I’m a rookie and this discussion was the first Ive heard that started to make complete sense to me! Thank you to both of you!

VERY well done ! 7 years ago I spent a year studying solar watching a lot of KZfaq, and talking to a lot of people. I was getting paralysis by analysis so I decided to just jump in feet first into the shallow end. I started with just 1-100W glass panel, + PWM. I was going to go flex panels but the local distributer quit carrying them due to all the issues. I couldn't bring myself to drill holes in the roof for fear of leaks and the added weight as I may add more panels. So I "chase the sun". Since then I have added a second 100W glass + 2-100W new design flex panels. Running them on two different charge controllers. I usually only use 2 panels but if the need arises I add the other 2; when we use the small 600W inverter. We are not full timers but do go out 1x a month for 4-5 days and a couple of extended trips a yr. Boondocking 75% of the time. I carry a small generator as a back up, but in 6 years I doubt it has 20 hours on it. I just added 2-100amp hr LIPO4. We have camping friends with huge systems; but we find we do not need it. So as you both stated; do some homework first. I'm still learning & talking to others.

Nice job. We been using Rich solar panels way before anyone else. We are the reason Amsolar and battleborn use them. When people ask me how much solar they need, my exact answer is as much as the roof can fit.

Really enjoyed this video, we got a chance to walk thru Jeff's rig at party on plamosa. It was amazing and thank you for opening up your home for us to see. On a side note, we too have Rich Solar panels (600 watts) and they have been wonderful for us. We installed them in August 2021 and they have been great. We saw the video that Will did giving them a great review for performance and price.- Great Video Aaron

Great video. Jeff and Deb have an amazing setup with their Paradigm.

Great content Aaron! Some really practical advice and ideas. Hadn't considered winter sun angles and only getting around 50% of normal solar input.

Great interview. I also used Rich Solar 24v panels on my Airstream Basecamp 20X. I could only fit 600 watts which will handle all our boondocking needs except for the AC. Nice to see others are also using the Rich Solar panels.

Great conversation about solar. A lot of nuggets here. I'm more into power stations and panels but cool Convo none the less.

Thanks, I really enjoyed the video. I always get great ideas from what others of a similar mindset have done. We've been FT for 4 years now, and we've found we like to boondock most of the time. Last year we wintered over at the LTVAs in the Q/Yuma area after boondooking all through the mountains of Colorado. We're in S. TX now but next year we plan on returning to the Yuma area. We have a smaller solar set-up but are in the process of expanding it. We only have a 620-watt array, but it is mounted on the side of our MH so we can lift it to the correct angle without climbing on the roof. We used gas struts, so it practically lifts itself. This produces about 20% more power vs flat mounted ones - even more in the winter when the sun is low on the horizon. We just replaced our 2 well used FLA GC-2s with a custom-made LiFePo-4 battery made from 8, 280ah prismatic cells, to make a 12v 560ah bank that has over 5 times the usable Kwh of our old batteries. It's about like having 2 BB Gamechangers and is certainly a game changer for us. These fit perfectly under the steps of our motorhome, where our old GC-2 batteries used to reside, saving about 35 lbs too. We bought a 130 A Radio B Tech BMS but discovered that it doesn't flow enough current to start our 5,500-watt generator, so we ordered a 330-amp Heltec BMS and are currently waiting for it to arrive. To all those in a motorhome thinking of building your own LiFePo-4 batteries, don't make this mistake, unless your generator starts with your chassis battery. Even if using premade LiFePo-4 batteries, be sure their built-in BMS permits enough current flow for your application. For example, 2 - 100ah BB batteries in parallel have 400 starting ah, whereas cheaper batteries may not have a big enough BMS to do the trick. We replaced our Progressive Dynamics 60a converter with an 80a LiFePo-4 compatible one, donating our old equipment to a fellow camper in need, who was very appreciative. We also added a Renogy DC-DC battery charger so we can charge it with our MH's alternator as well as our onboard generator. This completed the 12v phase of our solar system for a total cost of around $3,600, plus a lot of hours learning and building. But the freedom and independence it gives us is well worth it. The money we save on RV parks has already paid for itself. Now it's about time to start on phase 2. We're retired and living off social security with a small pension, so are building it ourselves as we have the available funds. We left our roof free to rack 8 large solar panels down the center, over our AC shrouds later this year. We will mount them on a slight angle (about 4 degrees) for water run-off to help them stay cleaner (as climbing on the roof to clean panels is tougher at my age) and for a slight power boost, as we always park facing east so our liftable array faces true south. We're thinking about using 8 of the new BlueSun 460W Bifacial panels. We will be racking them, so the driver's side of the array will be 16" off the roof and the passenger's side about 10 inches of the roof (to clear our AC shrouds and vents.) This should allow another 10% output off the back of the panels too, from sunlight reflected off our white roof and harvested from the back of these bi-facial panels - especially during off-peak hours and in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky. We will still be able to keep the RV height at its highest point to 12 ft. to minimize clearance issues. We will be using an all-in-one 48V, 3kW, 120V PSW Inverter, 80a controller and 60a ac battery charger by MPP. We will be building a 48v bank using 16, 310ah prismatic cells (15.9Kwh.) For comparison, it's roughly the equivalent of 12, 100ah Battleborns at about 1/3rd their price. That's a little less than 6 Gamechangers, but since we will be retaining our 280ah 12v bank, we will have a total of about 23Kwh of batteries onboard. We will be buying a 38 SEER, super high-efficiency, 9k Btu Blueridge mini-split heat pump for our bedroom and removing our rear 12k btu rooftop AC that we never use anymore since we replaced our 12k Btu front Dometic with a 13.5k Btu Furrion. We will be using a dedicated, 2,000w, 220v PSW inverter to power it. We should be able to put together this second phase for around $9k, which is reasonable for a system of this size, including the mini-split which is less than 1/2 the price of system of this size with premium Battleborn Batteries and Victron components. This second phase will provide 24/7 off-grid air conditioning and heat from the heat pump and allow occasional usage of our new easy start rotary compressor Furrion front rooftop AC to cool things down for peak afternoon demand. The total solar capacity of both arrays, while hard to estimate accurately with bi-facial panels, should be roughly equivalent to 4,600 total watts of solar and give us total off grid electrical independence with little to no back-up generator usage.

Thank you for sharing

Money buys anything. It’s All about how much you can afford, that’s it

Such an amazing set up!!!

This is an awesome setup! I cried myself to sleep after I realized it cost more than my truck and trailer combined.........

I don't see where we would be installing solar on our RV anytime soon, however, I find the technology fascinating. We have solar here at home and love it! Thanks for sharing!

You can always use rubber washers when bolting them to the roof and silicone to let the panels move a little when driving

Great job guys.

Lots of interesting info. Thanks!

I Love The Solar Talk Looking To hearing More

Ive been itching to get some bigger panels but like you guys said, getting a cheap large panel at 250watt could be in the same footprint as a 350 / 400 watt panel. Space is limited in my yard so I'm waiting to get something that's more efficient for the footprint.

Holly smokes that is something !! Thank you for sharing this with me!! As always BS & BK BC !!

Recently saw a video of someone with flexible panels and they had really scorched their roof from the excessive heat. They had recently had a lifetime roof done and credited that with not having the coach catch on fire. My installer pointed to flexible panels on the roof next to us and said that they can really build up excessive heat and strongly recommends not using them.

I went with New Powa rigid panels. So far no issues at all. And it is true, you can never have enough power.

2003, we converted a 1996 Ford CF8000 box-truck to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle. Two decades full-time live-aboard. . Our photovoltaic: * six (6) 305-Watt panels, a total of 1,830-Watts. Our roof is flat, nothing to produce shade. . Our photovoltaic feeds our ancient AGM bank, eight (8) 105ah Conchord Lifeline. . Cost for our photovoltaic: * zero. We -- and our caravan chums -- demolished a massive system on an office building. Everybody got plenty to use, plus plenty to sell. . Twenty-four months twenty-four thousand miles around South America. Alaska, Panama, all over North and Central America. Summers up rough logger tracks to remote mountain lakes. Winters on isolated Baja beaches. Our system is going strong.

Actually in summer months we can run both our 12k mini splits with our solar. We do have 4500 watts of solar panels. Our roof is clean with panels going over vents. 10 450 watt Serphin panels

Great information, we are in the market for home style solar power system, thank you !

Whoa. I'm happy for him, if he's happy with it. I noticed there was no mention of buying and installation costs. That would have scared off 99.9% of viewers. A quick online search of parts will give you an idea of the required investment. How about all those screws and what it does to your roof warranty? I'm a boondocker, too, and am finding with newer cell phones/ipads/drones that charging requirements are greatly reduced (outside of A/C, microwave, hair dryer, etc..), a quiet built-in Onan running on propane is very hard to beat. I'd be curious to see a spreadsheet, comparing this rig's 3k+ watt solar investment to a standard built-in Onan generator investment on propane over a 5 yr period. Without even reaching for a calculator, I can already tell you the generator route is the most cost-effective way to go (by far) and will provide more reliable power anywhere you go regardless of weather than you'll need. Solar doesn't like clouds, so you'll be relying on a huge battery bank for reserve power. Generators don't care. Your factory single or double deep cycle batteries will get power whenever you say they will. Do your own homework, plan where you travel, what your power needs are, and then decide what is best for your own application. Interesting concept going with so much solar. I can understand a few hundred watts solar to keep the coach batteries topped up during the day... but, beyond that, a modern, efficient, and quiet generator barely purring on propane is the winner every time. In my opinion, of course. Peace! Pete in Arizona.

Hey everyone - just note that the Multipluses are 2400 Watts, not 3000. Very important. I wish Victron would stop advertising their product as 3000 VA when they know that everyone will keep saying they're 3000 Watts (continuous). Great video with great points! A major reason to have a big solar system is weather.

3000 watts is definitely at the bottom end of what a person needs. If you plan on being able to live kinda normal then you need a lot more than that and more batteries than that for sure. I use 2 complete leaf battery pack

Great video lots of information to consider. You mentioned mounting your panels to your RV's roof did you consider using a high strength adhesive? I've seen other RV owners using that method and was curious how well it would work and what your thoughts were regarding adhesives. Drilling any kind of hole in your RV is scary!

I live in Rogers, AR and just bought a Grand Design Reflection 287RLTS pull behind. I just sold my Winnebago Class C Navion. with 420 watts of solar. I am interested in putting panels on my new trailer. I'll contact Rich. Thanks for the great video and hi from Rogers, AR!

The shading issue is there with series or parallel. According to Ohms law voltage is equal in parallel and amperage is equal in series. So when one portion is shaded the total power is degraded. As you mentioned having separate charge controllers solves the issue. The smaller controllers are also much cheaper so having 2 may not cause a price increase. Take care.

How about putting your system up on VRM world, I haven't yet, but will shortly.... am in the midst of an upgrade cycle ATM...........

Did your unit come with a solar system from Alliance originally? We ordered our Alliance Valor 40v13 with the solar plus upgrade. A technical question I have is with Flat Fixed panels can you use something for a reflector to maximize performance in the winter 🤔

Did you do a cost comparison to a generator. Propans/gasoline

Tiltable panels would help you guys as well

Really a good conversation with explanations. I intend to mostly do extended boondocking in a smaller travel trailer. I know what I need for my system but due to physical limitations I'm unable to do a lot of the work myself. Where can I find a source for trusted installers? I have seen a couple advertise but holy cow they're ridiculous what they charge.

I thought of a new way to put solar on. Make the solar panel(s) the arning. Slide out from the roof.

Great video Aaron. I toured this rig on Plomosa, but didn’t get a chance to talk to the owners. Why do they have 2 Multiplus II’s if the mini split maxes out at 1000W? Like you said, normal trailer a/c starts around 1900 W.

Inverter type aircons with Danfoss AC/DC pumps are better

Glad to hear Will Prowse being mentioned. I actually think he's a little - self righteous - but he does have really good information!

How much did this whole system cost you to add it to this fifth wheel?

Cool video and the more solar the better. Not going to need less power in the future so over panel whenever possible. They answer their phone? What a great concept in today's world. I have issues with my Victron smart shunt being inaccurate and the dealer did not have the answer. Contacted Victron and two different people over at least 30 emails told me to go pound sand. They insulted me multiple times and all the effort they put in telling me how THEY work they could have solved my issue in one or two emails. Worst customer service EVER!!! I went to Will Prowse's forum and got some help right away. Still not perfect but so much better on the accuracy. Just had to change a few settings. I am in the SW also and have 630 watts and the most I have seen this winter is 300 watts which is enough for my needs.

Jeez that cost a lot of bucks!!!!

How many Amp Hours of battery and what kind does he have?

I'm currently building a system of this size- I have 1600 AH @12v battery bank and am currently seeking 3k watts of panels- do you have a one Victron 250v-100Amp charger or three of them? I thought you said one did the trick (even though one for each series of panels would be better) but in the video I'm thinking I see two chargers in the background and possibly can't see the third? Would be great if you could list all the specific Victron components you used in your setup- thanks for sharing- happy boondocking!

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A great idea for full-timers who are handy is buying used solar panels. They output a little less than new ones but are SUPER cheap. However you often have to pick them up from a warehouse (no shipping) so you need a truck or something to get them. But when you're talking $100 for a 400w panel, it can be worth it!

Perhaps one day manufacturers will make RVs that aren't energy hogs.

That's also 400 lbs on the roof, which should be a consideration.

No such thing as too much power! I want it to be 60F in my rig in the desert and bake cookies with an electronic oven!

That's nice but I can't justify the cost of going from the 200 Watt to 335 Watt panels. We have 6-200 Watt Rich solar panels on our rig. On good days they peak over 1000w of charging power for 2 winter hours. The Rich solar mega 200s are around $300 each. Those 335 Watt are around $3000. Each 😔 $2700 for a extra 135 Watts??? I just can't see the benefit to my wallet. A couple of Mega 200s added will make the same power and save thousands of $$$$$$ unless the manufacturer or someone else is sponsoring the rig at there cost I just don't see it making sense .

So, whoever buys the most batteries wins?

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