My solar setup

[Leapyear]

A couple of you were asking about my solar setup. There isn’t much to it but it works really well for me.
I guess I will start with the solar panels. Sorry no links but easy enough to look up.
I have two 200watt BougeRV CIGS panels with the adhesive back. They do make a version with holes for use with fasteners. As you can see, they are very thin and they are also very lightweight with no fasteners going through the roof of my tent so no leaks. Where these panels differ from other flexible panels, is that these CIGS panels have about the same life expectancy as your top rigid panels at a 80% output rating after 20 years. Regular flexible panels are rated at less than 80% output after only 5 years and degrade quickly after that.
These CIGS panels are more expensive than any other panel I’ve seen on the market but I think they are worth it. I have seen over 100% of rated output

 

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[Leapyear]

Next is my Bluetti AC180 it’s an 1152 watt hour solar generator. It runs my refrigerator(45-60watt draw), camp lights(6-40watt draw) and Starlink(25-45watt draw). Sometimes when it’s hot I will run a fan and during the colder months I will run a diesel heater. Works pretty good but I think I will be upgrading to a 2000 watt hour unit. Since adding the Starlink it’s pretty much dead in the morning. My biggest complaint it that there is only 10 watts of 12VDC output. It’s much more efficient to run some things off DC power and shut the AC off completely. For example, battery power from the Bluetti converted to AC then plugging in an adapter to convert back to DC for refrigerator, diesel heater, Starlink is very inefficient.

 

[Johnv76]

Thank you for the run down bud. Awesome setup. Simple, effective, and efficient. I like it. My next big project will be hard wiring my compressor, air tank, and pressure regulator for my rear air bags. This might be a project after thst.

 

[Leapyear]

Thank you for the run down bud. Awesome setup. Simple, effective, and efficient. I like it. My next big project will be hard wiring my compressor, air tank, and pressure regulator for my rear air bags. This might be a project after thst.

Yeah my wiring is a mess. I will clean it up one day. What I can tell you is that all of the connections are good. No expense was spared on quality waterproof connections with soldered connections and triple heat shrink insulated on anything exposed to the elements.

 

[Leapyear]

I received my usb-c to Starlink mini cord yesterday. I can tell you that it made a huge difference. It cut the power consumption by more than half. Although the app says the wattage consumption is exactly the same, not converting dc power to ac power and back to dc to power it made a huge difference. Also not wasting power in ac inverter idle consumption.
I ran the refrigerator(12VDC) set to 34° and the Starlink running from 8pm to 7am and still had 50% charge on the Bluetti.
If you are considering a setup similar to mine, make sure your solar generator has adequate 12VDC output and 100watt usbc ports.

 

[Viking Truck]

The Blueyeti and Jackery are great but if you have plenty of 12 vdc needs I would get a stand alone lithium ion battery. I recently got a 150 AH for $215. (basically a 2000 wh unit).

It will always be inefficient to convert dc to ad to dc as you are seeing. Most of what you want to power are available in 12 vdc versions if you dont already have them.

The 10 amps DC limit on your Blueyeti is based on the cigarette lighter outlets capacity.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

Those BougeRV CIGS panels seem really nice. They have technology where they can still provide power even if partially-shaded. No more killing a whole panel because a leaf is shading a corner of the panel. There are couple of Yuutoobers who are building a larger cockpit roof on their yacht who lined the whole roof with those flexible panels. They even drilled a 3" hole in one for a mast stay cable to go through, and they were still getting >100% rated power from them.

Only thing I have solar on right now is our race car. It's a hatch back (3rd Gen Firebird) so we use the area in the back for a solar panel. It keeps the battery topped off, and really makes a difference. That panel is decades old, so I may replace it with one of these BougeRV flexible panels, just because they seem pretty good, AND it would result in reduced weight back there, although that is a preferred location for weight.

 

[lyrawinslow]

The biggest thing I’d look at here is the power path. If the refrigerator and Starlink are both DC devices, running them through the Bluetti’s AC inverter and then using an adapter to convert AC back to DC is adding an unnecessary conversion step.

If you're seeing the battery much lower than expected in the morning, I’d try this first:

• Run the refrigerator directly from 12V DC if possible.
• Use the Starlink Mini's USB-C/12V DC option rather than powering its AC adapter.
• Keep the AC inverter switched off when there’s no need for AC appliances.
• Check the actual DC output limit of the power station. A unit can have plenty of total watt-hours but still have a relatively low DC output limit.
• Add up the overnight watt-hour consumption of the refrigerator, Starlink, lights, etc. This will tell you whether the battery is actually undersized or whether conversion losses are the problem.

That last point is important. If your loads are mostly DC, I’d actually prioritize a solar generator with adequate 12V DC and USB-C output rather than choosing one based solely on its total battery capacity.

If you're putting together a similar setup, Off Grid Stores has solar generators, portable solar panels, and solar batteries worth comparing. I'd specifically look at the output specifications and not just the advertised battery capacity.

In this kind of setup, getting the power path right can make a surprisingly big difference. You may not need a much larger battery—you may simply need to stop converting DC → AC → DC wherever you can.

 

[gemarsh]

The biggest thing I’d look at here is the power path. If the refrigerator and Starlink are both DC devices, running them through the Bluetti’s AC inverter and then using an adapter to convert AC back to DC is adding an unnecessary conversion step.

If you're seeing the battery much lower than expected in the morning, I’d try this first:

• Run the refrigerator directly from 12V DC if possible.
• Use the Starlink Mini's USB-C/12V DC option rather than powering its AC adapter.
• Keep the AC inverter switched off when there’s no need for AC appliances.
• Check the actual DC output limit of the power station. A unit can have plenty of total watt-hours but still have a relatively low DC output limit.
• Add up the overnight watt-hour consumption of the refrigerator, Starlink, lights, etc. This will tell you whether the battery is actually undersized or whether conversion losses are the problem.

That last point is important. If your loads are mostly DC, I’d actually prioritize a solar generator with adequate 12V DC and USB-C output rather than choosing one based solely on its total battery capacity.

If you're putting together a similar setup, Off Grid Stores has solar generators, portable solar panels, and solar batteries worth comparing. I'd specifically look at the output specifications and not just the advertised battery capacity.

In this kind of setup, getting the power path right can make a surprisingly big difference. You may not need a much larger battery—you may simply need to stop converting DC → AC → DC wherever you can.

Welcome.

 

[pinebaron]

The biggest thing I’d look at here is the power path. If the refrigerator and Starlink are both DC devices, running them through the Bluetti’s AC inverter and then using an adapter to convert AC back to DC is adding an unnecessary conversion step.

If you're seeing the battery much lower than expected in the morning, I’d try this first:

• Run the refrigerator directly from 12V DC if possible.
• Use the Starlink Mini's USB-C/12V DC option rather than powering its AC adapter.
• Keep the AC inverter switched off when there’s no need for AC appliances.
• Check the actual DC output limit of the power station. A unit can have plenty of total watt-hours but still have a relatively low DC output limit.
• Add up the overnight watt-hour consumption of the refrigerator, Starlink, lights, etc. This will tell you whether the battery is actually undersized or whether conversion losses are the problem.

That last point is important. If your loads are mostly DC, I’d actually prioritize a solar generator with adequate 12V DC and USB-C output rather than choosing one based solely on its total battery capacity.

If you're putting together a similar setup, Off Grid Stores has solar generators, portable solar panels, and solar batteries worth comparing. I'd specifically look at the output specifications and not just the advertised battery capacity.

In this kind of setup, getting the power path right can make a surprisingly big difference. You may not need a much larger battery—you may simply need to stop converting DC → AC → DC wherever you can.

Welcome

 

[Viking Truck]

The biggest thing I’d look at here is the power path. If the refrigerator and Starlink are both DC devices, running them through the Bluetti’s AC inverter and then using an adapter to convert AC back to DC is adding an unnecessary conversion step.

If you're seeing the battery much lower than expected in the morning, I’d try this first:

• Run the refrigerator directly from 12V DC if possible.
• Use the Starlink Mini's USB-C/12V DC option rather than powering its AC adapter.
• Keep the AC inverter switched off when there’s no need for AC appliances.
• Check the actual DC output limit of the power station. A unit can have plenty of total watt-hours but still have a relatively low DC output limit.
• Add up the overnight watt-hour consumption of the refrigerator, Starlink, lights, etc. This will tell you whether the battery is actually undersized or whether conversion losses are the problem.

That last point is important. If your loads are mostly DC, I’d actually prioritize a solar generator with adequate 12V DC and USB-C output rather than choosing one based solely on its total battery capacity.

If you're putting together a similar setup, Off Grid Stores has solar generators, portable solar panels, and solar batteries worth comparing. I'd specifically look at the output specifications and not just the advertised battery capacity.

In this kind of setup, getting the power path right can make a surprisingly big difference. You may not need a much larger battery—you may simply need to stop converting DC → AC → DC wherever you can.

Although I dislike the term "solar generator" I completely agree with the idea that it's bad to convert DC-AC-DC when not needed. There was a post on a Jeep forum where a guy was proud of this efforts to run huge DC cables to the rear of his Jeep to run an inverter. When I asked why he was running an inverter he said it was to power a Dometic fridge. I tried to explain that the DC-AC-DC was a very inefficient process but I dont think he got it.

 

[lyrawinslow]

Although I dislike the term "solar generator" I completely agree with the idea that it's bad to convert DC-AC-DC when not needed. There was a post on a Jeep forum where a guy was proud of this efforts to run huge DC cables to the rear of his Jeep to run an inverter. When I asked why he was running an inverter he said it was to power a Dometic fridge. I tried to explain that the DC-AC-DC was a very inefficient process but I dont think he got it.

Exactly. I think that’s the part that gets overlooked when people compare systems purely by battery capacity. A fridge is a good example because it’s already designed to run efficiently from DC, so adding an inverter just to convert it back to DC doesn’t really gain you anything.

The same applies to a lot of the smaller loads in an RV or overlanding setup. If most of your overnight consumption is DC, I’d rather keep the system DC-based where practical and reserve the inverter for appliances that genuinely need AC.

And I agree on the “solar generator” terminology. it’s really just a portable battery power station with charging inputs. The important thing is what the unit can actually deliver to your loads, not what we call it.