Solar panels are popular among RVers looking for sustainable and flexible power solutions. For some, they represent the ultimate RVing independence, allowing them to camp comfortably without relying on traditional hookups. These RVers often rely on solar as their primary power source, enjoying the freedom to park in more remote spots while keeping the lights on, the fridge running, and even powering devices like laptops and TVs. For those dedicated to this off-grid lifestyle, solar power has opened up endless opportunities to travel without boundaries.
Others use solar as a backup or supplementary source, giving them peace of mind if they’re staying somewhere without reliable power. These RVers typically use solar alongside a generator or campground hookups, giving them options based on where they’re staying and the weather conditions. This setup allows them flexibility, often covering essential needs with solar and reserving generators for high-power demands.
Meanwhile, some RVers have solar panels but aren’t fully reliant on them, often using them for smaller devices or minimal power needs. This group may prefer the occasional convenience of solar without committing to a full off-grid setup. Solar panels can still reduce their dependency on traditional power sources, and in many cases, they’re a way to test the waters with renewable energy.
Then there are RVers who haven’t embraced solar power at all, often due to initial costs, installation concerns, or limited usage needs. For those who primarily stay at campgrounds with reliable hookups, solar might seem unnecessary. But as solar technology advances and costs come down, even traditional campground-goers may start to see the appeal.
After you vote in today’s poll, please feel free to leave a comment and share your solar experiences. Thanks!
I have a solar panel on my dashboard that I route through a power manager to keep my house batteries topped off. It’s not a main power source, but more for peace of mind.
I have a small solar panel that I can use to keep either engine or house batteries charged. It can also be used to keep my portable battery pack charged.
Our camper’s solar panels and LFP batteries supply most of the electrical energy we use when boondocking or dry camping. However, we also have a DC-DC charger to charge the batteries from the truck alternator while driving on not-so-sunny days.
We have solar and it comes in pretty hsndy.
Not only when boondocking but if electric goes out in campground dur to weather or other circumstances.
Love it and its pretty inexpensive nowadays.
Bought our set up from Renogy.
They also offer a payment plan
We can go solar only if needed, we just need to power our small fridge, lights and fans, if we have shore power the air conditioner and microwave will be used.
My only solar is a 10w panel specifically for battery maintenance when the TT is in storage without access to AC power.
Another loberal fiasco
What do you mean?
Like kool aid?
I have 600 watts on the roof of my 20′ travel trailer and 400 watts on the ground. Combined with 400ah battery and 2000 watt inverter I can run everything I want indefinitely. We recently had a prolonged power outage at our house. I ran the refrigerator and a large freezer using the inverter and a couple good extension cords. Hard to beat that!
I had a solar panel on my last RV which was great at keeping my batteries charged. My current RV does not have solar, and a solar addition is not currently in the plans. I keep the charger plugged into 20amp
We use our solar panels to reduce the run time on our generator to reduce maintenance and fuel costs but I’m not sure the R.O.I. is as fantastic as some might think.
There is no R.O.I. when the alternator, generator or pedestal’s charging the batteries or when there’s insufficient sunlight.
Figuring four 100 watt panels, cable and the MPPT Controller, my hardware costs were roughly $1.25 per watt added, not including my batteries. Sure, power is “free” after that but only when the amps are coming from no other source and the batteries are lowest when the sun is highest…..
The cost to install 1600 watts on the roof of our motorhome to feed 4 x 100ah LiFePO4 batteries was very quickly recovered in less than 2 years by not having to pay expensive RV park daily fees! Not needing to be tied to a power post …. priceless!
We can run everything except the ac off our Lipo batteries and inverter. 120 ac fridge included. 700 watts on the roof keep everything running smoothly.
We have a small (~20′) travel trailer. We don’t have a generator, by choice, for many reasons. Most years, much of our camping is dry, i.e. in campgrounds without hookups. We run two sets of solar panels, one for the trailer battery, one for our Goal Zero Yeti 300. The system works great for us.
If it’s going to be too hot or cold, we try to stay in powered campgrounds.
Nope. Just something else to fix when it breaks.
Not much can “break” in a solar system.
Our new trailer has 400w of solar on the roof and we had no problem on an eight stay without electric, even with the 12v refrigerator. We had just a 120w solar suitcase that we used on our previous trailer and went a week at a time without a problem, but had a electric/propane refrigerator.
The campervan house runs completely on lithium batteries charged by solar panels, a robust and trouble-free system i built. The travel trailer has both lithium batteries, solar, and propane.
We use solar when we are off grid. Whether we are off grid depends on our trip. Our most recent 6 weeks out had us in camp grounds all but 6 nights. A year ago, our October trip had us off grid about 3/4 of the days. On a sunny day, our solar will recharge the batteries easily.
OH MAN! 12Vdc fridge and solar panels is a game changer for us especially on travel days!
I don’t have solar. I’m a person who looks at “cost efficiency” and soon concluded the cost of installing a solar setup was significantly higher than simply running my generator as needed. I usually only need to run it a few hours a day and I don’t need be concerned about parking in the sun or rainy days.
”A few hours a day” …hope you take into consideration anyone camped near by
My generator falls well below the 60 decibels within a 50 foot radius per NPS regulation and within operation times.
Our Class A is not set up for solar, but we have a trio of Jackery units for varying uses, along with the solar panels to charge them. We can only use them to power things that plug in (120AC or USB) but that saves using precious battery power or running the generator for the “toys”. We go to dog sport events (Rally & Agility) and can run the laptop, recharge the phones, tablet etc, that we use to record our performance at the events. We also use them during power outages at our home base. We can even run our propane wall furnace for several (combined total) hours off the biggest of the units, as well as having lights, fan to move the heat, etc
When I got my solar 5 years ago I figured it would pay for itself after about 200 days of boondocking…since then I’ve been able to boondock about a dozen times! Not a good investment so far but on my trip this winter I will be boondocking almost the whole time. Hopefully it won’t rain too much like the last time I traveled that direction.
I have a travel trailer with one 160 watt solar panel on the roof and a suitcase panel with 90 watts directly to the battery. I am going to add another solar panel on the roof (probably 200 watt), upgrade my 1000 watt inverter to a 2000 watt inverter, two lithium batteries, and a Victron battery monitor. With this I can run my 800 watt microwave for 5-6 minutes and my mini-Keurig coffee maker without having to start my Honda 2000 watt generator. That means more dry-camping and Harvest Host without generator noise!