Running A Full Sized Solar Panel On An Rv

If running a solar system to power electrical items in your rv is new to you and you want to try it on a small scale this 12 volt kit is ideal.

Running a full sized solar panel on an rv.

For cable run lengths typical in rv applications we recommend 8 gauge for 10 amp systems 6 gauge wire for 30 amp systems 4 gauge wire for 40 amps systems and 2 gauge for 100a systems. Basically the rv solar panels route to a solar charge controller which sends the energy your panels have created to the on board battery system. Remember back when we decided to rip out our rv refrigerator because it kicked the bucket and lived out of a cooler for a year. As you can see operating a large refrigerator on just solar can become very expensive.

I don t know too many people who rv under those conditions. How do rv solar panels work. Lastly i connected my four renogy 100 watt panels in parallel running 10 awg wires from the panels to a rooftop mounted combiner box. For example to charge a 12v rv house battery you should pair it with a single 12v solar panel or multiple 12v panels wired in parallel.

Well folks those days are long behind us. If you pair a pwm controller with solar panels that have a higher voltage than your battery the controller won t be able to use all of the current and will waste some of the generated electricity. It s called a controller because it modifies how much energy reaches the battery so as not to overcharge them. 7824 watt hrs day 160watts panel x 5 hours sunlight per day 9 78 10 panels.

The panels create an electric current each time the sun hits them. The renogy solar panels came with short wires with mc4 connectors attached from the factory. Solar panels are sold in varying sizes but a 100 watt panel is a commonly found size particularly for rvs. Solar panel mc4 connectors connecting panels to combiner box.

This is the one that will control the amount of current that gets into the battery. The produced electric current is then fed into a charge controller. Renogy 100 watt solar kit 30 amp charge controller cables. Currently as we speak our self installed rv solar panels are completely running our new refrigerator.

Since the panels in our systems are always connected in parallel you can assume about 6 amps per 100 watts of solar panels. Rv solar panels work by converting sunlight into electricity or power. If you are looking at this for an rv check out the rv solar panel guide as well use a solar calculator for a realistic estimate a solar power calculator will require some work on your end in terms of inputting what you want solar power for and looking at the wattage of your devices and appliances. Besides the 8 batteries and 10 panels a couple adequate sized charge controllers and a smart battery charger would also be required for this example.