Interesting question. I am currently sorting out the power in my unit, so I shall read with interest!
I can see the arument for solar generation actually - $600 can buy you 100w of solar and leave you a usefull amount of change.
How much of the batteries etc can be charged off an inverter in the car whilst you are driving around?
electric coolbox? The little 12v peltier things? Does that actually work? because the few times I have tried them, they have seemed ruddy useless...
What kindof draw does the furnace and water pump have?
The plan I am mulling over is having a demountable battery, and taking out of the unit and putting it in the car to recharge during the day.
I recently installed a 160W array of solar panels on our PU for around $500.
If you are interested, I will post the eBay seller that sells new, high quality 80W panels for $240 each. $50 for a decent (not the best) controller and $40 for 25' of 10G marine grade wire and connectors, a little sweat and you're set.
My array keeps my batteries topped up and we don't even conserve power, or move the solar panels at all. In fact, we often use our 2500W inverter off of the batteries to power our microwave or electric coffee pot (sparingly).
That being said, we still carry a Honda EU2000i generator but we haven't had to use it on the last 3 camp-outs. The last camp-out was 4-days and we left at noon the 4th day with the volt meter showing 14.65V.
