Solar & the 2022 National Rally

[USA in a Chevrolet]

We will be arriving tomorrow afternoon at the National rally. I would love to meet other owners who have solar installations. We have 12 panels & 8 100 AH Batteries. I will be glad to show you our setup & would like to see yours if you have one or answer questions if you don’t. We will be in H30. Should have our sign with our names hanging from pin box. Our names are Ray & Flo. We have a Solitude 345 GK-R, Florida plates & black Chevy Dually.

[Soundsailor]

Hey Ray, maybe you could share what you learn with the forum.

[USA in a Chevrolet]

Hey Ray, maybe you could share what you learn with the forum.

What I’ve learned over the last 18 months is that solar is complicated & very expensive. However I know how to install all the components, which brands to use, & read & understand all the manuals. This is because I chose to have my system installed by a large very competent company that allowed me to observe the install & educated me about the choices in components. After the install their tech support guy has been available through the few issues I ran into.

But what I learned is this. I bought a Solitude with a residential refrigerator. It came with 2 group 27 Lead acid batteries & a 2000 watt inverter to run the refrigerator & a couple of outlets. I did not feel the setup was adequate. I wanted more batteries. I thought it would be difficult to vent more batteries. I decided to replace the 2 lead acid with AGM. AGM’s don’t need venting. They are heavy & cannot be discharged regularly below 50%. I decided to go with one lithium battery & a Jaboni solar panel. I learned from this forum that people with Jaboni’s had some issues. Plus the Jaboni dealer near Elkhart was 6 months out on scheduling installs. I saw a billboard for Solar Energy Systems in Nappanee. I visited them & saw they were an enormous residential & commercial dealer & had 3 large bays for rv solar work. I talked them into scheduling me for one battery & one panel. When I got there I ended up deciding to go with 8 panels, 4 lithium batteries & replacing my 2000 watt inverter with a Victron 3000 Multiplus II. Fortunately they had a last minute cancellation & they installed the full package. They asked me to stay a couple of days after the install & to “try to break” the system. I couldn’t.

So in summary, I went crazy & spent a lot of money but I do not regret it. We can travel without fear of getting a site at a rv park. We can use Harvest Hosts & have met lots of nice hosts. I learned I could have installed a generator for half the cost but for me, Solar is better. Anyone going to the rally please feel free to visit me. I want to share what I learned!

[Butcher]

All too often we start projects and never really look at the expansion in the future. Because of this, lots of money is wasted. As I always believed, I'll just have to make more money to make it right. It's not surprising that the project took a couple wrong turns but in the end, you have something that appears to work for you and there is still some money left in the bank.

I would love to see some pictures of your set up. Especially where you store 8 batteries and 12 200w panels.