Our 1000 Watt,  1170AH Solar System

So the main heart and soul of our trailer is the solar system. It allows us the total freedom to stay/camp/park wherever we want for as long as we want to stay. Do we need full hookups, NO. Do we need RV Parks, NO!!! Do we still use full hookups and RV parks? You Bet!!! We still need to empty our tanks occasionally, both black and gray tanks. We also need to refill our fresh water tanks occasionally as well. BUT, having the freedom to do what we want, when we want, is a fantastic benefit to our trailering adventures, many times saving us rather large camping fees as well... These filling and draining operations can also be found for FREE at many rest stops and other facilities for those of us on the road, so an RV park is NOT required, but it is an awesome optional choice. Another perk of staying at most RV parks is their laundry facilities, and yes when your on the road for extended periods of time, this becomes necessary! And relaxing in a hot tub while those white laundry machines are working, is MUCH better than sitting and sweating in a commercial laundry mat somewhere on main street... 

So the RV Solar World is a huge industry nowadays, and you can choose about every option from a power tool battery charging option, to a full blown "run everything possible" option as well. So whats the difference? Well to honestly answer this in a nutshell... MONEY!!! There is a term that all RV solar consumers should know, and it's called "The Solar Rabbit Hole". Once you start it is very easy to fall into this, and that's when the price goes up dramatically. $25 grand is not overly outrageous if your going for all the bells and whistles, and around the $2 grand range is a entry level no thrills system. Do we have the "Full Blown" option? NO... Do we fall somewhere in the middle of the "Solar Rabbit Hole" YES.... Does it do everything that the trailer has to offer? Well our system does everything but run the Air Conditioning. At this point we do not need to worry about AC, in the future we might. IF we make that decision, we will definitely fall farther into the "Rabbit Hole".... The main thing we would have to add is a full coach inverter that transforms 12 volt power to 110 volts supplying the entire coach, and run the wiring to make that happen. For now, if we get into overly hot temps, we will choose that "Full Hookup" RV park including electricity. Actually full hookups would not only include the 110v power needed to run the AC, but many times also includes the deep cooling & relaxing effects of the above mentioned pool, a win win situation.....

What is really cool about this system is the ability to monitor and control everything from almost anywhere in the world with the Victron GlobalLink 520, the Victron Connect phone app and/or any internet connection and a browser. WHAT??? Yup, crazy huh???

So our solar system in a nutshell:

1000 watts of Solar Panels:
     800 watts Future Solutions (fixed-4 @ 200w panels) on the roof
     200 watt Zamp portable/movable suitcase panel with built in controller
990 Amp Hours of LiFePo4 Smart Lithium Batteries
     3 @ 330 amp smart/Bluetooth batteries we have moved into the pass through area
Jackery 2000w portable power supply with inverter (about 180 Amp Hours at 12v)
Victron 100/50 MPPT Smart Solar Controller
Victron Smart Shunt
Victron GlobalLink 520
Assorted bus bars, fuses, circuit breaks etc...

So in reality what does this all mean??? It means that if we are not connected to power we can run everything in the trailer besides the Air Conditioning off our solar system. All the smaller 110 volt appliances like the Keurig, Microwave, etc is handled by the Jackery 2000 (which we recharge by using the Zamp panel mostly). The 800 watts on the roof handles everything else very easily. How long can we do this? Depends on a few factors, but mostly sunshine, but even in cloudy conditions our batteries are usually back to full charge by mid afternoon. If the sun is out, by 10am most times. If we are in cold weather and have to run the furnace for heat, that adds to the battery recovery rate, but even after 3 days in cold cloudy weather the lowest we have seen our power level is 85%, which means we only used 15% of our total storage capacity. The nicest thing about this system, and Victron in particular, is the ability to monitor and control everything using Bluetooth and our cell phones. We have not added the Victron Cerbo GX component yet, which would allow us to do so via our internet connection (Starlink), but in reality until we step up to the full blown inverter system we don't really need it. The cost at this point to do so is probably somewhere in the $2500+ range which means, Yep, FARTHER into the Rabbit Hole.... BUT, the draw for total remote monitoring of the system and the lack of needing the Jackery for 110 volt use,  is a HUGE baited hook that is dangling right there and really hard to avoid biting.... Somewhere in the future? Probably,,,, uuhhhh.... YES... Stay Tuned!!!

We have to inject here a little about our Zamp portable solar panel and how we use it. Even through we have an external plug on the outside of our trailer where we could plug it in to add another 200 watts of charging power to the trailer system, we hardly ever do that. We use that panel mostly to charge the Jackery 2000 which it does very nicely. The external solar charging port on the trailer we use as a 12v power supply whenever we need to setup the Starlink Mini outside of the trailer (if we are parked in heavy tree cover and need to set it up anywhere within 200 feet of the trailer where it will get reception). The majority of the time the Starlink Mini is mounted inside the trailer on spring bars in the skylight area so that it is not an attraction to draw unwholesome thieving type persons. If we are in tree cover where the Starlink does not work, it is pretty much ignored and we go old school style, "communication blackout" and enjoy each other and nature rather than worrying about the rest of the world.

Our Little tricks of the solar world you ask????

Keep all your runs to the batteries the same size wire and length. 
Use breakers in both the battery and solar runs so that you can shut each side off independently as needed. 
Use high grade bus bars, fuses, terminals, in all your wiring. 
Keep the wires on the roof as short and tight as possible. 
Hook up your solar panels in both series and parallel to increase voltage and utilizing smaller size supply wires. 
Use nothing but high grade solar components - VICTRON is THE ONLY way to go!!!(In Our Humble Opinion) 
Do as much research as possible, including analyzing your power consumption needs, BEFORE spending any money!!! 
Whatever depth of the Rabbit Hole you are thinking of going, if you want to go anywhere off grid, don't agonize, JUST DO IT!!!