Did you know that you can now charge your RV using solar power? The best part about this is that you will not need to hire someone to create an especially-designed solar photovoltaic system. There are simple steps that you can follow in order to set up your own system. Pretty soon, you will be able to compute how much time needs to pass until you get the system to actually pay for itself.
First, you need to know by how much and in what increments you can increase your motor home’s autonomy power. When you are living in a camper, two things can be considered as the most precious commodities of all – water and electricity.
Therefore, it is essential to know how you can save both without resorting to depriving yourself. You can increase the autonomy of power in your camper so you have more leeway to use water and electricity instead of sitting in the dark – and that is by installing a solar panel.
When you stay an entire week in a single place and find your battery to be running low on power, you can easily remedy that with a solar panel. However, you also need to know that such things are both fragile and expensive – so utmost care is essential. During the day time, it is important that you park under full sunlight so you can absorb it and let your solar panels be filled to the brim with it.
Next, you also need to have an estimate of how much power you will actually need. Grab a notebook and a pen and start listing all the power-eating items you have at home – TV, charger, washer, microwave, air-conditioner, dryer and others.
Write the wattage next to each item then note down if they are alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC or battery powered). Estimate how long each item is in use (either minutes or hours) and multiply it by the wattage and how many days in a week you use it.
Next, add all the current needs from each column to get the total so you have an idea of how much actual power you consume on a daily, weekly or a monthly basis. You should then determine which among these items will get their power straight from your solar photovoltaic system or through the system (but you have to charge the battery bank first prior to using the power source).
The appliances which are of the alternating current kind shall require an inverter in order to get power through the direct current.
And finally, you need to know the different parts you have to get to make the photovoltaic system. Specifically, you will need a battery, several photovoltaic panels, a mounting kit, a charge regulator (used to measure the current and the voltage), a display light, one set of cables and one parallel. It is easy to put these things together and you will discover how much power you can save when you decide to use a photovoltaic system for your RV.
