The short answer is &#; YES, but you&#;ll need to determine which solar system will work for you. Do this by calculating: 1) Your energy needs, 2) Your expected sun hours based on your geographical location, and 3) The optimal weight and size of your system
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Ariel&#;s Solar Powered 172 square foot Tumbleweed Cypress
First, try using a solar calculator to determine your current electrical usage. You can also calculate your energy needs using this appliance chart. Next consider energy efficient or alternative powered appliances for your Tiny House RV to reduce your electrical usage and the overall size of your solar system.
Can you use an energy-star refrigerator or a propane refrigerator?
Can you switch your lights to LEDs?
Can you heat your space with a wood or propane stove?
Can you heat your water with propane?
Can you cook with propane instead of electricity?
Do you need a blender? A coffee machine? A microwave? A washer / dryer? A big TV?
&#;Tiny The Movie&#; Colorado Tiny House RV, powered by Sol Man Portable Generator
If you do not plan on moving your Tiny House RV, use this chart to determine your average daily sun hours. Keep in mind, you can expect less sun in some seasons.
Ryan Mitchell&#;s Tiny House RV Solar Panel Set Up in North Carolina
If you plan on traveling with your Tiny House RV, it may be difficult (or impossible) to determine your average sun hours. You may want to purchase a larger solar system or reduce your electrical need. If you are caught in bad weather on your trip, and your solar system can not keep up, you can rely on campgrounds for an electrical outlet. You may also want to carry backup power &#; such as a gas generator.
Tiny House Giant Journey&#;s Goal Zero Yeti Solar Generator
Solar panels, batteries and inverters are usually heavy and bulky. This is an important consideration when determining the preferred system for your Tiny House RV. If you do NOT plan on moving your Tiny House RV, you can build an external shell for your batteries. You can then park your Tiny House RV in an ideal sun exposure location and mount solar panels to your roof, or mount your panels on a swivel rack that can turn for optimal sun exposure.
If you intend on traveling with your Tiny House RV, you will need to take care when considering the weight and storage of your solar system. I&#;m going to speak from my personal experience, as I travel with my solar powered Tumbleweed Cypress.
I use the Goal Zero Yeti Solar Generator with four solar panels (two 100 watt panels and two 90 watt panels). I have one panel mounted to each side of my Tumbleweed for transport and the other two are stored in the bed of my truck. The panels in my truck charge my Yeti Solar Generator as we travel down the road.
You can see one of my panels mounted to the side of my Tiny House RV in the above photo. The mount is also a hinge, and I add telescopic legs to prop the panel for ideal sunshine
I do not suggest mounting solar panels to the roof of your Tiny House RV if you intend on traveling, for two reasons: 1). You may not always park in an area with optimal sunshine. Having my panels separate and portable allows me to position and clean them easily. 2). Damage may occur from low hanging branches to panels mounted to your roof.
&#; It&#;s an all-in-one system. The inverter, batteries and charge controller are combined to create a &#;solar generator.&#; *Note: the Yeti generator cannot generate power without solar panels.
&#; It&#;s extremely portable. It&#;s on wheels! We store it in the cab of our truck when we are on the road.
&#; I can recharge it from a regular outlet if there is no sun.
&#; It weighs only 103 lbs. That may sound like a lot, but lead-acid batteries are heavy.
&#; It&#;s affordable. $ for the Yeti Solar Generator. That&#;s cheap for solar!
&#; It powers almost everything in my Tiny House RV. The Yeti can keep my computers, phones, and cameras charged, as well as my LED lights and water pump powered forever, as long as I have sunshine. It&#;s a small system &#; only watt hours, so I cannot use my hair dryer nor my space heater. I use alternative appliances to lower my electrical need: propane water heater, propane stove top, propane refrigerator, and a wood stove heater.
One way to minimize energy usage and possession of material items is to own a tiny house. If you&#;re already living in or planning to build a tiny house, you can drastically reduce utility bills by generating free electricity with solar panels.
Tiny homes typically exist off-grid, making solar panels the perfect energy source. However, you might be curious about how much solar power you need for tiny houses. The amount of solar power needed largely depends on the number of appliances you require, your overall electricity usage, and the surface area and level of sunshine your roof or alternative solar panel installation location receives.
Let&#;s explore how much solar power you need for your household and what is required to build a solar system for your tiny house.
The first step is to determine how much electricity you need. You can evaluate your electricity needs in two ways:
Using the second method, you&#;ll want to list your appliances and see how much energy they consume daily. For example:
ItemWattsUsage Time (in hours)Energy in Watt-hoursSpace heater,000Refrigerator,800AC unitInternet router Laptop chargingLaptop running Led lights Incandescent lightingCellphoneRadio177Well pumpSolar booster pump &#; for water pressureIn this example, you&#;ll use 21,631 watt-hours per day.
Now that you&#;ve identified the amount of electricity you need, you can determine the number of solar panels and battery storage needed for your home.
Going solar for your tiny house comes with many benefits. The main motives for living in a tiny house are reducing environmental impact and saving money. These reasons also happen to be why homeowners choose solar energy. Here are the primary benefits:
As on-grid electricity rates continue to rise, one of the significant benefits of using solar power is the cost savings of your energy bills. While tiny houses already have reduced utility bills due to their diminutive size, installing solar panels can eliminate all, if not most, of your electricity charges. You can increase your savings by living in an area with high levels of sunlight and taking advantage of net metering.
If you own a tiny house, there&#;s a good chance that you&#;re seeking an eco-friendly lifestyle.
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Unlike fossil fuels, solar energy doesn&#;t harm the environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Solar also helps reduce particulate pollution and wastage by creating renewable energy.
Opting for solar energy plays a pivotal role in saving the planet.
You never know when blackouts or natural disasters can occur. Being connected to the grid makes you reliant on a utility company. A storm or power outage can quickly wipe out your electricity.
However, with solar power, you&#;ll rely on the sun&#;s energy to power all your electronic devices and appliances. If you have sufficient battery storage for backup, you won&#;t ever have to worry about going without power. You&#;ll live off the grid and can easily take your power with you if you decide to move elsewhere.
If you plan to sell your tiny house down the line, installing solar panels in your home is a wise decision. A renewable green energy system increases your tiny home&#;s value since future buyers are willing to pay more for a house that uses free, clean, and renewable energy.
Local governments subsidize the cost of solar power through rebates. In the US, you receive a 26% tax credit for using solar energy. However, the tax credit incentive for residentials will not be available by unless Congress renews it. That&#;s one reason why it&#;s crucial to switch sooner rather than later.
If you own a tiny house on wheels, you can travel anywhere and take your home with you. Solar power allows you to bring your home to the most remote places while still having access to modern conveniences. No matter where you go, you can harness the sun&#;s power.
The number of panels needed for a tiny house depends on your power consumption, occupancy, location, roof space, and more. Using the example mentioned earlier, let&#;s say your average energy consumption is 21,631 watt-hours per day.
A single solar panel typically can produce 250 to 400 watts per hour. A 250-watt panel that captures sunlight for 8 hours produces watts daily. That means it&#;ll take 11 solar panels to produce 22,000 watts per day to power your home.
On average, most tiny houses need about 12 400-watt panels to produce sufficient energy.
Here are the primary factors influencing the number of panels required for your tiny house:
There are many factors to consider to ensure you get the best setup for your tiny house to maximize your cost savings and the efficiency of your solar panels.
While tiny houses typically use less electricity, energy needs vary from one household to another. By determining your total power consumption, you can calculate how much you&#;ll save when switching to solar energy.
The Department of Energy has an online calculator where you can determine precisely how much energy you use per day and how many panels you&#;ll need to install.
EcoFlow also offers a calculator for Power Kits.
If you&#;re new to renewable energy, you may assume that all solar energy is &#;off-grid.&#; However, you can also choose to have your solar system backed up by a traditional power grid.
A power grid can be a helpful backup if you&#;re worried you won&#;t receive enough sunlight in your region or won&#;t have enough power accumulated to get you through cloudy or stormy days. Essentially, you&#;ll buy energy from a utility company when the energy you generate from solar is insufficient to meet your needs.
Before buying an off-grid system, you&#;ll need to decide whether your roof is suitable for installing panels. Here are three questions to ask yourself:
The suitability of roof panel installation differs case by case. Some tiny houses have a uniquely shaped roof that doesn&#;t allow panel installation. Or, perhaps, your roof doesn&#;t have enough structural integrity to support panels mounted on top.
Properly installing your solar system allows you to maximize its effectiveness and safety. If you&#;re new to solar energy, a professional installation may be best. EcoFlow&#;s Power Kits are easy to install for most people familiar with DIY projects, and professional installation is also available.
Your budget will help you decide the type of solar panels, inverters, and generators you buy. We recommend choosing monocrystalline solar panels for improved efficiency. While the initial outlay is more per panel, they&#;ll save you money in the long run since they can produce more power with less.
Set a realistic budget to purchase the solar power system necessary for your tiny house. Banks may offer solar financing and loan programs suitable for your needs. Often, they work similarly to other home improvement loans.
Follow these steps to build a reliable, renewable solar power system for your tiny home.
Once you&#;ve defined how much energy your tiny home needs, you can look for a solar power system. We recommend the EcoFlow Power Kit, a solar power system designed for off-grid builds like tiny homes ranging from 160 to 430 square feet.
The EcoFlow Power Kit features two solar charge controllers, an inverter charger, solar panels, and a smart generator for everything you need to power your tiny home. With the Ecoflow App, you can easily monitor power usage, charging data, and energy output from your smartphone.
The Power Kit can power all your essential appliances such as your microwave, crockpot, air conditioner, water heating, fridge, TV, lights, and more. There are multiple battery stacks to choose from, so you can find the optimal storage capacity to fit your power needs.
Now that you know your energy requirements and the number of solar panels needed for your home, find a spot to install your panels where they will receive the most direct sunlight. There are solar pathfinders tools you can use to determine the best placement.
In many cases, we recommend installing your solar panels on the ground instead of on the roof. Panels on the ground are more accessible &#; you can position the angle exactly how you want it.
Furthermore, solar panels installed on the ground are easier to fix, clean, and monitor.
Roofs can get hot, and panels will operate at reduced efficiency when they overheat. Ground-mounting can often be a more viable solution.
Positioning your solar panels to face the sun allows you to maximize the amount of energy captured. You can choose to mount your panels on the roof or on the ground. Roof-penetrating racks are drilled into a roof with screw holes on their surface, so the panels can easily attach to them.
Most tiny homes have limited space on their roof, so it might be better to ground mount your panels. There are many ground mount systems that accommodate a wide range of sizes and panels. Some racking systems, such as pole mounts, allow you to adjust the panel&#;s angle. You can secure the panels onto the racking equipment using clamps or connectors.
Wiring your tiny house for solar involves connecting the panels to the battery, controller, and inverter. Follow the instructions and check for proper connection before you install the panels.
Double-check that you have connected the correct wires to each component when wiring these systems to ensure energy transfer occurs.
You&#;ll need to ground your system when you&#;ve connected all of these components. Connect all of the cables from your panels, inverter, and charge controller to the chassis of your tiny house.
Grounding the system delivers better power and voltage to your home.
Fortunately, the EcoFlow Power Kit contains fewer wires and modules than many alternative options, saving you a lot of time with the assembly. All components plug right into a one plug-and-play power box for added convenience.
Tiny houses and solar energy are made for each other. Using solar power helps you save on electricity bills, contributes to a greener planet, and may provide tax incentives.
Follow this guide to calculate your energy consumption, then decide on the best way to install your solar system and which EcoFlow Power Kit is right for you.
Want more information on tiny house solar system? Feel free to contact us.