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Excited to welcome Derek and Lacey Green from CCRV Solar to our homestead for the next few days! Derek will be working on our 2008 Country Coach Magna, doing an upgrade on the original factory solar and the house batteries.The process with CCRV has been wonderful so far as we have contemplated, designed, discussed, and then moved to execute the plan!(No, I'm not getting anything in return for this post, they don't even know I am posting it. Just a happy customer so far...)Derek's rack mounted array on his own 5th wheel is pretty cool, so I thought I'd include a photo of it. Amazing!

I have a 2023 Bay Star 3014 Class A Gas motorhome, which I store at an RV service center when not on the road. I would like to use solar power to maintain the chassis batteries. I have a large solar panel I used with a 5th wheel, but it had a built-in port to attach the cord. The Bay Star has no exterior solar port, and has two 6-volt batteries attached in series to supply 12 volts. My question is, where do I attach the positive and negative cables from the solar panel--both on one battery, or positive on one and negative on the other? Second question--is it possible/advisable to retrofit a solar panel to the Bay Star for this purpose? Newmar installs them on some of its diesel pushers. It does have an Automatic Generator Start that could charge the battery when it drops to a certain level, but that uses gas and I'm hesitant to run the generator when I'm not around. Any thoughts? (OK, that's three questions, but all to the same end.)

Here we in Quartzsite, boondocking for the first time. Been here 2 weeks now. Solar panel install. You're right Bill Adams, this is one dusty 'Burg. Had to do it at least once. We'll be heading to Tucson soon, not sure if it will be a day, a week or a month. After that, through El Paso and along southern TX to the RGV. Very well could be spending some time there this winter so we want to check it out on our way to Lafayette, LA..

We have a 1997 Coachmen Mirada with a Renogy solar panel kit with the following: 2 - 100 watt PV panels, 1 - 40ARover MPPT charge controller, and 2- 12v 100Ah deep cycle pure gel batteries. Both the panels and the batteries are wired in parallel to maintain the 12v voltage, but increase the Ah capacity. The panels are charging the battery bank, but I cannot my interior lights, fans, etc. to run off of the battery bank when I am not connected to shore power or when the engine is not running (or the key is not in the run position). I have an Intellitec dual battery disconnect switch that appears to work, but only when the RV engine is running (or when the key is in the run position). See pic below. > ignition key in run position or engine on: red LED light of the battery disconnect switch will turn on, the house lights and fans work, and all is well with the world. When I push the COACH rocker switch to "STORE", then I hear the battery disconnect motor make a soft noise for a second and then the red LED light goes off, and the house lights and fan go off as well. When I push it back to "use", the red LED comes back on and the house lights, etc. work. Nothing happens when I press the CHASSIS rocker switch to "STORE": I do not hear the soft noise made by the disconnect motor and the CHASSIS red LED light always remains on. > ignition key not in run position: Chassis red LED light is on, but nothing happens when I press the COACH rock to "USE" position. The house lights and fans will not work. In what may or may not be a related problem, the Onan 4000 generator will not start unless the RV engine is running or the ignition key is in the run position. Once the generator is running, it will stop running when the ignition key is moved from the run position. Any help would be appreciated. Ken O'Brien

Hi Folks, I have two 100W Renogy solar panels on the roof of my Class C Sunseeker, wired in parallel and connected to a 20A Rover Controller. One of the panels is monocrystalline and the other is polycrystalline. (This was not intentional.) I'm having a lot of trouble keeping my two 12V batteries charged with the solar and I wonder if the problem is because I'm mixing different types of panels. If I need to change one of the panels out, do I stick with the poly or the mono? On a very good winter day, the panel monitor shows 18V / 9A from the panels, but my batteries rarely stay charged, frequently falling to 11.5 V. Thanks for your suggestions. Nancy Wright

I store my motorhome outside (Wisconsin) no power available, looking for an solar setup of some kind to keep the batteries charged while stored. I have one start battery and two house batteries all 12 volt and lead acid. Would like a complete plug and play system or a step by step piece by piece instructions. Thanks Mel

I've read a few articles and blogs about solar installs on RV's and it's always intrigued me. But I had never talked to anyone first hand about their set-up/experience. This past spring I had the chance to do that and it was vary helpful. While in Arizona this past spring, I met a fellow RVer who had a 200 watt solar set up on the roof of his Leisure Travel Unity class B+ (very similar to my Winnebago View). When I asked him about it, he told me he had been able to go 2 weeks on two 12V batteries without having to run his generator or be plugged in. This sounded real appealing. My Winnebago View has two 12V batteries and I can easily go a day or maybe two without having to recharge them. When traveling each day the recharge is not an issue because driving recharges them from the vehicles alternator. But when stay put camping without hookups, I have to run my generator for about 60-90 minutes each day to recharge them. My generator runs on propane and it will go thru about .6 gallons an hour. My 13 gallon propane tank would carry me for about 2 weeks if it was full and I wasn't using anything else. But, its never always full and when parked I use propane for the frig, hot water, sometime heat, and cooking so my 2 weeks is not realistic. Its more like a week. But the biggest drawback is the noise. The generator is noisy and you can't always run it in some places. I get a little self conscious when running it especially when in a pristine nature setting with camping neighbors. Who wants to listen to a noisy generator. So after talking with the guy in Arizona about his setup, I began to feel that a solar set up would be a good thing to add to my RV. However, there are no RV solar installers near where I live. But I'm a pretty handy guy, so I began researching it to see if I could do it myself. The Internet has a ton of info and vendors selling solar setups for RVs. And the prices for the equipment are all over the place. But thank God for YouTube, blogs, discussion groups, and user groups. I got to benefit from a lot of other peoples experiences and could ask them questions. So, here's what I figured out for my rig. The figures I use a ball park estimates, but good enough for me to design a setup. A general rule of thumb is to install 100 watts of solar for every 100 amp hrs of battery capacity. A 12V or 6V battery can delivery around 85-100 amp hrs (some do more, some do less) so for my two 12V batteries, 200 watts of solar should be sufficient. Daily DC usage is key to sizing what you need for batteries and solar. Every one's usage is different. My daily usage for lighting, the water pump, frig panel, alarms, and heater fan is about 50-75 amp hrs per day. This means that I go thru about 25-40% of my battery capacity each day when I'm parked. Add some TV watching, radio listening, phone charging, a compressor frig, and you'll go thru more. A 100 watt solar panel will produce around 5 amps of power per hour in perfect conditions. Plan on 5-6 good hours of sun and you're looking at getting 25-30 amps hrs from a 100 watt panel. Two 100 watt panels will double that to 50-60 amps hrs. You need a charge controller to use with solar panels to safely and effectively charge the batteries. Controllers are sized based on how many amps they can handle. For two 100 watt panels, a 20 amp controller is sufficient. Also, there are two types; MPPT and PWM. MPPT controllers are "smarter" and more effective in larger installs (over 400 watts). They are also more expensive (around $200). PWM controllers are simple and very effective for smaller installs (under 400 watts). They are also less expensive (under $100). You need to know the size of everything and figure out where everything will go before you order anything or start. Where on the roof, how to secure, where to run the cables, where to install the controller? Other things you need to install solar - mounts for putting the solar panel(s) on the roof, a way to attach the panels to the roof (screws or adhesive), caulking to plug and waterproof any holes, cable and connectors to connect the panels to each other and to the controller, cables and connectors to connect the controller to the battery, cable ties and tie bases to secure the cables, and fuse links to put on the cables for safety. A key dilemma that influenced how I planned my install and what I ended up acquiring was how to run the cables from the solar panels down to the charge controller. I have a fiberglass roof on my RV and no entry point that I could use on the roof to run a cable. I really didn't want to drill a hole in the roof. I had read that a properly pointed panel is much more efficient than a flat horizontal panel. My intended use for the solar is when I dry camp at music festivals - which is about 3-4 times per year. I decided to install everything to support two 100 watt panels, but to start out with one free standing panel that I could build a stand for and point it properly. I'd permanently install the charge controller and wire it to the battery and build a pig tail so I could plug a portable panel into it when I wanted to use solar charging. I knew that one panel probably wouldn't fully recharge my batteries, but it might buy me an extra day. Also, I figured this was way of minimizing cost, I could see how it works, and for another $150 I could always add another panel and mount them on the roof at a later time. So, here's what I purchased From Renogy - a 30 amp PWM charge controller with a temp sensor, one 100 watt mono-crystalline panel, 20 ft of 10g wire, and a MC4 connector tool. From Amazon - 25 ft split loom cable housing, cable ties and mounts. From PowerWerx - four Anderson SB50 Powerpole connectors with dust covers, two in line fuses, and a crimper. From Lowes - misc connectors, wire, grommets, Total cost - $344. I installed the charge controller in a storage compartment right near the coach batteries. I ran two 10 gauge wires (about 4 feet) from the storage compartment to the battery bank with an in line fuse on the positive line and connected them with ring terminals. I had to drill a 1/2 in hole in the storage compartment wall to get the wires out and used a rubber grommet to protect the wires. I put a disconnect on these wires so I could easily disconnect from the batteries. The charge controller has a parasitic draw of less than 30 mill. amps and I wanted to avoid this draw when I wasn't using the solar panel. I wrapped these cables with heat resistant split loom and secured the cables with zip ties to an existing cable. I made a short pig tail cable to connect to the solar connectors on the charge controller. I put an in line fuse on this wire and used a Anderson SB50 power pole connector on the end. I used the 20 ft 10 ga cable from Renogy that had MC4 connectors on one end to connect to the solar panels and put another Anderson SB50 Powerpole on the end to connect to the pigtail cable on the controller. Here are some pictures of the install. Charge controller 100 watt solar panel (47 in x 21 in) Home made easel to hold panel And the $64,000 question - how does it work? I first tested the set up on my 12V lawn tractor battery to make sure everything worked (i.e., that it would actually charge the battery and not "fry it"). Everything worked as advertised. I then hooked it up to my RV batteries and it worked perfectly. The charge controller accurately read my battery voltage and the panel was able to putout close to 20V and 5-6 amps in clear sun. It dropped down to 2-3 amps in party cloudy conditions. When the batteries where fully charged, it dropped down to float charging mode putting out .2 amps. The solar panel fits in my rear storage compartment with all the other stuff so it will be easy carry with me when I need it. The easel I made breaks down and that also fits in the storage compartment. I had a chance to test this all out while dry camping at a recent music festival. I had perfect sunny weather for 5 days. My electrical usage was minimal - I only used some lights, radio, the water pump, and the normal alarms/monitors. The panel kept my batteries fully charged during each day. Since it was free standing, I could easily move it around and get full sun on the panel. I only needed to run the generator when I wanted the use the microwave or run the A/C. I am very pleased with my setup. I like the flexibility of having it free standing so I can use it when I want and it's very cost effective. A good reference site is Jack and Danielle Mayer's blog He has a section on RV Electrical/Solar that is very thorough and helpful. AM Solar's web page is also helpful. See more of my posts at: jdawgjourneys.com

We own a 2004 Safari Panther, a 42 footer. Overall a wonderful motorhome, but the previous owner put in a residential reefer, which, of course, will only run on 120V I have four 6V Golf cart batteries (226 Amp Hour each) and I have two 100W Solar panels on the roof. I am finding that this setup is not sufficient for any real dry camping/boon docking. Switching to the inverter will run the reefer overnight, but drains the batteries to 30% by morning. The two 100W solar panels will not re-charge the batteries during the day. I looked at adding more batteries and going up to 600W solar (the max I can add to the current system), but was told (reputable RV Solar company) that that setup will still not do what I want and will still require me to run the generator, PLUS, it is quite costly. So my other option is to replace the residential reefer with one that can run on Propane. So my question is has anyone had a similar experience and how did YOU solve it. And, does anyone have any recommendations on reefers? Thanks for your ideas/suggestions. Albert and Linda

Well, after 3 months of owning this thing I just figured out that the after market Siemens Solar setup is not charging the house batteries. I thought it was working because the Siemens regulator panel looks like it is working. It shows battery condition and current charging status, but the brand new house batteries are not being charged by the system. In full sun it says it was charging @ 4 amps. Dumb question#1 Does the voltage from the panels go through the regulator and then right to the house batteries? Dumb question #2 Does the inverter have to be on all the time for the solar to charge the house batteries? The house batteries charge fine on shore or genet power.

I am considering using the following mounts to attached a solar panel to my Class C RV with a rubber roof. Instapark ZJ03W Drill-free Solar Panel Roof Corner Mount Rack Bracket Kit NEW http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTUwMFgxNTAw/$T2eC16hHJI!E9qSO-ShmBQG1BPveYg~~60_57.JPG And Instapark ZJ04W Drill-free Solar Panel Roof Mount Rack Rail Bracket Support Kit http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTUwMFgxNTAw/$(KGrHqJ,!qIF!O!U(of8BQG1HIzcD!~~60_57.JPG Example installation from RV solar system DIY Question I have is with a rubber roof that is basically glued down, is their any issues with gluing these mounts to the rubber roof? Will this work on a rubber roof? Thanks