Van Solar in Arizona
Arizona has the strongest, most consistent sun in the country, so arrays are smaller here than almost anywhere. The real design driver in the desert is heat: high temperatures reduce panel output and stress batteries, so keep airflow under panels and avoid parking batteries in direct sun. Summer air conditioning, not lighting, is what pushes Arizona loads up.
Take a steady 1,500 Wh/day build. At Arizona's annual 6.5 peak sun hours that needs about 308 W of solar. In winter, with only 4.8 hours, the same load needs about 417 W — that is the ×1.4 winter penalty in one number. Size your array for the season you actually travel, and let the battery cover the cloudy days.
The calculator below is prefilled with Arizona sun. Add your loads and toggle winter to see your own numbers.
Quick start with a profile:
Your daily loads
Add each device with its watts and hours per day.
No loads yet. Add your fridge to start, or pick a profile above.
Solar array
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Add loads to size your array.
Show the math
Battery bank
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Charge controller (MPPT)
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Inverter
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Battery-to-inverter wire & fuse
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Estimated cost
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Budget street price → premium brands.