Can you power this: http://www.deltablues.net/camping2.html

With this: http://www.altersystems.com/catalog/115-...0158792e7f942ae

You could but you'd need a minimum of seven panels (I'd get nine so you've got some wiggle room power draw wise) and an inverter to convert DC to AC.

If you're trying to improve your camping experience you should also look into one of these.

http://www.bumperdumper.com/bumper2.htm

In a word? No. It's not very reasonable to try and power an AC unit directly with a solar panel...that, and when the sun went down you would not have A/C.

Be careful with the arrangement you come up with - setup and take down could get really time consuming and quickly become more burden than it's worth. Spend the extra few bucks on a tent that reduces setup time. I once attempted to use one of those tents that extends out the back of a vehicle until I realized what a useless burden that was to get everything situatated (on level ground). I go with the goal of having a 1 hour boat dissasemble and 30 minute camping dissasembly...which on a two day regatta usually puts me on the road by 4 or 5pm Sunday evening.

How much fuel would it take to idle the car engine all night with the A/C on?

In a Nissan Extera in Galveston TX in August about 1/3 tank.

The idea was to start with the fully charged ". . .115 amp/hour deep-cycle marine battery" mentioned in the camping article. And, install the solar panel on top of the pick-up camper. Rig up/down time would be minimal.

Also, I might be tempted to use the "bumper dumper" in the parking lot, but can't quite work out the geometry to use it at speed on the interstate. I think it would be hard to steer from that position. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />

Why did I just KNOW someone on here would have the answer to that...so what's that, an 18 gallon tank? (that's what's in my Frontier)...so 6 gallons? That's not bad - it's about what my generator uses in a night.

In regards to ideling an auto/truck for extended periods for a/c power supply...
We did that one of our work trucks, and found out the hard way that synthetic oil and popping the hood open to allow the heat to escape go a long way in keeping the engine running. In worst heat/extended ideling conditions it reduced a new vehicle life span down to 4 days and about 150 miles.

Air conditioning in a tent! I thought 'tenting it' was about getting amongst nature, breathing the natural air, feeling the natural temperatures on one's skin.
I guess they make 'em a lot tougher here in Oz <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

No, 'tenting it' is going to regattas on the cheap rather than getting a hotel room.

That, and there is the issue of not wanting to drive home after partying WAY too much at the YC.

I was SO glad my #2 and #3 husbands had that A/C in their tent...

sea ya
tami

A small (or big) fan goes a long way to allow one to sleep without dripping in a tent in the Sunny Summery South. A car battery will last for quite a while. Without a fan its pretty miserable... and then there are the sandflies that crawl thru the mosquito screen and bite! Big Sailboat sleeping is helped with a fan too. Take a ccoooool bath first and get all de-sweaty.
I tried this in an old van once: not only had there been a large old hound dog sleeping on its shag carpet, but the big V8 engine was hot and took HOURS to cool of, and every one of its BTUs went directly into my body. NO FAN EITHER. Awful <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />- a 22 hour night.

Might be better to find a nearby low cost Motel. In the Northwest, where we have cooler weather, car or tent camping works well.

He doesn't use the battery to power the AC, just his computer. Start with the worst case, 5 amps continuous at 120 volts for the AC. That's 50 amps out of the battery at 12 volts, not counting losses in your inverter. So you can run your AC for one hour with your 100 amp-hr battery. If you run your battery consistantly below 50% charge you will need a new battery fairly often.

Also a 100 amp-hr battery is less than 100 amp-hrs at that high of a discharge rate. The rating is based on a 20 hour discharge rate. Caldwell's book shows that a 100 amp-hr battery is only 44 amp-hr at a 43 amp draw. You can fix that by adding a lot more batteries or getting a much bigger battery.

There's a whole section on estimating the output of your solar panels. It came down to about 180 Watt panel to generate 60 amp-hrs in one day.

So you need one 180 watt solar panel and one 100 amp-hr battery (ignoring that 20 hour rating problem, add at least 4 batteries to get around that problem) per 1 hour use of the AC.

If the AC cycles on and off, increase your time proportionally.

John Courter
It's not amp/hr, it's amps x hours.

I have to confess that the climate here in Sydney is very similar to San Francisco. Even up the Whitsunday's it's very comfortable sleeping, even on board and without an AC.
Spoilt rotten us Ozies. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Do you know the name of the book?

Thanks for your help. This is all Greek to me, so clearly a little education is in order.

For those of you who think I've lost my mind. Please understand that it can be miserably hot and sticky here in the South and all my camping questions really relate to cruising on my Tiki in the Keys. Unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary to stop off at the edge of the Everglades. Camping in the 'glades must be experienced to be understood! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

A more basic problem has to do with power for navigation lights and electronics. It takes a lot of battteries to cruise for a week, even for a Garmin Geko!

Caldwell? I shouldn't be posting in the middle of the night.

Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual
by Nigel Calder

This is a very good book for explaining how things work.

John Courter

Convert your lights to LEDs. They have an extremely low current draw and will last for years.

Pete:

Find a cheap RV. They can be found here for $14,000 with low mileage on them. That is was what I am going to d when I get out of school.

Doug

Follow this link to find the book in your library (enter your zip code)... there are mutltiple editions, published in the US and in other countries.

Find this book in your library

BTW, two libraries in the Cape Coral area have the book on their shelves:

Bonita Springs Check shelf ADULT NON-FICTION 623.82 Cal
Cape Coral-Lee County Check shelf ADULT NON-FICTION 623.82 Cal

Just buy a genset instead of the whole motor home. A genset is what's going to be running in your motor home all night to power an AC.

Honda small quiet genset

900W rated (7.5A)
Fuel Tank Capacity: 0.6 gallons
Run Time on One Tankful: 3.8 hrs. @ rated
load--8.3 hrs. @ 1/4 load
Dimensions (L x W x H): 17.7" x 9.4" x 15.0"
Noise Level: 59 dB @ rated load
53 dB @ 1/4 load
Dry Weight: 29 lbs

So this one doesn't have a big enough tank to run all night, but it has more than enough output for the AC.
The next size up would probably have enough fuel and would run quieter since it would be running at a lower load level.

John Courter
Don't work for Honda, just want one.