Re: [A/S] Re: solar installation

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Terry,
 This Labor Day W/E, we were at PrarieVille Old Farm Days, near Battle
Creek, MI. There were many hundreds of RVs, all parked in a large field
(I'm guessing it at 40 acres, maybe more), all withouth hookups of any
sort. Although there were quite a few motorhomes with builtin (read:
quiet) gensets, there were many more campers with their $#%^@! hardware
store gensets, whining away from 7:00 AM until well after dark. I saw 2
RVs with a single solar panel propped against the side of the unit, with
a cable connecting it to the system.

We actually used very little power, on the order of 10AH/day, according
to our e-Meter, so could easily have gone the 3 days w/o any
supplimental charging. In fact, one of our friends with their
'ultra-light' trailer did just that. OTOH:, other friends next to us
suffered from little or no power much of the w/e. I think their
converter isn't fully charging their battery in the first place, and it
charges only 5 amps anyway. That meant that running his genset for a
couple of hours/day recovered only the minimal amount of power that we
were using. Worst of all, his water heater and fridge are of the modern,
electronically-controlled variety, so guess who suffered with litte or
no refrigeration and hot water for much of the w/e?

If you're the kind of camper like my best friend, this is not a concern.
He NEVER, EVER camps where he doesn't have full hookups, even though his
A/S has a pair of solar panels. (it's good enough that he never turns
his converter on at all, using shore power only for his 115VAC
appliances) However, if you like to camp at places that don't have
electricity, solar panels are absolutely one of the very best
investments that you can make. 

One of the best features of solar power is its modularity, you don't
need to go whole-hog to start with. I would personally not recommend
starting out with less than a single 50-watt panel, as you'll be very
limited in your usage. But, a single 75-watt panel will provide between
25 and 30 AH/day of power if you orient it properly. If you shop
carefully, you can get such a panel for $250.00 or so, and a suitable
controller is under $50.00. Add some hookup wire and you're all set.

You can do as I did later, when I added a second panel, mounted them on
the roof, hardwired them, upgraded the controller, added metering, etc.
The only things I discarded from the setup that I used on the A/S was
the 'A' frame and the controller. I'll reuse the aluminum angle from the
frame, and probably reuse the controller also. The latter was a $25.00
item anyway. If we decide that we need more power than at present, it
wouldn't be a big deal to add another panel or 2 to the rear of the
trailer, but it would require another upgrade to our controller. Again,
no big deal, as the controller we're using was quite inexpensive.

As you know, I'm a gadgeteer and electronics nut, so I HAD to have lots
of metering. The Cruising Equipment e-Meter is very nice, but at nearly
$250.00, is a bit of overkill. The analog ammeter in the panel feed line
is neat to watch during the daylight, so you can see just what the
panels are doing. At the minimum, everyone who camps off-grid should
have a good digital voltmeter to monitor the battery(s). Plans for a
home-made unit are at http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/ (look at "The
12 volt side of Life, Part 2"), or you can buy them for about $40.00,
maybe less. The metering system provided in an RV is nearly totally
useless, as you know.

The thought of solar power always fascinated me, and an RV is a perfect
place to put it to use. The 12VDC system is already in place, you have
few appliances that require gobs of power, and you have an incentive to
install solar power. It's a heckuva toy for those of use who consider
the RV itself as much a part of the hobby as actually using it.

                                             <<Jim>>