2022 Solar power

[Ttlanders]

Can someone tell me the advantages of the solar power that came with my 2022 Greyhawk?? Not educated on solar!

[GHen]

I’ll just list a couple of the advantages of the best modification I have made on my RV, solar.

It charges your batteries, it helps prevent ruining your batteries by letting them go dead. It will save you a bunch of money to replace your batteries after they go dead by keeping them charged. Did I say solar charges your batteries?

If you have enough solar and enough storage in your batteries you can go Boondocking for many days or even weeks limiting the need to run a generator to charge your batteries.

With a bunch of solar, and more batteries and an inverter you could even run a coffee maker or microwave without being plugged in, but the details on that kind of system can go on and on, so I’ll let someone else share the details if you want them.

[ARoamer]

It appears you have -
"190W solar panel with dual controller with second house battery"
A 190 watt solar panel will keep your batteries charged, you won't have to keep it plugged in. Depending on your charge controller you may see 15 amps of power going to your batteries on a good clear day. Not a huge amount of power if you dry camp.
If you never dry camp and can plug in it's probably not worth the investment to go with more solar.

[Ttlanders]

Thank you so much for the information!!

[pconroy]

My biggest misconception was thinking there was a direct line from the solar panel to the coffee pot. Learning that there were 12V batteries in the middle of the connection was a big first step.


Now I can make (hopefully) sensible decisions about how much Solar is on my roof.

[white2833]

Solar is cool (I have 380W across 2 panels and 2 controllers on both roof top and portable kits) and usually helpful, but it’s just one tool in your RV boondocking kit. Other tools include your inverter (1000W min, and really 1500-2000W is better if you use things like an electrical coffee pot that exceeds 1000W), generator (gasoline, diesel or propane), battery monitor (otherwise you are just guessing whether the battery is recharged as voltage readings alone don’t tell the whole story). Like all tools, it’s all about choosing the correct one and using correctly. Monitoring battery health is key and having your strategy ready as situations change.

For example, are you parked in the woods in your campsite? Solar won’t be great regardless how much capacity you have. Cloudy or raining? It’ll be a bad day for solar so watch your consumption. Fuel source for generator? If gas then do you have more if you have a string of cloudy days as solar will struggle to keep up with you and the batteries will deplete. Most sites have restrictions on when you can run your generator.

That’s where the battery monitor (ie Victron 812 smart monitor is what I use), tells you what current is going out, what is coming in, when the batteries are full when charging with solar or generator, and other helpful data.

Lithium (LiFePO4) batteries are great for fast charging, longer sustained voltages all the way to 80% drained, half the weight, can last 10+ years with clean hygiene but are still a bit pricey. I replaced 2 140Ah flooded lead acid batteries with a single 200Ah lithium and haven’t looked back. (Ensure your RV converter supports lithium battery charging (must deliver sustained 14.1-14.6V DC to properly charge)).