Does anybody use solar panels to either keep the house battery charged and/or to run a refrigerator in their truck camper? We have an old (1999) truck camper - plain vanilla variety - and like to camp in the wild without hookups. We have considered purchasing some solar panels to keep our battery charged but don't know much about them. Can anybody tell me what size we need? Our TC is a pop-up so having panels on the roof would add weight we don't need or want to have to crank up. Has anybody used the kind of panels that sit on the ground? Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.rversonline.org/ArtInv.html

As I do not spend that much time in my camper I utilize a Honda 2000i for recharging my battery. At Idol, the generator will run for over 15 hours or so.

Here is a very interesting article for solar charging batteries. I plan on using two 6 volt golf cart batteries for more storage.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago93.html

We have solar panels on both our fifth wheel and our slide-in truck camper: 4 on the fifth wheel, 2 on the camper.

The solar panels will not *run* your refrigerator...the sole purpose of solar panels is to charge batteries. In order to use the batteries to run AC appliances, you will need a properly sized inverter.

However, I would not recommend trying to run a refrigerator on AC using an inverter...it would quickly drain your batteries. When dry camping, run your refrigerator on propane.

What size do you need? That depends entirely on how much roof surface you have and what you want to run. Here are a couple of solar educational pages to help you determine your needs:

1) http://www.amsolar.com/education.html
2) http://www.rvsolarelectric.com/

The second site, in particular, has a LOT of good information, including a worksheet you can use to help you figure out how much power you need. Of course, you'll need to strike a happy balance between the room you have to install everything, the price you want to pay for all of it, and the stuff you want to run.

try this

http://www.amsolar.com/index.html

i hope to have these folks install our when we get on the road

Sunsei Solar Panel

Hello,

You can find panels here Http://www.greenswitchswitchsolar.com

I run my entire camper electrical with a 115 watt panel. The only problem is when parked in areas completely covered by tree branches. Not enough sun.

I bought the cheap 60 watt, 3 panel setup that Coleman sells last summer. I have 3.3 acres near the coast of Washington and drycamp there with a 33ft travel trailer for a couple months in summer. 60 watts was enough to extend the time till I had to take a battery to town and charge, but didn't eliminate the need. I will be adding another 60 watts this summer. For the camper, since it will charge batteries when driving, 60 watts might be enough to give you the additional time you need. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298162 I am thinking of getting 2 more of the kits. One for the roof of our camper, and a 2nd for our travel trailer.

We sell a variety of solar panels.

I have a good guide here: RV Solar Guide

Remember size is everything on a small camper. Our 95 watt solar kit is the most common used on truck campers because its size is so small.

95 Watt Solar Kit

This kit is very efficent. Includes brackets, cables, pwm controller, and tie downs.

Here is a great install story for Vern who is running an Engel fridge on a pair of 95 watt panels.
Solar Camper