.5	0.5
Small TV	200	4	0.8
Hair Dryer	900	0.2	0.18
Laptop (x3)	135	5	0.68
RV Refrigerator	300	10	3
Outdoor Lights (x8)	120	5	0.6
Combo washer/dryer	1200	0.5	0.6
Cellphones (x3)	54	2	0.11
Water Purifier	60	1	0.06
Fan	60	5	0.3

Adding up them in total, we can find that the average electricity usage for an RVer is around 10 kWh a day. This consumption may vary depending on different factors. Many dry campers and boondockers said they use 75 to 100 amps per day mostly.

What watt solar panel should I choose?

After estimating our daily power consumption in RVing, we can ask ourselves the second question: what watt solar panel do I need for boondocking?

Solar panels are rated for their max efficiency. For example, a 100w portable solar panel will produce 100 watts in perfect conditions. But we can’t guarantee we are always in good weather.

Therefore, besides the power used in RV per day, we also need to consider the peak sun hours and solar panel output rating.

A 100-watt solar panel can on average produce 30 Ah of battery charge in 5-9 hours of sunshine. Let’s take the XTAR’s 100w portable solar panel as an example, we can find on the specification that its power output is 6.25 amps per hour. Assume we get 6 peak sun hours per day, that’s 37.5 AH per day. Even after a 20% cushion on the not-so-good conditions (like a cloudy day), it still reaches 30 AH per day. If you add two XTAR 100W solar panels, you would get 60-75 AH a day.

Suppose you use 70 AH a day on average, that’s 70% of your single 12V 100AH house battery. Your battery will be back to 100% charged by early afternoon each sunny day.

If you are an RV camping beginner, it’s enough to have a single 12V house battery, two 100W solar panels. And also a 500W portable power station within your budget. After making electricity monitor in several camping trips, you can consider to upgrade your solar battery system.

Most dry campers and boondockers usually prepare one or two portable solar panels and power stations in case they need more electricity for weeks or longer off-road trips.

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How much power do I need for my RV camping?

What watt solar panel should I choose?

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