pianotuna wrote:
Sandy5,
If you plan on being a "rolling stone" then look into adding a dc to DC charger to the RV.
Solar is, in my opinion the nearest thing to a free lunch you are likely to find. It need not be terribly expensive, and the battery bank will love it.
To the author: This quote is my idea of a good boon docking time. Solar, no required generator use. The DC to DC is a real cool thing that I've not set up with yet, but it'd be nice to have for cloudy/rainy days. I really think that there are many levels of "good" with a discussion like this. Ultimate would lots of power tiliting panels and a big bank of lithiums. Less ultimate would be power tilting panels with a big bank of 6v flooded in series. Mine is non tilting panels with four 6v GC batteries in series. Works nearly perfect for me. The trick is, what ever level you go, make sure it is installed without short cuts. I have three 150w panels, gathered up in a combiner box then #4 welding cable all the way to the batteries where the controller is. So I don't have a lot of panel wattage, but I lose very little as it travels thru the #4 cable to the controller. Then even larger #2 conductor to the batteries. So I get the most out of what I have. If you try and ulitlize factory solar setup or factory solar wiring I can almost guarantee you won't get the most out of what you have. And I do currently keep a genny for emergencies, but after 6 years with this set up I've never needed it.....I have loaned it to other campers with "less than" solar set ups!
