How To Solar Power EVERYTHING In Your RV | Trailer When Camping Off Grid!

The Professor shows how to run a 15k BTU RV air conditioner and other major appliances for free on solar when dry camping / boondocking off the grid in a RV / Trailer / Camper / Van!
UPDATE! Many of you keep thinking I "can't" charge my batteries while running the a/c and that is incorrect!. What I said was I don't have enough solar to (fully) charge my batteries while running a/c. My batteries DO in fact charge while running the a/c they just won't "top up" because I only have 1280w on the roof!

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#solar #RV #battery #offgrid #DIYsolar #boondocking #rvlife #rvliving #vanlife

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[HOBOTECH]

UPDATE! Many of you keep thinking I "can't" charge my batteries while running the a/c and that is incorrect!. What I said was I don't have enough solar to (fully) charge my batteries while running a/c. My batteries DO in fact charge while running the a/c they just won't "top up" because I only have 1280w on the roof!
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[richeastmain]

Thanks for showing a real life application for the all the solar, inverter, battery and charger stuff I have been collecting over the years! It sure beats watching a space heater draining a battery to zero. Very cool, literally.

[aussieuGA]

Fun stuff! It's nice we are getting to a point where high discharge batteries can now run the loads we want. As we move forward, I can see videos will be made showing new batteries that are physically smaller in size so you can add more of them in the same space.

[destinysisco]

Im sure i will have to watch 1000 more times to get an understanding of using solar energy and equipment.

[Goandgetit]

I have
900 amp lifepo4 batteries 24 volt
12k mini split air conditioner
3500 watts solar
3000 watt Growatt inverter
30 ft class c motorhome
So yea I believe you.
Lot of the equipment I have is based on your reviews.

[euigcgm]

Zing! Right over my head. I really need the nursery school version of this.

[CurtisDrew]

So glad I subscribed to your channel months ago. I just picked up this same Power Queen 300 WH batteries for my class A Motorhome. (On sale $1560 for the pair.) They fit perfectly in my 89 Fleetwoods battery compartment. I modified that space to an HD slide out tray years ago to ease battery maintenance. I'll be installing solar panels on my coach that are mounted in 2 large roof racks that were made to be hay racks on a horse trailer. I'm currently building a raise up solar tracking system for those 2 roofracks that will store the 2 panels (each rack) in flat position then can be raised with actuators to the upright position and allow the EcoFlo solar tracking system to follow the daily sun path. The roofracks will provide a limb proof cage around my panels as well as secure nesting pads for the panels to park on. And will not be any taller than the 2 Coleman 1500 btu ac units that are already up there.
I'll probably follow your list you provided as I want to retain my RV's power distribution panel as you did in this video.
Wish me luck. It's a slow build that I'm purchasing the pieces one at a time every month. Also repowered the coach (Long story) and need to concentrate on getting it back on the road first....😊

Great videos!

[tristramstout]

That built-in original RV charger looks just like the one in my 2006 trailer. I know you said your toy hauler is a “newer model” RV. Just noting that some things don’t change too much.

[mickeybrumfield]

Impressive performance by your Power Queen batteries. You should be proud of your set up.

[mikemcguire]

Thanks for the side-by-side comparison. Too often we can get locked in one setup and forget to look for similar options with same desired final outcome.

[volt]

I boondock permanently. I have 5.5kw solar array, 10kw storage and 2x 3kw inverters.

I'm in Florida with no shade, my AC is on constantly and only cycles down at night.

During the day the outside gets to 100 to 115f and inside is usually 85 to 95 if I start cooking.

I believe it is a 14k BTU AC and it consumes around 1.5kw while it's on.

From around 10AM till about 5PM I charge around 12% peak while the AC is on, however I never get to a full battery by the end of the day. If we leave the RV for about 2 hours we will come back to full batteries.

We are needing to add an additional 5kw of storage and an additional 1kw - 2kw of panels so that we can get to a full state of battery by the end of the day even with the AC on during the day so that we have AC during the night.

[teuton]

Loved the Back to the Future reference, but I don’t think those batteries can generate the 1.21Gigawatts necessary to run the Flux Capacitor.

[crazyhorse]

Thanks for posting this video!
I also have a SunGoldPower 3000/9000 inverter-charger. Ours is a year newer and it has the lifepo4 charge setting although I use the AGM setting. It does a very nice job of powering our camper, including the rooftop air.

[Endless_Skyway_Adventures]

We have 2 (300Ah) lithium batteries in our cargo trailer conversion.
We have 2 (100Ah) lithium batteries in our van.
These are independent systems.
600 watts of panels on van, 600 watts of panels on trailer. 400 watts of ground panels.
We run a shore power cable from the van inverter to the trailer. To power a charger which we know wastes some energy, but we have a surplus when the sun shines. As long as the sun shines we can run our 5000 BTU air conditioner which uses an average of 250 -300 watts (450 peak). We can run through the night and recover for a couple days. We can’t run an electric heater through the night because it draws 600 watts.
So we do carry a rarely needed generator. We have actually never needed the ground panels but we travel mostly in the winter.

[pineychristian]

I have solar on my rv. I will say the best upgrade you can do on solar is the batteries. Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries or called lifePo4 batteries. Only because of how they discharge and charge up. The take longer to drain them ( discharge) and they actually charge better due to their design .

[tekdragon]

Victron makes such awesome gear! I mean, ALL that gear is pretty awesome, but when it comes to homebrew, I have found Victron to be an excellent bang for the buck. Enjoy your vids as always!

[EarthEncountersTravel]

Prof Hobo, thanks for all tips and tricks lots of good info 👍🏽

[hryjfoh]

Cool setup! Out here in SoCal electricity is getting crazy cost wise. I was running an off-grid MPP with a Li Time 12V for my office to help supplement. After my last electric bill (😒), I decided to up the game a tad. Got me a V 24v Li Time and a Growatt All-in-one. With 1200w's of panels in series {Current MPP Imp(A): 12.60A Voltage Open Circuit Voc(V): 20.52V }, it easily powers my 12k Mini-Split in Eco mode and my office all day with juice left over for charging the battery. Obviously toward the end of the day, what's coming in is upside down to what's going out and the battery will start going down and I have to start picking and choosing as you mentioned..but thats about 700 -900 watts not coming from the utility now for a large part of the day. Panel power is the key to success~ BTW, Love the videos, have a good one.

[Bob.W.]

7680 wh on the Power Queens and 5, 000 wh on the EcoFlow. Not bad.

[brucekrisko]

The biggest problem with adding solar panels to your camper is that you mostly park it under trees while camping. My rsvp has 2000 watts of panels on the roof, and I typically get 2 -300 watts. Keep a large battery bank and a backup generator.