solar question

Back in 2011, $1500 for 300 watts wasn't that outrageous. I doubt I would have paid for that, weighing the benefits. But today that would be $300. Same benefit, 1/5 the cost.

I went about 5 years without anything else charging the batteries - no charger, not hooked to the truck. Only the solar. 2 or 3 days in the deep shade and you do need something else. I usually drove enough or parked enough in the sun. That was with 200W.

Back in 2011 I spent about $1500 on a nice solar system for my Arctic Fox 811, which I owned up until last September. I had 300 watts. I had the solar dealer install it because I simply didn't want to do it, that's why it cost so much.

Camping in WA state, I'm in the shade all the time when I remote camp, so solar didn't do me a whole lot of good.

I already owned a Honda EU2000i at the time, so that's what did a good percentage of my battery charging duties.

Where solar was a small benefit was to help offset the discharge of my batteries when my inverter was providing AC power to the fridge when I was traveling.

Another small benefit was to recharge after a night of dry camping when I was traveling from point A to point B and stopped in the middle of the trip. However, the amount of discharge on my batteries was pretty minimal since I was just stopping for the night, usually parking for the night not long before dark.

Over 11 years of truck camper ownership, It's very rare that I take a trip where I end up in the sun while dry camping.

In August of 2020, I bought an AF992 to replace the 811. I have no immediate plans to install solar on it, even though I do still have an inverter onboard.
I did opt to upgrade my truck to truck camper charging system by adding a Victron DC to DC Charger. I went Victron because it's small and compact, unlike the Renogy and RedArc units.

Victron installation video

Solar is the nearest thing to a free lunch you are likely to find.

2oldman wrote:
The payoff can also be considered not having to rent space in an RV park for power. Priceless.

I agree with that.

Even if you do hookups all the time, a little solar works great as trickle maintainer of batteries when in travel or storage.

jimh425 wrote:


It’s probably years before a payoff for most people. Well, it’s years or decades for most solar systems.

The payoff can also be considered not having to rent space in an RV park for power. Priceless.

With the exception of when I needed AC in the boonies, with 200 watts of solar and two group 31 AGM batteries I have not used my generator to recharge the batteries since 2015 when I installed the panels.

3 tons wrote:
After being liberated by solar (meaning exploiting FREE Energy!!)

It’s not quite free if you had to pay to buy the system. ;) But I agree it could be liberating if you are out in the wide open spaces with open skies and have a use for all of that power.

It’s probably years before a payoff for most people. Well, it’s years or decades for most solar systems.

For those who camp with hook-ups, I can see little need for Solar…We camp 95% divorced from the grid so 440w of Solar (with 200a/hrs of Lithium) is nearly our exclusive power source…After being liberated by solar (meaning exploiting FREE Energy!!) I consider a generator akin to taxes, mostly a PITA and can only justify using ours during extended air conditioner usage, say of more than about 2hrs or so, otherwise we run the microwave, Keurig coffee pot, and conditioner (say for roadside stops) strictly via the battery concurrent with solar…VERY Glad I ‘cut the cord’!!

3 tons

I’ve never needed solar. I don’t think generators are interchangeable with solar for most people. Generators produce a lot of power quickly, solar can’t do that. I’ve thought about it to keep the batteries topped off in storage although I could simply hook up a Battery Tender for that.

What I did instead is reduce the amount of power that I use by going LED for all bulbs. I don’t spend a lot of time in one place and regularly drive with the TC on. I find that usually that means my batteries stay topped off.

I have camped a few places that are heavy with trees and solar won’t do hardly anything in those cases.

There is a lot of information out there on how to determine how much power you expect to use as well as adding batteries that can be drawn down more safely which is in affect adding capacity.