Who has solar set up on their RV?
We have (4) 325 watt panels, for a total of 1300 watts, with room for two more panels.
We have (4) 100 amp hour BattleBorn lithium batteries to meet most of our electrical needs - it doesn’t quite cover running both A/C units in triple digit temperatures.
We boondocked with our setup in Quartzsite this past winter. What kind of setup do others have?
We have a very small rig, so our system is also really small but it produces all the energy we need, 100 watt Renogy panel, 50 amp hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and 700 watt inverter. We don’t have an AC unit, really don’t care for hot weather anyway. We chase 70 - 80 degrees for most of the year. Here’s a video of our system, and if you are looking to buy we can get you 10% off with Renogy, just holler.
https://youtu.be/nPDJ_rfCPkA
We try to chase 75 degrees ourselves, but the pandemic kind of killed that for us (for now). We need a bit more power because of our computers, since we work on the road. My husband’s desktop computer has a 750 watt power supply, since he runs video processing software. Right now, the only reason we need power is for A/C.
I hear you! Did you enjoy Quartzite? Did you make it down to Kofa Wildlife Refuge? Such a gorgeous area – we hiked our butts off there last winter. Really enjoyed most of southern AZ and NM and plan to return this winter (if that’s possible with the pandemic).
We’ve stayed put for a couple of months, too, just starting to move around again (a little bit). We work from the road, campgrounds, and parks as well do writing, photography, open houses, seminars, and video production. More details here: freedominacan.com
It’s very difficult to run A/C 24/7 with solar, as you just can’t keep up with the energy demand. Our little vintage adventure rig and lifestyle is designed with energy efficiency in mind – we’ve found that 100W of solar power and about 20-30 gallons of propane per year is all we’ve needed for the past 8 years on the road. With that, we’ve been able to work from just about anywhere as well as use public libraries and coffee houses occasionally for a change of scenery or to do alot of uploading of video and photography.
We used to have an average sized house in the mountains of NC and paid $2700 per year for utilities alone. Now, it’s more like $125 per year in our little rig. Also, we drive half as much as we used to, and typically travel all over the continent. We simply couldn’t believe it ourselves when we ran the stats!
We have two of the foldable solar panels for our teardrop. The battery will last about three days without travel between sites, so we purchased these and linked them for extended stays for off road dispersed or back country accessible camping.
I haven’t added solar to ours yet but have researched it. How is your’s setup @rjhoughton?
Are the 4 panels in series with a MPPT controller? I like Victron but they are $$$. The four BB batteries in series would work well for a 48V DC setup with an inverter. Keeps the wire gauge smaller.
Legends Shari + Hutch (@Shari_G) are actually hosting a Facebook Livestream this Thursday to share their expertise on this topic!
Hey solar warriors! We have been living on the road with solar since the fall of 2012 and have met people all over the country who’ve been doing the same. Recently, we’ve become ambassadors for Renogy Solar because we absolutely love their products!
They are having an incredible CyberWeek sale THIS WEEK (a rare 15% off sale that has no exclusions), so if you’ve had your eye on some of their fabulous products (maybe those Lithium batteries?), please use our affiliate link and discount code “CYBERWEEK” to score on some great deals from 11-9 to 11-16.
And, as always, hit us up with your solar related questions. If we don’t have the answer, we have a direct line to the Renogy engineers that will!
Happy Camping!
We have several Renogy panels on our property, this one powers a home made two year old standalone IPcam Wiifi security camera installation along our driveway. The Renogy panels produce significant power even in shade because they use microcrystalline cells.
Just sharing a helpful article here for those researching deep cycle solar batteries. It compares the 4 major types of batteries with a cost-benefit analysis.
Hello Campers!
If you are brand new to solar and seeking info to help you through the overwhelming amount of terminology you need to know to purchase, install, and maintain your system, here’s a helpful article to get you started!
We have two Renogy systems. One system powers our 5th wheel and the other runs the irrigation and lights in our greenhouse. Two very different uses, but super effective in both applications.
I’ll throw my $0.02 in. All of your decisions depend on your camping style, rving. We’ve starting our second year of camping. We got out a lot last year considering what was going on, 4 trips and 10 campgrounds, and we always had at least power in our sites. Now after knowing a little more about this rv thing we decided to do some power upgrades. We read somewhere where someone said start with the basics and work your way up from there. The first thing was to replace the stock rv battery with 2 lith batteries. Next was to add an inverter to power our ac receptacles. With these 2 additions we can stay 3 days and maybe sneak in a forth without a power connection, which is probably all we would want at this time. We generally don’t stay more than 4 days at any one location. Out next stop would be at a campground where we could recharge the batteries and we’re good for 3 more days when we want to. That was the expensive part. Solar is cheap compare to that expense. When we find that we would like a little more time off grid than we will add a couple of solar panels on the roof. And of course we all know that this only works if you are in a temperature moderate area where air condition is not needed. I’m looking forward to solar but have to justify it first.
Anytime I’m doing solar I like to check out the forum DIY Solar Forum. I’ve used their advice on multiple occasions with good results. Hopefully I’ll be adding some additional solar to our Lance 2465 in the near future.
We have 4 300 watt solar panels we don’t have the batteries u have but would in the future get those but we have golf batteries our a inverter we got we will be using the motor home inverter for air conditioning and the other for all other electrical it’s pure sine wave so another bonus
If you are interested in camping/boondocking with a 12V fridge, using both your alternator and solar to power it, this video will walk you through a great way to do it!
If you are brand new to solar and don’t know where to begin, here’s a great place to start! Check out our Solar 101 video here: https://youtu.be/vBI4rrj0HIQ
We’ve been living, traveling, camping, and exploring for 9 years in our lil vintage rig, all powered by solar. We’ve been all over the continent spreading the solar love and truly enjoy helping people get started. Hit us up…we provide FREE consultation to anyone interested in DIY (yes, really, completely free…it’s our passion afterall) and can offer a 10% discount on Renogy solar products to boot. Let’s work together to get generators out of campgrounds forever! Hope to see y’all on the road…
May I know the cost of your solar panels and its brand?
For the estimated price of RV solar panel installation go to this website. I have installed my panel through these guys. They are professional and friendly.
