Adding Portable Solar Panels to Our Camping Gear

In my last blog, I left you hanging with another purchase we made from Facebook Marketplace. Yes, Steve found another deal! 

We have been debating on the solar installation on our new-to-us Winnebago View. 

On our last motorhome we installed 500 watts of panels on the roof, a Blue Sky MPPT controller, a Trimetric gauge and had a bank of 4 deep cycle six volt batteries.  So we are VERY aware of what a good solar setup needs to be...   

The biggest drawbacks of putting them on the roof:

• You have to park IN the sunshine, and can't find nice campsites in the shade in the summer.  
• The panels are exposed to the elements, including hail.  
• They need to be washed regularly which means getting on a ladder to get up on the roof.  Maybe we are getting too old for that stuff.  
• Not to mention the risk of drilling holes in the roof for the brackets or using that special 3M tape.  
• Then there is the challenge of where to route the cables down through the roof into the interior of the rig out of sight, then guiding them down into the battery bay.  

Lots of installation decisions there. We had done it before, and we are thinking we don't want to do that again. 

So please don't judge us harshly on this new option we chose. 

This time we opted for portable solar panels instead of mounting permanent ones on the roof. That way we can park in shady campsites and just set them up when we need them.  We can stretch out the long cord with the solar panels set on the stands in the sunny portions of the campsite. My sister does this and it works very well for her. 

We checked out some of the "suit case" models which are more pricey, and also are aware of the limitations on the additional controllers that need to be bought to use with them. 

So here are our reasons to go with a portable setup:

• We felt at this time we weren't about to invest a LOT of money into a new solar setup.  
• We are almost totally 12 volt and have all LED lighting in the new rig. Even the two tv's are 12 volt.  
• We have a nice 1,000 watt inverter in the rig if I want to curl my hair or run something 120v AC.
• I have a small portable 400 watt inverter if I want to use my (non-computerized) sewing machine. 
• We really don't think we need a lot of battery recharging other than a few hundred watts of panels.  (we do have a propane Onan 3600 Watt generator built in if we need it)  
• The seller just put in 2 brand new 12 volt batteries, so we aren't planning on upgrading them anytime soon into a bank of 6 volt ones. We do know that 6 volt batteries hold a charge longer, but why turn in 2 brand new 12 volt batteries for a $30 core charge each, when buying some other new 6 volt batteries? 

SOOOOO those are the reasons we opted to get a small portable solar setup for the near future.  We can always sell it if we upgrade to something different later.

Steve spied a set of two 100 watt kits on Facebook Marketplace the other day.... brand new. They retail on Amazon for $220.22 or at Harbor Freight for $189.99 each.  This guy was selling them for only $100 each.  They were near his brother Pete's house, so we called Pete and asked him to snap them up for us. We picked them up from Pete on our way back after camping at Kettle Moraine on Friday. 

The price was right at approximately half of what it would have cost us to buy them new. The seller had picked them up for another reason and said that they weren't going to work for what he had intended, so he never even bothered to open them. He said his loss, our gain!

With two sets totaling 200 watts, it should be enough to top off our batteries each day. 

We decided to set up one set, and get them going to test them out.  These are the exact same ones my sister has that charges up their camper battery, their boat battery, and their cell phones via USB ports when they are camping.  Each panel has it's own little stand, and all 4 hook together onto one cable that leads back to the controller.  I am going to pick up some little tent stakes to secure them down in breezy conditions. 

These are amorphous panels, that they can create a charge even in cloudy or shaded conditions, unlike the monocrystalline type panels that need full exposure with no shaded areas to get a full charge. 

The cables are long enough to extend out quite a ways from the RV.  This is nice because we can park in the shade and move the panels around to the sunny spots on the campsite. 

The kits come complete with the attached foldable stands, the cords, the solar controller, even some additional LED lights that can be hung up within the campsite. Those are kinda cute! 

We programmed the controller to use lead acid batteries, and set the parameters of normal load, boost and float.  We decided to store it in a plastic container and will cut little access slits for the cords. This will keep it clean and dry when out on the ground. 

Our motorhome came equipped with some external charging lugs that were mounted in place by the previous owner. So it will be quite easy to just clamp onto the lugs and charge up the batteries without even having to access the batteries underneath the stairs.

We set them up and they started charging right away.... this is going to be a test for taking only one set with us this week when we go up in the woods.  I am going to sew some soft flannel sleeves to store them in, so they don't get scratched.  They store easily on their sides, lengthwise in the passenger side compartment so they don't take up too much space. 

I ordered a nifty QuickLynks bluetooth battery monitor gauge that we can access via our smart phones.

https://a.co/d/1b1oHF2

 This will be a lot easier than using the OnePlace digital readout up over the fridge. 

~~~~~~~~~~

When we got home Friday from camping,

we had a surprise...  

New Neighbors moved in to the top of our wreath

on our front porch! 

Mommy and Daddy Wren will soon have four little ones to take care of.  So we will stay away from this part of the porch and leave them to raise their family in peace.  This may be the same couple who was here last year? 

I had a wonderful Mothers Day with many well-wishes from family and friends.  Our youngest daughter Heather and husband Jesse, along with grandkids Jameson and Whitney came to visit.  They brought a lovely card, a pack of Red Vines licorice, and this beautiful necklace!  

It is "missing" two pieces of my heart.......  

Why are they "missing"??

Because both of the center sections are hanging from necklaces from Heather and other daughter Erin's necks!!! Awwwwww They have the pieces of my heart! 

What a thoughtful and touching gift,

so full of family love between mother and daughters. 

The other family came over later, and brought in some gifts too. This is older daughter Erin, husband Waylen and three kids, Chelsea Clayton and Claire. They presented me with a fun camping tee shirt, and some of my favorite treats. They also gave me a dice game called Left Center Right and will teach me to play it when we go camping together. 

Then 13 year old Chelsea gave us a hand made cribbage board for our camper!  She made it in 7th grade shop class and learned how to use a drill press and woodburning software on a machine to do the lettering.

It was a gorgeous morning in Wisconsin, and the weather is finally feeling like spring.  We brought up my coleus plants that I wintered over in the basement, and also some ivy that I sprouted and repotted.  Soon they can be planted outdoors... .but we had FROST this morning, so these still have to be brought into the garage at night for another week or so. 

Tonight was sketti and meatballs and garlic bread for supper. yummmmm  now we are going to take a walk and wheel those plants back into the garage. 

Stay tuned for our next camping adventure, we will try out the solar panels and monitor our battery consumption.