Solar RV Systems - Free Electricity on the Open Road
Using an RV motor home to travel is a great way to see the country with the family.
You have a comfortable dwelling with most of your daily electrical appliances on board.
There are many RV campsites available around the country.
Most sites will offer electricity supply which you can plug into.
However, if you were to spend a few days on the site, the electricity cost will add up very fast.
To save cost, many RV owners are installing solar power kits on their vehicle.
The kits will enable the RV to have a constant supply of electricity which can be used to power their television, satellite dish, microwave oven, hot water heater etc.
However, a commercial solar kit for motor homes can be quite expensive.
A system that can generate 330 watts will cost more than $2700! Most people will not be able to afford that.
There is a cheaper solution though, you can build the solar system via a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach.
The solar energy system is actually quite simple.
The key components are the solar panels, charge controller, battery units and power inverter.
The heart of the system, which are the solar panels are fastened to the roof of the RV.
The panels are made from a semi-conductive material known as Photovoltaic (PV) cells.
PV cells are capable of producing an electric current when exposed to direct sun light.
Located on the roof of the RV, it will have maximum sun light coverage.
All the solar panels are connected to 2 main cables which are the positive and negative runs.
The cables are to be connected to the charge controller.
The function of the charge controller is to use the power generated by the panels to charge the battery units.
Deep cycle batteries will be used to store the electric current.
This type of battery is suitable because it is very durable and can be discharged to a very low level and produces a steady flow of electricity.
If you have 5 family members on the RV, 4 - 6 units of deep cycle batteries will be able to stored sufficient power for consumption.
Since the batteries can only hold Direct Current (DC), the power inverter will be used to convert the DC to Alternate Current (AC).
All modern electronic gadgets are designed to run on AC.
The last stage is to run an extension cable from the power inverter throughout your RV.
This will allow easy access to the power generated by the solar system.
You have a comfortable dwelling with most of your daily electrical appliances on board.
There are many RV campsites available around the country.
Most sites will offer electricity supply which you can plug into.
However, if you were to spend a few days on the site, the electricity cost will add up very fast.
To save cost, many RV owners are installing solar power kits on their vehicle.
The kits will enable the RV to have a constant supply of electricity which can be used to power their television, satellite dish, microwave oven, hot water heater etc.
However, a commercial solar kit for motor homes can be quite expensive.
A system that can generate 330 watts will cost more than $2700! Most people will not be able to afford that.
There is a cheaper solution though, you can build the solar system via a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach.
The solar energy system is actually quite simple.
The key components are the solar panels, charge controller, battery units and power inverter.
The heart of the system, which are the solar panels are fastened to the roof of the RV.
The panels are made from a semi-conductive material known as Photovoltaic (PV) cells.
PV cells are capable of producing an electric current when exposed to direct sun light.
Located on the roof of the RV, it will have maximum sun light coverage.
All the solar panels are connected to 2 main cables which are the positive and negative runs.
The cables are to be connected to the charge controller.
The function of the charge controller is to use the power generated by the panels to charge the battery units.
Deep cycle batteries will be used to store the electric current.
This type of battery is suitable because it is very durable and can be discharged to a very low level and produces a steady flow of electricity.
If you have 5 family members on the RV, 4 - 6 units of deep cycle batteries will be able to stored sufficient power for consumption.
Since the batteries can only hold Direct Current (DC), the power inverter will be used to convert the DC to Alternate Current (AC).
All modern electronic gadgets are designed to run on AC.
The last stage is to run an extension cable from the power inverter throughout your RV.
This will allow easy access to the power generated by the solar system.
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