Sun coming up on solar panels

Holding up OK. Just broke 70k and so far a radiator, def pump, and an egt sensor are all the parts so far.

Specularius wrote:
I watched that video and thought, I know this person from somewhere but could not place it. I have thought about it for days now and it finally hit me. It is Epic!

Ha ha! I'm kind of honored and kind of creeped-out that you were thinking about me for several days!

How's the truck holding up? Is it treating you right?

I watched that video and thought, I know this person from somewhere but could not place it. I have thought about it for days now and it finally hit me. It is Epic!

tj548 wrote:
Thought it would be fun to monitor the solar output as the sun came up. Interesting how the panels perform during sunrise. Has anyone else done this?

Sun up on the solar panels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGuaO0euIEs

When I'm in the RV my intent is to sleep through the sun rise. I get to see it rise too many times in my work life.

On a more serious note, I'm going solar too. I dislike running my generator as I don't even like the noise. When I was at Yellowstone in May I was the the loudest thing in the campground. I felt like a jerk making all that racket when it's dead quiet and you're listening to the wind in the pines. If I can minimize generator use it's nothing but a good thing for me and others.

I'm actually astounded more manufacturers are not offering solar as a factory option. Dealers could make a bunch as an add on too.

AM Solar in Oregon is booked solid through December for installations on RVs. There IS a market out there and it's apparently growing.

tj548 wrote:
t if I add another panel of 200 plus watts and two more batteries, it will be a rare thing when I need to run that very cool generator.

I recently posted that after 3 days of cloud cover, my 800+w of solar were not keeping my 4-6v batteries up.

You see? There are some solar geeks on this forum besides me. I just find it fascinating. It's not exactly free though. It just kind of feels that way when you pay the one-time $400 Amazon charge on your credit card.

I think we're going to see exponentially more of this in the coming years. It's getting cheaper and cheaper and setup and maintenance is little to non-existent. I'm already thinking that if I add another panel of 200 plus watts and two more batteries, it will be a rare thing when I need to run that very cool generator.

RoyB wrote:
adding SOLAR is on my list for sure... It just makes good sense to be able to tap the sun for a battery recharge during the daylight hours when you are camping off the power grid.

We fight the generator run time restrictions just about everywhere we go on the East side of the US and having solar panels sure would be silent running for sure...

Got to keep the battery banks recharged with something... I suspect I too would get excited seeing the "FREE" sun power re-charge my batteries. Since I really require my batteries to always be charged at their 90% charge state before I start using them each evening I would watch my gauges like a hawk until I got the good feeling as is well. Just getting some trickle charge here and there for a couple of hours during the day would eventually do some harm to the batteries I suspect especially if I use the right away. I would want to have at least 10-20AMPS of solar power available so that the battery banks would re-charge in as few hours as it takes during the daylight hours. The ultimate goal would be to get the battery banks to their 90% charge state so that their full performance will be available for that day/night run off of the batteries.

When I short change myself on charging I don't get the battery performance right away. Then When I short change myself again the next charge period I get even less performance. Eventually I start doing damage to my batteries. My success is to always start out each day/night with a good 90% charge state on my battery bank.

I am going to shoot for a 240WATT solar panel system when I finally get to install solar panels just for these reasons... I will want to see my 14.4VDC or slightly more coming from the solar power panel smart mode charger with a good 20AMPS of current available to recharge my battery bank within three hours or close to that time as it takes. Hopefully 20AMPS being available will re-charge at least two of my batteries at a time in around three to four hours. I almost bet I still have to run my generator to top them off before my real heavy battery drain that starts around 8PM each night to make it through the night and still have 12.0VDC showing on the batteries by 8AM the next morning..

My RT14 is very similar to this roof layout and I am hoping I can add a 120WATT Solar Panel on each side of the Fanstatic fan in the front part of the roof and it also appears I may be able to add a third 120WATT Solar Panel just behind the Air Conditioner across the rear of the roof.


When I am parked at home it can takes several days to re-charge and won't bother any operations...

Just my observations
Roy Ken

OMG you said the G word!!!! (generators)
Take cover as the battle begins

LOL kidding

yes once tha panels reach a reasonable price leval or I have the extra cash that is not needed for other things I will most likely get 3 or 4 hundred watts worth myself

I think that RENOGY should send you a free panel or something for the amount of advertising you just gave them. LOL

Not the most exciting topic in the world, but well presented. It does explain how all those little solars fill your batteries. Nice video.

I added my solar this year too. Got it up and running this summer. 235W panel along with my 2 6V. I was gone all summer thought without the rv. Now that I'm home, I get a kick out of going out and watching it "sun up".

More than anything else is the independence it brings me.

adding SOLAR is on my list for sure... It just makes good sense to be able to tap the sun for a battery recharge during the daylight hours when you are camping off the power grid.

We fight the generator run time restrictions just about everywhere we go on the East side of the US and having solar panels sure would be silent running for sure...

Got to keep the battery banks recharged with something... I suspect I too would get excited seeing the "FREE" sun power re-charge my batteries. Since I really require my batteries to always be charged at their 90% charge state before I start using them each evening I would watch my gauges like a hawk until I got the good feeling as is well. Just getting some trickle charge here and there for a couple of hours during the day would eventually do some harm to the batteries I suspect especially if I use the right away. I would want to have at least 10-20AMPS of solar power available so that the battery banks would re-charge in as few hours as it takes during the daylight hours. The ultimate goal would be to get the battery banks to their 90% charge state so that their full performance will be available for that day/night run off of the batteries.

When I short change myself on charging I don't get the battery performance right away. Then When I short change myself again the next charge period I get even less performance. Eventually I start doing damage to my batteries. My success is to always start out each day/night with a good 90% charge state on my battery bank.

I am going to shoot for a 240WATT solar panel system when I finally get to install solar panels just for these reasons... I will want to see my 14.4VDC or slightly more coming from the solar power panel smart mode charger with a good 20AMPS of current available to recharge my battery bank within three hours or close to that time as it takes. Hopefully 20AMPS being available will re-charge at least two of my batteries at a time in around three to four hours. I almost bet I still have to run my generator to top them off before my real heavy battery drain that starts around 8PM each night to make it through the night and still have 12.0VDC showing on the batteries by 8AM the next morning..

My RT14 is very similar to this roof layout and I am hoping I can add a 120WATT Solar Panel on each side of the Fanstatic fan in the front part of the roof and it also appears I may be able to add a third 120WATT Solar Panel just behind the Air Conditioner across the rear of the roof.


When I am parked at home it can takes several days to re-charge and won't bother any operations...

Just my observations
Roy Ken