Part 2 - Where to Start?

The best place to start with your RV solar power system is with figuring out your personal needs in terms of electrical power.  Some people seem to skip this step and just buy some batteries and maybe a solar kit* with little regard to whether or not it will meet their needs, which often results in either too little power capacity, or too much. I suspect most of the time it's the former.

To be absolutely sure how much power you normally use you can install a power meter in your RV, then record your daily usage.  With that information you can calculate an average number of daily amps used.  I have one and find it to be an invaluable resource in tracking my electrical usage as well as to judge the state of charge in my battery bank. 

The Trimetric TM-2025-A Meter

If you don't want to go to the trouble and expense of installing a meter, you could estimate your power usage by listing the amperage draw of each electrical appliance you use while camping as well as the number of hours you use them in a day, then multiplying those numbers together for each item, and, finally, adding all of the results to come up with a daily number.  You can find estimates of amperage draw of common RV appliances online, such as this one from KOA.  This method won't be anywhere near as accurate as a meter, but it could get you in the ballpark if you're as accurate as possible about estimating your usage.

No matter which way you go, you might want to add a little extra, maybe ten percent or so, just to make sure you're not building a system that supplies the bare minimum (or less) of electricity you think you'll need while boondocking.

If you've already got adequate batteries in your rig and are primarily interested in adding solar to charge them, jump ahead to Part 5, The Solar System.  Otherwise, read on.

Now that you know how many amps you want to use on a daily basis, you need to know how much battery capacity (amp hours) you need in your battery bank.  That's covered next in Part 3, How Long Should Your Batteries Last?



*Solar Kits - beware.  Some (not all) of the solar kits I've seen out there are grossly inadequate for RV use beyond maybe keeping batteries from going dead while in storage, and sometimes not even for that.  The problem is with the components some of them come with - poor charge controllers, wire that is too small, or extra things you don't really need - like light fixtures.  They may seem inexpensive, but this is one of those cases where sometimes "the cheap comes out expensive," and if you calculate how much you're paying per watt you may discover it's not cheap at all.  Poor charge controllers can damage your batteries over time.  Inadequate wiring will choke your system.   If you are interested in one of these, at least finish reading this series first, so you will know exactly your needs and whether or not the kit will work for you.  If you blindly leave it up to them to decide what you need, you might end up with something that won't meet your needs, costs you a high price per watt or kills your batteries before their time.