Benefits of Solar Battery Charging

t Solar panels consume no fuel and give off no waste.
t They produce no noise which your neighbors will appreciate.
t They are easy to use. When the sunshine hits solar panels they produce electricity.
t Solar charging maximizes battery life by keeping them properly charged.
t Solar panels give the freedom of parking anywhere and still having electricity.
t Solar panels will produce electricity for 25 or more years.
t They require little maintenance - just clean them with a damp cloth occasionally.

The above reasons were enough to convince me to go solar, but I went solar because I just "wanted" a solar system. In January of 2000 at the Quartzsite (Arizona) RV Show, I looked at solar and talked to a salesman. He gave me a book that explained solar systems and had charts to figure how many panels I needed. By the time I studied the book and convinced myself to buy, the RV show was over and the dealer had left town. But that was OK because I had not done enough research and I probably would have bought the wrong system.

In July of 2000, we attended the Life On Wheels Conference in Moscow, Idaho. Four classes on solar were offered and Linda and I took the first three together and I attended the last one. J. Greg Holder of Alternate Means taught classes on Batteries, Invertors, Solar Panels and Controllers and a wrap-up class to answer questions. The classes were excellent and I walked away with my head swimming in knowledge. Over the next few months I did more research and decided it was time to buy. After surfing the internet for solar system dealers I decided to buy from Greg at Alternate Means. Why? Other solar dealers talk about solar for houses and irrigation systems, but they can "adapt" them for RVers. One well known solar company did not even reply to my e-mail questions. Greg sells systems with the RVer in mind. My entire working career was in engineering, computers and maintenance so I am a technical type guy, but I will not go into the technical stuff in this article. A good technical article would consume a thick book.

Our motorhome already had 4-six volt golf cart batteries and a 2000-watt Heart inverter / charger. There was also a small 5-watt solar panel to keep the engine batteries charged while parked. A good rule of thumb for a solar system is two batteries and two solar panels for each person. More can be added later if needed. We already had the correct number of batteries so we needed four solar panels for the two of us. Solar panels are manufactured in 30-cell, 33-cell and 36-cell varieties. Since the 36-cell panels are more efficient they should be the only panels considered for RVers. There are several types of panels determined by the way they are made. Amorphous panels a very inefficient and should not be used on RVs. Screen printed poly and mono crystalline panels are the most widely used and work good on RVs. We decided to go one step higher and buy the best - Laser-Grooved, Buried-Grid, Mono-Crystalline panels. They are the most efficient panels made today and have a higher voltage output. Heat and shading do not affect their output as much as the less expensive panels. Linda insisted we get the best and that suited me. We bought four BP-580 80-watt panels that come with a five year warranty on materials and workmanship. They are warrantied to give at least 80% of their output rating for 25 years. The four panels give 320-watts and about 18-amps in full sunshine. Around solar noon we often get above 20-amps.

The "Charge Controller" is the heart of a solar system. Buy a cheap controller and you can murder your batteries. (Batteries don't just die, most are murdered.) A cheap controller can undercharge batteries and sulfate the plates or overcharge the batteries and boil them dry. OK, I promised to not get technical. There are three simple things to remember when buying a charge controller. If it cost under $200 it is junk. Make sure you buy one with PWM (pulse width modulated). Buy one larger than you need so you can add more solar panels. Now, no more technical stuff.

From Alternate Means, I got solar panels mounts that can be installed on a flat or rounded roof. I also got tilt arms so I can point the panels toward the sun. Tilting the panels gives much more output in winter. I placed my four solar panels on the roof and made sure there would be no shading from the air conditioners, TV antenna or from other panels. Now came the hard part - drilling holes through the rubber roof. Each panel required drilling eight holes, the junction box needed three holes and I secured the wiring to the roof by drilling three other holes. OK, that is thirty-eight (38) holes in a rubber roof that had never leaked. All but one hole for wiring had screws and I coated all of them with sealant, lots of sealant. After connecting #10 wires from the panels to a junction box, I ran the wires down into a wardrobe in the bedroom. There I installed a switch for turning the panels off when connected to shore power, then I ran the wires to the controller. Out of the controller to the batteries I used #6 wires to prevent any current loss. The wires had to go under the motorhome to reach the batteries so I installed flexible conduit and ran the wires inside it so rocks or road residue can not destroy the wires. Using a 30-amp fuse I connected the wires to the batteries. I also ran two other sets of wires. One set is connected to a temperature sensor which is needed to charge at the exact correct voltage. The other set of wires is connected to a 200-amp shunt. That allows me to display the amount of 12 volt current (amps) we are using.

After installing the solar system we boondocked eight days and the system worked perfectly. For eight days we watched TV, made coffee, used our computers, Linda used a hair dryer, warmed food and drinks in the microwave, etc. In other words, we lived a normal daily routine and the solar system furnished all our electrical needs. I will be happy to answer any solar questions - technical or non-technical. Just click here to send me an e-mail. If you want to check out Alternate Means' website go to http://www.amsolar.com. Below are two pictures of my solar system. Oh yes, What did it cost? As I said we got the best solar panels, controller, mounts and installed it with the best wiring and connectors and added the shunt option. The entire system including shipping and every screw - $2,515.46. We could have purchased a similar system much cheaper, but we plan to use it many years and we wanted it to be efficient and trouble free.