RV Solar System
 

 

Now that we have been traveling full-time on the road for a while, we have made the decision we want to get a high output, low maintenance solar system which will allow us to boondock more often. This will allow us to avoid having to stay in RV parks just to take advantage of electric hook-ups. When we do decide to go to an RV park for the use of the amenities such as pool/jacuzzi, we want to avoid plugging into the metered electric when RV parks charge extra for it. These days most RV parks do meter electric and charge extra for it while giving large discounts for weekly and monthly rates. We have found the extra metered electric has been costing between $75 to $100 per month, but we have talked to other RVers that have paid as much as $275 per month just for electric. If a person does stay at an RV park for less than a week, they do charge a very high daily rate that does include unlimited electric. We do have a Thousand Trails Ultimate Odyssey membership which lets us park in all of their 81 different campgrounds with no nightly fees, but does charge a yearly maintenance fee which was $582.38 on Dec. 2011. It may take many years to recoup the cost of a large and expensive solar system, but it will also allow us many more options for parking which will often include cost savings on RV park fees and metered electric.

Since we use a lot of power, we decided to go with a very large solar system consisting of a minimum of 1000 watts with the ability to add more panels at a later time. On a daily basis we often run a microwave, a 32" LCD TV, DirecTV satellite receiver & DVR, laptop computer, coffee pot, and room lights. Other electrical items we occasionally use are a toaster, blender, crock pot, electric skillet, computer printer, power tools, and AA/AAA battery chargers. When it gets very hot we open up all of the windows and run one or two fantastic ceiling fans and/or a box fan. When it is cold we use an electric blanket at night. When boondocking, we do conserve power by using propane for the refrigerator and use the gas furnace rather than heat pumps or electric, oil filled space heater. The light bulbs we mostly use as reading lights have been replaced with LED for their power saving features. We do turn off lights when not in use. Our RV has lots of phantom loads, even most light switch panels have built in night lights. I also wanted a solar system with enough panels so that I would not have to climb up on the roof to tilt any of them during the winter months. The panels were mounted flat on the roof with a one inch space below them for air flow and all panels have the ability to be titled when servicing the roof mounted air units and fans. I also wanted a battery bank with a lot of amp hours (AH) so we could store as much power as possible. We know we will need to run the generator when using the convection oven, air conditioners, or hydro-hot. We never use the roof mounted heat pumps or the washer/dryer combo unless we are in a campground with FHUs.

So on 01/28/12 and 01/31/12 we had an 1100 watt RV solar system with two (02) solar boost controllers, eight (08) AGM coach batteries, and two (02) SLA cranking batteries installed on our motor coach. The installation was performed by Solar Bill Solar RV and Marine, LLC in Quartzite, AZ. The reason we chose this business for our solar system installation is because of numerous recommendations by many other RVers and the fact the owners Bill and Donna Killman have been in the solar business since 1977. The RVers we talked to use their solar systems on a daily basis and they highly recommended Solar Bill. There are several solar installers throughout Arizona because so many RVers boondock 4 to 6 months per year on all of the surrounding Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands. The BLM public lands in and around Quartzite alone consists of more than 20,000 campsites. Doing an online price comparison, Solar Bill is one of the more expensive solar installers (both parts & labor), but his reputation as being one of the very best RV solar installers, the fact that he sells only the best quality & warranty covered solar equipment, and the fact he has a reputation as having superior customer service, are the reasons we decided to go with him.

Solar Bill Solar RV and Marine, LLC is an Escapee RV Club commercial member. Normally these Escapee commercial members give a 10% to 25% discount, however they would not give us a discount even though we are Escapee Life Members and produced our membership card. Donna Killman (co-owner) told me that she can not afford to give out Escapee discounts any longer since they already have very competitive prices. I also found out that Solar Bill in Quartzite, AZ, where he does the solar installations for RVs, is open from Nov. to Mar. of each year.

The complete solar system which is an 1100 Watt Solar System Consisting of Four (04) Sun Electronics® 210 Watt Panels and Two (02) Alps® 130 Watt Panels; Two (02) Blue Sky Energy® 3024iL 24 VDC Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Photovoltaic 3-Stage Charge Controllers; Eight (08) 6 Volt Lifeline® Absorbant Glass Matt (AGM) GPL-4CT Batteries; Two (02) 12 Volt BCI Group 31 Interstate® 31P-MHD Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Cranking Batteries; numerous miscellaneous parts (J-Boxes, Battery Cables, & Solar Wiring, etc.); 19 hours of labor at $80.00 per hour; and all Federal, State, & Sales taxes comes to a total installed cost of $10,494.76. We should be able to recoup some of the cost when we file our 2012 taxes in 2013 since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) extended the 30% federal tax credit for the purchase and installation of residential solar systems. Once again, we also hope to recoup some of the cost by boondocking more often to save on expensive campground fees, and by not plugging into electric at campgrounds that meter and charge extra for electricity. We also feel a great solar system adds to the value of the motor coach, and it certainly is a conversation topic everywhere we go. But the main reason we installed such a large & expensive system is for the sake of convenience, more parking options, greater self-reliance, and less maintenance.

All of the solar panels are 12 Volt panels made by Sun Electronics® and Alps®. To get 24 volts, they connected each set of two 12-volt panels in series to increase the voltage. This was done because you can send 24 volts two times as far as 12 volts over the same wire size (at a specified rate of loss). To use higher-voltage panels you need a solar controller that can convert that higher voltage input to 12-volt (nominal) output. There are a number of controllers that can do this, and they are all MPPT technology. They tend to be higher-priced controllers with advanced features, so you have an overall better package. Solar Bill particularly likes the Blue Sky Energy® 40-amp 3024iL MPPT controllers. By using two Blue Sky Energy® 3024iL controllers wired together as master/slave, these controllers can handle up to 56 volts each and down-convert it to their output rating (for our discussion, always 12V, since we are using a 12-volt battery bank).

The batteries we decided to use were eight (08) 6 Volt Lifeline® AGM batteries wired in series to produce 12 Volts. In a typical RV installation you need 12 volts to supply the house loads. That means you have to combine two 6-volt batteries in series to produce 12 volts. Pairs of 6-volt batteries are then combined in parallel to sum the amperage available, while maintaining 12 volts. AGM batteries have a glass mat that absorbs the acid/water mixture placed between their plates. Even if the case is punctured, they will not leak. They do not loose water, since it is automatically recombined with the acid during the charging cycle. Because of the construction, they are very resistant to vibration and impact (the glass mats cushion the plates), they can accept a full charge, just like wet-cell batteries. In fact, the internal resistance of AGM batteries is so low that they charge up to 5 times faster than wet-cell batteries. AGM batteries are ideally suited for RV use. They are far superior to wet-cell (aka flooded) cell batteries, like golf cart batteries; they take charge at a much higher rate (ideal for solar and genset recharging), they survive shock and vibration better, no maintenance is required, they are sealed so you can put them anywhere (even on their sides, or inside your RV). But, and this is a big but, they are expensive. Since I wanted a high output, low maintenance system, I felt the significant costs for AGM were worth the higher expense. This set of batteries gives us 220 amp Hours (AH) each wired in series/parallel for a total of 880 AH @ 12 Volts. Since batteries should never be drawn down below 50% which is  12.2 volts, this gives us essentially 440 AH of useable stored power.

 

During the month of Feb. 2012 while in the state of Arizona & Nevada, I have been generating 40 to 50 amps during solar noon. I feel this is fairly good since the panels are flat mounted (with no panel tilting) and it is still the winter season (with less sun hours and more sun angle). We should see even better results during the summer months when the sun hours are longer and the sun angle is less. We have been able to use lots and lots of power all day long and still get the batteries topped off with full power before the sun goes down.

Our RV solar system receipts for the RV solar system that was purchased from and installed by Solar Bill (Bill Killman) during Jan. 2012:

• 01/28/12 Solar Install Doc 1 - this is the major parts receipt for the solar system install on 01/28/12.
 • 01/28/12 Solar Install Doc 2 - this is page 1 of the work order (labor & small parts) for the solar install on 01/28/12.
 • 01/28/12 Solar Install Doc 3 - this is page 2 of the work order (labor & small parts) for the solar install on 01/28/12.
 • 01/31/12 Battery Install Doc 1 - this is the major parts receipt for the battery system install on 01/31/12.
 • 01/31/12 Battery Install Doc 2 - this is page 1 of the work order (labor & small parts) for the battery system install on 01/31/12.
 • 01/31/12 Battery Install Doc 3 - this is page 2 of the work order (labor & small parts) for the battery system install on 01/31/12.

Our RV solar system component list that was purchased from and installed by Solar Bill (Bill Killman) during Jan. 2012:

• 1100 Watt Solar System Consisting of Four (04) Sun Electronics® 210 Watt Panels and Two (02) Alps® 130 Watt Panels
• Two (02) Blue Sky Energy® 3024iL 24 VDC Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Photovoltaic 3-Stage Charge Controllers that are Integrated Power Net (IPN) networked together as Master/Slave at 40 amps each for a total capacity of 80 amps (Data Sheet / Installation & Ops Manual)
• Shared Remote IPN Digital Display (Data Sheet / Installation & Operational Manual) and optional shared Battery Temperature Compensation Sensor (Data Sheet / Installation & Ops Manual)
• Eight (08) 6 Volt Lifeline® Absorbant Glass Matt (AGM) GPL-4CT Batteries consisting of 220 amp Hours (AH) each wired in series/parallel for a total of 880 AH @ 12 Volts) (Tech Drawing / Tech Specs / Tech Manual)
• Two (02) 12 Volt BCI Group 31 Interstate® 31P-MHD Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Cranking Batteries consisting of 950 cold cranking amps (CCA), 1190 cranking amps (CA), and 195 reserve capacity (RC) each

Our RV solar/electrical component list that was installed by Newmar Corp. or others prior to Jan. 2012:

• 5 Watt Solar Panel to Charge Chassis Batteries
• Xantrex® Trace RV2012 2000-Watt Modified Sine Wave Inverter
• Intellitec® BD1 Battery Disconnect for House Batteries (Service Manual)
• Parallex Power Supply® ATS501 50 amp Automatic Line/Generator Switch) (Product Specs)
• Progressive Industries® 50 amp Hardwire Surge Protector EMS-HW50C (Operating & Installation Guide)
• 12.5 KW Cummins® Onan® Diesel Quiet Series Generator on Power Slides with Automatic Changeover (Tech Manual 1 / Tech Manual 2)
• 200-amp Alternator
• 50-amp Electrical Service
• 50-amp Flexible Cord on Power Rewind Cord Reel
• Emergency Engine Battery Boost Start Switch

We also installed a "T" fitting off of the LP gas line in the kitchen so we could add a Camco® 57351 Olympian Wave 8 Catalytic Safety Heater which does not use any electricity. With the heater attached to a 10' long flexible hose and a quick connect fitting, it could be placed in the kitchen and facing the living room or in the bathroom and facing the bedroom. This 8,000 BTU heater can keep a 45 ft. motor coach warm in fairly cold weather and will also be much more efficient than the propane furnace. A propane furnace has an efficiency rating of 65% vs. 90% for a catalytic propane heater. This heater should be able to keep the inside temperature 25° to 30° above the outside temperature; therefore, as long as we are parked in areas with lows at 27°F or warmer, we should be very comfortable. Of course the gas furnace is still available as a back-up system in extremely cold weather below the 27°F threshold.

Links Pertaining to Solar/Wind Power, RV Electrical Systems, and Boondocking/Dry Camping:

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