We’ve all seen these guys with 1,000,000 watts of RV Photo voltaic panels on their roof, and 30 batteries within the stomach of their camper boasting how they will run each of their AC items and an air fryer whereas they watch TV of their rig. This text isn’t about a kind of techniques, I’m not that man.
My Spouse and I’ve been residing on the street full time in our RV for a couple of 12 months now. After we first bought began we had extra kinks to work out of our system than we thought we did, and spent most of our time bleeding cash in gasoline and campground prices.
We tried our hand at Boondocking at a Harvest Hosts one night time, and at 2 a.m. the low battery alarm began going off. Hell we didn’t even make it sooner or later, we left our campground with full hookups at 9 a.m., bought there at midday, and 14 hours had no juice left.
Properly now we have to determine a method to preserve sufficient cost within the batteries in order that I’d be capable to sleep till dawn. We hadn’t completed ANY analysis in any respect on RV Photo voltaic, however then I got here throughout the 400 Watt RV Photo voltaic Package from Renogy.
It appeared to have all the pieces we would have liked to throw some panels on the roof, and preserve our batteries charged sufficient to have the ability to use the lights within the kitchen and preserve our low battery alarm from going off, so we ordered it.
We ordered it from Amazon, and it confirmed up at my buddies home in 3 days, and it did include ALMOST all the pieces we would have liked to finish the set up. The one issues it didn’t include was the roof sealant, and a move via for the wires to go from the roof down and into the RV, however we ordered these as effectively, so now we had been able to go.
You may watch my brief Set up video right here: Renogy RV Photo voltaic Package Set up
The RV Photo voltaic equipment from Renogy comes with 4 100 Watt Photo voltaic Panels, a 10 amp inline fuse, panel combiner plugs, cables to go from the roof to the cost controller, a 40 amp MPPT Cost Controller, a Battery fuse, a Bluetooth antennae so you’ll be able to monitor your energy manufacturing with an App in your cellphone, and cables to go from the controller to your batteries.
The instructions for set up had been fairly straight ahead, besides how the panels themselves needs to be wired collectively on the roof. There are a couple of choices for placing them collectively, and I’ll admit I did it ‘Fallacious’ the primary time. With photo voltaic panels you’ve the choice of wiring them in Collection, Parallel, and Collection-Parallel.
Trying on the elements readily available, and the included combiner plugs, I assumed they wanted to be wired in Parallel. Which is when all of the Optimistic cables tie collectively, and all of the Damaging cables tie collectively, then go all the way down to the Cost Controller. While you wire them this fashion, the entire Amperage from every Panel is added collectively, and on a full Solar day, will pop the ten amp fuse.
I replaced the fuse, and rewired them in Collection, Optimistic to Damaging, Optimistic to Damaging, Optimistic to Damaging, Optimistic to Damaging, then all the way down to the Cost Controller and all the pieces began working completely.
We had 200 amp hours of standard previous Deep Cycle Lead Acid batteries from the manufacturing facility, so we figured that needs to be sufficient storage to maintain us going. Now we have a residential fridge in our RV that runs off a 1,500 Watt Energy inverter that auto switches ON after we unplug the RV at a campground.
IF we ONLY use the 12 volt lighting, and go away the fridge operating like regular, the photo voltaic will cost our batteries in the course of the day on a decently Sunny web site, and get us via the night time with no battery alarms. Realistically that’s all I used to be in search of, so it was doing what it wanted to do, and will get us off grid steadily sufficient that I WOULD spend the cash on it once more if we had been to do it once more.
Relating that topic, of If we had it to do over once more, There are issues I’d do in another way, like altering out the batteries, and searching into easy methods to measurement the system to get a sure variety of hours out of it. BUT…
Primarily based solely on, whether or not or not this method carried out as I imagined it might, Sure, it did.
The equipment got here with most all the pieces wanted for the set up, It does cost the batteries in the course of the day, and the set up was straight ahead. If you’re in search of a straightforward RV Photo voltaic choice, that may get you off grid for the weekend with out lots of difficult math, that is it. Simply ensure you get the roof sealant, and a move via, and it couldn’t harm to seize a spare fuse to throw in a junk drawer simply in case.
Keep tuned for my observe up article on evaluating our RV Photo voltaic vs Generator, and easy methods to measurement an RV Photo voltaic System to get you thru a complete day of clouds and rain.