Yosemite Sam1
Under the pines.
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JRscooby wrote:
A theory that has crossed my mind; Say you are dark camping with a solar/battery system that meets your demand most times, but you get a few days of cloud/rain and run short of power. Could the E-TV be set up to charge the camper, then go to town for recharge? I could see this working even better if the rig was MH/E-toad.
Not just theory. F150 Lightning is bandied to be able to power the house for 2 to 3 days.
The discussion is that on-board generators for RV or truck campers are no longer necessary as it can be supplied from the truck.
So and RV power needs is much lower and thus can get supplied longer.
* This post was
edited 06/02/22 11:18am by Yosemite Sam1 *
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Yosemite Sam1
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valhalla360 wrote:Yosemite Sam1 wrote:ewarnerusa wrote:Cool, thanks for sharing. I am very curious about EV options and I like the idea of something I could tow with. I want to see what kind of mobile solar charging options people come up with. I'm not talking about an unrealistic perpetual energy situation. But more like I'm boondocking for a few nights, can a large array on the trailer/camper recharge my electric vehicle to full during my stay?
Not yet but maybe coming with the leaps and bounds of the technology in solar panels.
What leaps and bounds are you speaking of?
The price of solar panels has come down with economy of scale and china dumping (it seems to have leveled out though) but I haven't seen any substantial improvements in years.
Problem with solar is a massive 3kw solar array (covering every square inch of a larger RV and costing may thousands) will generate around 10-12kwh per day if you aren't in shade (in shade and it will produce next to nothing). A vehicle even remotely capable of towing more than a tear drop is going to have a 125-150kwh battery bank, so you are talking many days to refill off solar.
Propulsion, just isn't there.
Not an expert here by any stretch of imagination, but just read somewhere that there is a current development in making solar panels terraced like that of the CD to pack and technically expand the surface absorbing the sun's race. And then the foldable solar panels with higher energy density.
But what I'm sure of, money and resources are pouring on research and development in solar energy and battery technology.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Yosemite Sam1 wrote:JRscooby wrote:
A theory that has crossed my mind; Say you are dark camping with a solar/battery system that meets your demand most times, but you get a few days of cloud/rain and run short of power. Could the E-TV be set up to charge the camper, then go to town for recharge? I could see this working even better if the rig was MH/E-toad.
Not just theory. F150 Lightning is bandied to be able to power the house for 2 to 3 days.
The discussion is that on-board generators for RV or truck campers are no longer necessary as it can be supplied from the truck.
So and RV power needs is much lower and thus can get supplied longer.
Nice marketing tool, but what does "If you opt for the bi-directional 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro, plus a home management system and an inverter needed to connect to your home, the F-150 Lightning will be able to output 9.6 kw of power through an Intelligent Backup Power function—enough to power the lights and appliances for days"
cost?
And then you take your gas powered car/truck to the store/work etc during the days long power outage?
Handy? maybe in limited instances. But the $400 I paid for a 7kw generator 11 years ago does a great job when the power goes out. No bi-directional 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro, plus a home management system and an inverter needed.
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Grit dog
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Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
Not an expert here by any stretch of imagination, but just read somewhere that there is a current development in making solar panels terraced like that of the CD to pack and technically expand the surface absorbing the sun's race. And then the foldable solar panels with higher energy density.
But what I'm sure of, money and resources are pouring on research and development in solar energy and battery technology.
So theoretically, one might be able to jamb, say, 1000sf of solar panels atop a 200sf roof area (nevermind the other largely prohibitive real world issues I mentioned earlier). And be able to "fill the tank" on a 3 day weekend trip.
How many Honda 2ks and gallons of 87 octane would that buy?
I love new technology too, but some of y'all need to quit sniffing the unicorn farts...As imaginary as they may be, you must be getting a serious buzz off of them!
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time2roll
Southern California
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Yosemite Sam1 wrote:F150 Lightning is bandied to be able to power the house for 2 to 3 days. I am curious if the F150 is programmable to stop at a user set charge level rather than fully depleting the battery.
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Reisender
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time2roll wrote:Yosemite Sam1 wrote:F150 Lightning is bandied to be able to power the house for 2 to 3 days. I am curious if the F150 is programmable to stop at a user set charge level rather than fully depleting the battery.
Don’t know. But the Tesla disables a lot of things when you hit 20 percent. Sentry mode. Dog mode. Aux ports etc
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rjstractor
Maple Valley, WA
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valhalla360 wrote:What leaps and bounds are you speaking of?
The price of solar panels has come down with economy of scale and china dumping (it seems to have leveled out though) but I haven't seen any substantial improvements in years.
Problem with solar is a massive 3kw solar array (covering every square inch of a larger RV and costing may thousands) will generate around 10-12kwh per day if you aren't in shade (in shade and it will produce next to nothing). A vehicle even remotely capable of towing more than a tear drop is going to have a 125-150kwh battery bank, so you are talking many days to refill off solar.
Propulsion, just isn't there.
Nailed it. Many people, especially the "techy" type, reason that since data processing technology progresses exponentially, with my Apple Watch probably having more computing power than a mainframe did 30 years ago, that same exponential progression applies to everything. Smart people they may be, they seem to forget the limitations of things in the real world- like that the sun only provides 'x' watts per square meter. That's a constant regardless of solar panel technology. A 1 meter square panel will never come close to propelling anything heavier than a bicycle- the sun just doesn't provide enough juice.
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propchef
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rjstractor wrote:valhalla360 wrote:What leaps and bounds are you speaking of?
The price of solar panels has come down with economy of scale and china dumping (it seems to have leveled out though) but I haven't seen any substantial improvements in years.
Problem with solar is a massive 3kw solar array (covering every square inch of a larger RV and costing may thousands) will generate around 10-12kwh per day if you aren't in shade (in shade and it will produce next to nothing). A vehicle even remotely capable of towing more than a tear drop is going to have a 125-150kwh battery bank, so you are talking many days to refill off solar.
Propulsion, just isn't there.
Nailed it. Many people, especially the "techy" type, reason that since data processing technology progresses exponentially, with my Apple Watch probably having more computing power than a mainframe did 30 years ago, that same exponential progression applies to everything. Smart people they may be, they seem to forget the limitations of things in the real world- like that the sun only provides 'x' watts per square meter. That's a constant regardless of solar panel technology. A 1 meter square panel will never come close to propelling anything heavier than a bicycle- the sun just doesn't provide enough juice.
I'll just leave this here. It weighs more than a bicycle.
https://worldsolarchallenge.org/about
https://www.bridgestone.com/bwsc/stories/article/2019/06/17-3.html#:~:text=Despite%20being%20big%2C%20solar%20cars,cars%20that%20weigh%20850%20kg.
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rjstractor
Maple Valley, WA
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propchef wrote:I'll just leave this here. It weighs more than a bicycle.
Yes, those solar cars are heavier than bicycles, and they also have more than 1 square meter of solar panels. And none of them have any real practicality.
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valhalla360
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JRscooby wrote:
A theory that has crossed my mind; Say you are dark camping with a solar/battery system that meets your demand most times, but you get a few days of cloud/rain and run short of power. Could the E-TV be set up to charge the camper, then go to town for recharge? I could see this working even better if the rig was MH/E-toad.
This is the one area where an EV can be advantageous. As mentioned the new F150 EV does include built in outlets for this exact purpose.
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