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tbcollins

New member
Joined
Feb 17, 2013
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4
Location
El Cajon, CA
Recently retired from the Navy. Will be selling / renting my house in Southern CA. Establishing a residence address in South Dakota through one of the mail forwarding services. Hoping to get a little insight on some things from anybody who knows anything, since I will be buying a Palamino Columbus 320RS probably in July and living / traveling full time. Was wondering if this unit ( http://www.solarblvd.com/Solar-Panels-&-Systems-Off-Grid-Solar-Power-Systems/c1_57/p1274/240-watt-A/C-Off-Grid-Solar-Power-System/product_info.html) is good enough to supply power to the RV and what else I would need (ie. #of 12v batteries or 6v batteries) I see people seem to recommend 2 6v over 12v not sure why. Any other things I should get to be prepared for full timing? Plan to get a Honda EU3000is Generator - CARB-Compliant.
 
Your link doesn't work.

Basically there is not enough room on the roof of an RV to put up enough solar panels to totally power an RV. Unless you are using very little electricity. Are you planning on boondocking full time or staying in RV parks and boondocking only occasionally?

Have you read this article from the library here?

http://www.rvforum.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=435:fulltimeprep&catid=29:fulltiming&Itemid=45
 
Sorry don't know what happened with the link, but fixed it now and yes have the fulltiming 101 bookmarked. 
Thanks
 
That system is pretty small for an RV or house with only a 300w inverter.  Might want to look at something designed for an RV.  Like the 280 watt version here:

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/RV.html#offgridweekender

You would still need an inverter.  Suggest 1000 - 2000 watts

Golden rule of solar 1 watt of solar for every 1 amp hour of batter bank.  For the above system you would need about 300 amp hours of batterys.  Wont even get into a battery discussion here.

For more info try:

http://www.rv-dreams.com/our-rv-electrical.html
 
Welcome tb,

Hang around here a while & you'll learn what you didn't even know you didn't know.

If you are not familiar with the military FamCamps take a look at http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/index.php
The FamCamps are one of our nicer benefits. 

My recommendation on Solar would be to wait until you've been in your RV at least a couple of years.  There's a lot of info out there but I recently stumbled across this. http://www.jackdanmayer.com/rv_electrical_and_solar.htm

Joel
Army Retired
 
SeilerBird said:

Basically there is not enough room on the roof of an RV to put up enough solar panels to totally power an RV. Unless you are using very little electricity.

I do not mean to start any arguement.  All I can do is state my experience. I have 4 150 watt panels on my roof (35 ft fith wheel) and have room for 3 more. I have 4 225 amp  6 volt batteries and a 1500 watt converter. I can go (and have gone for 3 months)  indefinetly without hooking up or running a generator. We use an electric coffee maker, the microwave, tv, two laptops and all the other RV related stuff--lights .furnace, pump. We do not run the heavy draw items at the same time as it will overload the converter. I have never drawn the batteries below 50% charge. Most of the time, we draw them down to 75%. 
 
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