Hmmm, looks like I have a lot to consider, than you for rattling my pea brain
. This is our first foray into electric transportation so we have no idea of how much use they will get. I am thinking it will vary depending on where we are. At a BLM campsite along the Colorado in Moab, not much unless we are lucky enough to snag a site before the bike path ends...which can be like hitting the lotto.
Down on the South Rim boondocking just a few miles from the rim, maybe a lot of use. However, I am not a fan of two lane highway riding at less than half the speed of other traffic. There are many parks that do have a low enough speed limit that I would feel comfortable on pavement, or have dedicated bike lanes. On rare occasions we might be in an urban environment like the RV campground in downtown NOLA where the bikes would be a big advantage, but also a full hook-up situation.
Ok, so I know enough about solar to be dangerous. We do not watch tv, or use the microwave when boodocking. Under those circumstances, it's to charge phones or tablets, run the heater blower, fantastic fan or a 12v aux stand alone fan. I still feel like to properly charge 2 6v's, that I need 2 panels @ a total of 350+ watts-ish due to partial shading that happens in a lot of campgrounds. I don't think (could be wrong) that splitting my 2 roof mounted panels and dedicating one of each to bike/pod would get the job done in marginal sun for either the Rad or Pod.
I like the idea of two different charge controllers with a switch, but can y'all tell me how much charge efficiency(or watts wasted if you will) do I lose if I go one charge controller, then to an inverter, then to the Rad battery charger?
And, if I am charging two Rad batteries at the same time, is anything going to be left to charge the GC batteries(under good sun)? I am already thinking i need to bump the two roof panels to over 400watts?