Solar And Wind Powered Rv

Wind speed is critical to turbine output.

Solar and wind powered rv.

Like solar panels these allow you to generate electricity without burning fuel so they re great for rvers or so my reasoning went. An rv wind turbine works just like a windmill only at a smaller scale using kinetic energy. One of the issues with wind is the size of the turbine span. When choosing an rv solar system it is best to start planning with identifying what kind of rv you have.

Power output is actually cubed as you double the speed of the wind. It is necessary to know how an rv wind turbine works to understand all its benefits. There is interest in renewable energy to charge batteries for a variety of reasons. The solar power charging your batteries won t touch it unless you had a really large inverter installed and even then most inverters will pass power through when you re on shore power.

In other words a turbine producing 5 watts of power at 2 mph winds will produce 15 watts of power with 4 mph winds and so on. The challenge was to design a mast to get the wind turbine high enough to generate. In combination with solar panels you can maximize the savings at the same time save the environment. You d be hard pressed to spend much less than 1500 to obtain solar panels that will produce that much power.

But diyers are clamoring for more cost effective products catered uniquely to the rv community. Common questions regarding solar and inverter systems in rvs. Priced on a per watt basis wind turbines beat solar panels hands down. The use of solar panels and to a lesser degree wind turbines has taken off in the recreational vehicle community.

Having both solar power which is most efficient on bright sunny days and wind power which can be efficient both on sunny as well as overcast cloudy or stormy days could reap an rver the best of both worlds. So must the turbine. In a typical rv without an inverter the only point of crossover between the 12v battery solar and 120v grid power sides is at the converter. A typical rver s wind turbine costing in the mid 500 range can put out 400 watts of power in a 28 mile per hour wind.

With a solar system you are more assured of reliable power while you re adventuring off grid and all you need is daylight. When i started out five years ago selecting modifications for my roadtrek to support a full timing boondocking lifestyle one thing i looked into was a portable wind turbine.