IAM INTERESTED IN MOUNTING SOLAR PANELS ON MY RV ROOF.DOES ANYONE HAVE THESE,OR KNOW A GOODSITE TO GO TO FOR INFORMATION.SOME RV'ERS SUGGEST,USE ONLY PORTABLE STANDS DUE TO TREE COVER.ALSO,ANY GOOD ADVISE ON SIZING OF PANELS.IAM PLANNING ON GOING TO ALASKA AGAIN,THIS SUMMER AND WILL BE DOING ALOT OF BOONDOCKING THIS TRIP.ANY IDEAS WOULD BE APPRECIATED......THKS

It seems to me that Good Sam magazine did a fairly comprehensive article on this within the past year. You might check to see if they have the old articles archived.

We do quite a bit of boondocking and have the equipment from AM Solar (see link in a previous post, above). 4 solar panels, 4 AGM batteries, an HPV-22B solar controller, and a 2000-watt inverter/charger. This setup will run everything we want run with the exception of A/C.

The AM Solar website has a very good eduction section, including information on how to size the system for your particular use.

The RV Solar Electric website, http://www.rvsolarelectric.com/ also has extensive information on solar, including some worksheets. There are also many books available devoted to solar.

It's an involved subject, far beyond what anyone can impart to you in a discussion forum. It will require some research and work on your part to determine what you need...before going someplace to have the system installed (or buying the equipment to install youself).

Can anyone tell me what the end cost was on the system , I am wondering is it worth the cost v running a small 1000 wt inverter . That we just use to top up the 12 v supply, on our 28 ft 5th

Thanks .

Are you talking about running a 1000 wt inverter or a generator? An inverter changes dc to ac. A converter allows you to change ac from shore or generator to dc in order to charge your batteries.

It cost me almost $2k for parts and labor to install a two panel system at AM Solar. The costs are on their web site. I then spent the entire summer in BC and had to run my generator only 2 times, due to extended rainy weather. I love it. Was it cheaper? Probably not, but a whole lot quieter. Last week I replaced my 2 old 12 volt marine batteries with 4 golf cart batteries. $400 for batteries and another hundred for battery boxes, cables etc. A one time expense. I doubt that I will use the Honda generator all summer. If you own a 1k generator, that is probably the least expensive - and noisiest option.

I am talking about a small generator Kipor 1000 wats ,

voodoo wrote:

Can we talk about solar power in practical rather than technical terms. Can you run the TV for 4 hours, make toast in the AM, run the laptop for 4 hours, etc., etc. in a single day w/o running out of battery power? I know everyone likes to talk about AMPS this and that and I know that's important to understand, but is there a plain english way to talk about solar power daily usage and recovery?

Let's say I use the TV for 4 hours; I run the laptop for 4 hours; I have toast in the AM: and I use one standard RV overhead light for 4 hours. How much solar power would I have to install? How long would it take to recover the lost battery power for this usage in any given day? Using engine power while moving on the road, how long would it take to recover this usage? You'll note I haven't mentioned the microwave.

I think I understand the panel(s) require direct sunlight, but can the sunlight be filtered (by tree branches, clouds, etc.) for all or part of the day?

Maybe someone with THE KNOWLEDGE can create an easy to understand chart for use by some of us dummies - "RV Solar Power for Dummies." Now there's a book for ya. Anyone who creates such a book, I get a percentage - ok? . . . Fred

YES!!!

In my previous post, above, I told what we have in the way of a solar system on our fifth wheel. We do all of the things you mentioned...we use a toaster in the morning for breakfast, we run two laptops plus a router and an amplifier (for our air card) most of the morning and afternoon. Around 3 PM or so, we'll turn off the computers and turn on the TV to watch news and the evening programs that we enjoy, even watching Letterman and Leno after the evening news (we have Distant Network Service from DirecTV, so watch programming from New York which, when we're in Pacific Time, means we watch everything 3 hours early, so we're done with Letterman and Leno by 9:30). We still have plenty of power left over.

Granted, not everyone needs the extensive system that we have, but we are fulltime RVers who do a lot of boondocking (some people even have larger systems than we have).

As I mentioned above, anyone interested in adding solar needs to do an energy audit to determine exactly how much electricity they use during the day. That's where the worksheets on RV Solar Electric's website come in handy (see the link I gave in my previous post).

The RV Bookstore has some books on solar power (see the first two books at the link). There are a bunch of books on solar power at Amazon.com. Although they're geared for adding solar power to a sticks & bricks, I would think that much of it is applicable to RVs.

I've checked out some solar firms near Portland, Oregon, and find that a good solar setup can be quite pricey. Our popup needs juice for only three necessities: (1) water pump, (2) roof winch, (3) my CPAP machine. As to lights, we often take along a couple of lanterns, one electric and one propane, and can leave the overhead lights alone. But those three listed functions are essential, especially the roof winch. Can't use the pup without it.

I hate to shell out for a generator, and I REALLY hate listening to them in campgrounds, but that plus a battery charger may be my only option.

Hey Fred,
http://www.amazon.com/Photovoltaic-Design-Installation-Dummies-Science/dp/047059893X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303002771&sr=1-2 LOL.
Just got done installing my system a month ago, most important thing to do is conserve. That one cieling light with 2 1056 bulbs could take as much as 4 amps, replacing them with LEDs will be 1/10 that.
Those needs you stated are about what i figured for us, maybe a few more lights. So far with 255 watts of panels and 2 golf cart batteries I have not used 1/4 of the batteries any given day, and charge up even on cloudy days. Waiting to see how we do further north this summer.
Here is where I got most of my info, I have had a lot of electronics schooling and 30+ years of electrical experience and he is right on as far as the electrical/ wiring parts go. http://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/about/

From doing research you need at least 5\4ths of your total power usage in panels to recharge your battery bank.

You did a great job by doing this. But I do not have any information about solar panel, I am looking for information about solar panel information.

It seems like if you scroll up you'll find a bunch of information. If you can't find the information above, can you be more specific - installation, costs, how many panels, etc.?

Sorry I forgot to update my post from last year, but here are some real life results.
Last summer we went across the southern US using campgrounds with electric until we got to southern CO, San Juan National Forrest. 255 watts of solar, 2 Golf cart 6 volt batteries wired to be one 12v, a home built PWM charge controller from a kit, a 400 watt inverter from O'rieley's auto parts for the TV and assorted chargers. I had less than $700 in my system at the time.
For the next two months we never plugged in our trailer, all over Utah, Nevada, No. CA, mountains and rainforest of OR, WA, ID, MT, WY and back to SE SD at a COE CG where it was hot enough to need A/C. We never discharged our batteries below 60% of full, even watching 3-4 hrs. of tv and hours daily of laptop use. Most of the campgrounds we stayed at were heavily forested NFS campgrounds with only a few hours of direct sun. We do have a generator to run the Microwave and DW's hair dryer, but never used it to charge the batteries. At least I exercise it that way. A popup lift can't take any more juice than 2 slides and my front leg motor .
According to the "Pros", with their calculators, we should of had twice as many panels, batteries, a 10 times as expensive MPPT controller, and a 2000 watt inverter, and only parked in full sun.
Yet it worked fine hooked up following Handy Bob's advice.

Since I cannot EVER leave well enough alone, I have added 2 more batteries, another 125 watts solar, a bullet proof Rogue solar controller, changed to a 32" LED tv that uses 2/3 the power of the 26" LCD we had, and a TBS battery monitor. Then couldn't travel this summer because of family obligations. Leaving in 2 weeks for three months though.

I would say to PM me with any questions but I'm likely to not check my messages here for a while.