Solar power for RV trailers

A look at our new 600 watt RV Solar program; kit, the power and the expense. For us it’s 4 times more energy than we'd last year and way safer for our devices.

We very first came across the GoPower team while talking in Abbotsford on Earlybird RV program. At that time we knew our RV solar power setup had been way under driven for the crazy Camping requirements; nonetheless we hadn’t considered an upgrade because expense. Then we had been introduced towards the 120 watt Portable Solar Kit. With a street cost simply over $500 this no set up folding panel creates equal energy for way less price than. Naturally we were sold on the upgrade.

After leaving the tv show we performed a little study on the organization and discovered they offer many other solar driven services and products. The item that actually caught our attention is the 3000 watt constant pure sine-wave inverter. The Magnum inverter originally installed inside our Windy had been a measly 1200 watts (barely enough to operate the microwave oven), it only driven one outlet in the RV, and as a result of altered sine-wave many of our appliances wouldn’t work when operating off solar power and also the home batteries.

Something led to another and then we wound up with the 120 Watt Portable Kit additionally the 480 Watt Solar Extreme system. That’s right…600 watts of RV solar power power…i believe we may went somewhat overboard!

The system is under $4, 000 on Amazon.com (this is basically the most readily useful price we have found thus far, right here’s the hyperlink: get energy! Solar power Extreme Kit) and comes with:

• 160 watt solar billing system + 2 x 160 watt expansion kits
• 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter for AC energy
• 30 amp pulse width modulated digital solar power operator
• 75 amp wise battery charger
• 30 amp pre-wired automatic coast power/inverter AC changing kit
• DC inverter install system
• Inverter Remote on/off

In addition it came with everything needed for RV setup including detail by detail install guidelines. I thought about installing myself but thinking about We have not many resources up to speed, restricted understanding of electric, and wished to wire much more outlets, We opted for a dealer install.

We'd the Solar Kit installed simply over four weeks ago and we’ve been working our hardest to strain the ability in full sunlight. Up to now, in spite of how much we try to empty the battery packs, we simply can’t run out of energy when there’s complete sunlight (on a sunny time we’re getting over 25 amps). However, with hefty usage we were able to “drain” the electric batteries at night and during a cloudy day (interestingly even in clouds we’re still bringing in 10 roughly amps). The reason I say “drain” may be the charge operator has built in protection that keeps the battery packs current from falling too low, so that you can’t virtually deplete the batteries. This has united states realizing we've ample solar power arriving, not adequate batteries to fill thereupon power. In addition there’s a cool feature built into the solar power controller labeled as “Maximum Power Boost” that supercharges the battery packs to 14.4 V which means that your electric batteries can last much longer during the night (exceptionally helpful but don’t expect to run a lot of high draw appliances without sunshine or many electric batteries).

Across after that month or two we’ll be performing our better to understand the system, push it into restrictions and find out how it works in every types of weather/sun situations. After per month useful our solar features permitted united states to boondock a number of additional times without having to worry about power as well as that little bit of head I’d state we’re off to a good begin.

What’s the top cope with a pure sine inverter? A pure sine inverter runs like family power. Fundamentally when you can operate it inside your household it'll operate in your RV. Including our changed sine wave inverter wouldn’t operate our induction plate, milk frother or espresso device (and I’ve see clearly’s hard on laptops and digital camera battery chargers).

If you’re fantasy will be change to a Sailboat in 2014 exactly why are you purchasing more solar power? We can’t think about an improved reason to test out a fresh solar power setup! When we hit the water the very last thing you want to cope with is discovering much more gear than we have to. Plus lots of this solar power will be able to work on a sailboat also (if it’ll fit)

Exactly how on earth is $4, 000 inexpensive? 2 significant reasons we’re calling this solar setup affordable: 1. In comparison to our final solar power setup installed at the factory this kit is way cheaper per watt. 2. presuming a typical campground price $40 per evening, this solar setup can pay for itself in per year in the event that you wild camp simply 2 times weekly (or 100 days). Sometimes we’ve found free camping when you look at the surrounding aspects of well-known destinations like Lake Tahoe, Grand Tetons, Savannah, Lake George and many more.

Do you upgrade the battery packs? We couldn't. With so many various kinds of batteries, and different reviews by which battery is best for every application, we’ve chose to live with our solar power setup for a bit before we purchase new battery packs. When you yourself have any resources to talk about about battery packs (flooded vs. gel vs. AGM) be sure to share in the feedback below, we’re all ears and looking to upgrade sometime in the future.

Share your solar experience or questions in the commentary below, it’s a complex subject in addition to more we talk about it the better it’ll be.

Disclaimer: While our solar ended up being provided by GoPower for analysis purposes…all of our experiences and views aren't purchased and they are however our own. it is also important to know we contacted them after mastering these were small businesses with great quality and renewable company practice’s. We only make use of organizations we truly believe in and whom help our objective to call home a sustainable and daring life.