Prioritizing (aka: where should the money go)?

[JimK]

If you are serious about boondocking and solar, I suggest you begin by doing an expected power usage estimate.  You can start here:

http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm

Then think about where you are going to be doing this boondocking, the cloud cover, time of year and whether you expect to be in wooded or open areas.  Then plan the battery bank and number of solar panels to meet most of your expected needs.  It will be much easier and cheaper to do this in advance rather than waiting until you are on the road.  If you are going to handle the install yourself, I would recommend working with one of the many RV solar providers.  If you are going to have the work done, I would recommend going to a specialty RV solar installer and avoid the typical RV dealer and shops.

[Carlos]

3 hours ago, Bigthinkers said:

Their goal was to visit every state in the lower 48.

 

Goal-based travel is called "work."  When I used to travel for work all the time, I had deadlines and goals, and it was work and stress.  It would be crazy to think you can have fun that way.

 

[SWharton]

Have you considered going to the RV Boot Camp? The camp is held across the country at various times. I understand it is a good idea to attend before you even buy an RV.

[TherapyBound]

1 hour ago, JimK said:

Then plan the battery bank and number of solar panels to meet most of your expected needs.  It will be much easier and cheaper to do this in advance rather than waiting until you are on the road. 

We're certain we'll be doing some boondocking, though we don't yet know how much. That's why we figured we'd save toward it, but not  necessarily install it until we've got a better idea of our actual needs. Can you clarify for me why it's cheaper to install it in advance?

[TherapyBound]

1 hour ago, SWharton said:

Have you considered going to the RV Boot Camp? The camp is held across the country at various times. I understand it is a good idea to attend before you even buy an RV.

Yes indeed. It's on our list of must-do preparations!

[JimK]

20 minutes ago, Bigthinkers said:

We're certain we'll be doing some boondocking, though we don't yet know how much. That's why we figured we'd save toward it, but not  necessarily install it until we've got a better idea of our actual needs. Can you clarify for me why it's cheaper to install it in advance?

I don't know where you are planning on traveling but I travel and boondock primarily in the western US. where it is sparsely populated and it could be difficult finding someone reliable and competent to do an install.  Not only are there fewer choices but it can be difficult to get good information and references.  Where I live I know who to call to get work done or to get referrals.  Even batteries can be difficult.  Mine are over 100# each and they need to be lifted well off the ground for installation.  When I replaced mine last year I was at home and needed to use saw horses, ladders and scraps of wood to support the batteries while I wired them and then slide them into position.  Of course, with enough money, you can always pay a shop assuming you can find a decent shop and they can readily schedule you in.

[sandsys]

7 hours ago, Kirk W said:

On lengths, we too found 35/36' to work for us. On manufacturers, I would rate Tiffin, Newmar, and Winnebago at the top and in that order for quality and factory support. 

We had a 2010 Winnebago 34Y and it was as nearly perfect for us as it is possible to be.

Linda

[sandsys]

Something to be aware of as you shop. When dealers advertise a second hand rig they list it as if it was new--meaning they don't tell you it has had solar added or upgraded batteries or any other add-on. We know this, because when we traded in our Winnebago View they listed it without mentioning the solar we had added. They were upset when they learned we had removed the couch and replaced it with a built in bed but we refused to take responsibility for them declining both our invitations to come inside and look. You will want to ask about such things if considering buying from a dealer although they may not know the answer even then given that they never looked at ours. I even suspect it was a potential buyer who told them the sofa was gone.

Linda Sand

 

[TherapyBound]

I've seen more detail on places like ppl and rvtrader, but definitely noticed a lack of knowledge on the part of dealerships. 4 out of 5 couldn't answer my basic questions about the coaches we looked at, and that includes the sales person at LazyDays, which you'd think would hire the most knowledgeable sales associates. These weren't nitty-gritty questions; they were things like "What is the capacity of the fresh water tank."

Lots of flash, lots of emotional terminology, but very little substance. 

[SWharton]

It would be more convenient to install the solar before you start full timing. Price would be the same and there are good installers across the US. You would just need to travel to them. I would wait to see what your full timing lifestyle will be. If you don't have a residential refrigerator you can probably get by with just using the generator a bit during generator hours. 

[SWharton]

1 hour ago, Bigthinkers said:

I've seen more detail on places like ppl and rvtrader, but definitely noticed a lack of knowledge on the part of dealerships. 4 out of 5 couldn't answer my basic questions about the coaches we looked at, and that includes the sales person at LazyDays, which you'd think would hire the most knowledgeable sales associates. These weren't nitty-gritty questions; they were things like "What is the capacity of the fresh water tank."

Lots of flash, lots of emotional terminology, but very little substance. 

They are just sales people selling a commodity. Most people don't do due diligence, all emotion.

[Chad Heiser]

Just a thought I wanted to add to this discussion.  I listen to and read what people say about "RV Solar Systems" fairly closely.  I have done a number of installs and assisted others with their installs.  It is an area of the RV lifestyle that I am very interested in.  In my opinion, some understand it very well and others, not so much.  The major misconception that I see people have about these systems is what makes them up.

Really they are four separate systems that interact to allow for off grid use of everything in the RV.  One piece is the battery bank, one piece is the inverter, another piece is the solar array and the final piece is a generator.  There are lots of other components within each of these groups, but these are the four main pieces.  You do not have to have all four component groups to be a successful boondocker, but all four together do make things more convenient.

The battery bank is the primary component of any system.  It is what supplies reserve power when not connected to the grid or a generator.  The larger the battery bank capacity, the longer you can run things in the RV when off the grid. 

The battery bank by itself though, will only allow 12 volt systems to continue to work in the RV when not connected to the grid or generator power.  If you want to be able to use 120 volt appliances (like TV's, microwaves, hair dryers, residential refrigerator, etc.) when you don't have shore power or aren't using the generator, then you need to have an inverter.  The inverter takes 12 volt power from the batteries and inverts it to 120 volts to power regular appliances.  How long you can power these appliances is a function of how much power they draw and how much battery capacity you have.

The battery bank does need to get recharged at some point and this is typically accomplished with a solar array or generator.  The solar array will provide DC voltage directly to your battery bank to replenish/recharge it as long as the sun is shining.  How fast a solar array will recharge the battery bank is a function of how large the array is, how depleted the battery bank is and how much sun is shining.

The generator can be used as a means to recharge the battery bank or as a replacement for the grid/shore power or some combination of the two.  You can run the generator when you wish to run 120 volt appliances in the rig and/or to recharge the batteries.  How often you run the generator will be determined by what other components you have in your system.  The generator is also handy to have to power high draw 120 volt appliances like an air conditioner (or two or three - depending on the size of your rig).  You don't typically want to run these type of high draw appliance through an inverter because they deplete the batteries too quickly (although a large enough system can do it).

You don't have to have all of these components, but some combination of them will make a boondocker's life more convenient.

This is a very basic overview of the various components involved to make boondocking a possibility, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what you may need depending on your style of RV'ing.

The system can be very large and expensive or it can be small and used for very specific needs or it may be somewhere in between.  Only you and your budget and lifestyle choices can determine the best system for your needs.  We can make suggestions but the decision will ultimately be yours.

If you have any specific questions, I will be happy to answer them.

[TherapyBound]

Chad Heiser, your comments align with my understanding of the basics of solar, and I think we'll fall in the "somewhere in between" category. Would love a full compliment of 6 lithiums and 4 or 5 panels (with inverter, obviously), but realize that's not realistic, practical, or financially viable for what we have in mind.  If we were going full time with the expectation of 10 years on the road, we'd be all over it. 

We do have time to figure it out, including time actually spent boondocking to asses our needs. I've done a huge amount of research into solar, but it's hard to get your head around it until you really know what your requirements will be. I 'get' the concept, and we know we'll have SOME form of solar, but have zero idea about how much (or little) we'll really need. 

[Al F]

On 5/28/2019 at 3:38 PM, whj469 said:

We don't drink water from our fresh water tank. I don't trust what they are made of. Someone once told me that some of them are made in China? As for approved water supply, my three wells are not approved water supplies. I do have it tested every few years but I get that for free. Seems that you are on the right track but do you really put money in envelopes? That I find odd. What is wrong with banks?

We have traveled in one RV or another for 50 years by this fall.  We have ALWAYS used the fresh water tank for our drinking water.  Additionally for the last 15 years we have spent from  4 to 10 months of the year and for 4 of those years we fulltimed.  No problems or concerns about drinking water from our fresh water tank. 

We also don't buy ANY bottled water.  We only use the tap water wherever we go.  We do take a clear glass, fill it up, smell and taste the water to see if we want to put it in our fresh water tank.  There have only about 10-20 places in the last 50 years that we found water bad enough not to use.  

We always travel with a full water tank so if we don't like the water at our next location we can go for a week or more with our water supply.  It may mean we use the CG showers, army baths, or adult body wipes to keep clean.  

BTW we are in our mid 70's and have not seen an ill effects from drinking local water or using fresh water tanks.  

[Carlos]

Yeah, you're almost guaranteed not to have health issues with most water in the US, or with any tanks that make it here.  But we just hate the taste of tap water in most places, so we use bottles.  There's also the convenience of just having a sealed non-spill container next to you all the time.

 

[TherapyBound]

The water issue is more mine than my husbands. I can't seem to tolerate the varieties of e-coli in different locations (there's always some; usually not enough to matter, unless you're sensitive to it). Europe and the UK are guaranteed to give me the grippers (South American is even more challenging, and Africa, forget it), but I usually do okay in the US, though not so much with well water. A high-powered water filtration system is probably one of those 'nice if you can get it' things, maybe not necessary. Still, I'd work pretty hard to avoid the...ahem..."issues" if possible.  

Edited May 30, 2019 by Bigthinkers

[Al F]

On 5/28/2019 at 9:12 AM, Bigthinkers said:

We're now one week less than two years away from our "launch" date as extended/full-timers (up to 2 years on the road full time, more if we love it), and we're taking steps each day toward that goal. I've been putting money aside in envelopes marked with things we think will be important purchases/modifications for us once we buy a used 36ft Class A (gas). We're not made of money, so we'll have to pick and choose, and add things over time. All of this assumes things like insurance, new tires, memberships, etc are a given.

A new mattress is at the top of our list, so that's a given. A washer/dryer is non-negotiable for me, so that's also a given. But after that we get stuck. Of the following, how would you prioritize? We know everyone is different, but I'd be grateful for your insights based on experience!

-Plumbed drinking water purifier (we would prefer not to buy bottled water, and we're not sure of the water quality everywhere we'll go)

-Solar set-up (we DO intend to boondock, though we'll spend time in campgrounds, too. That flexibility is important to us, but without experience we don't know how long we'll boondock ((a few days or a few weeks at a time))

-Upgraded batteries (at the very least Golf Cart, but would you prioritize for lithium?)

-Better-quality generator

-Upgrades such as Safe T Plus, Rear Trac Bar, premium shocks, etc

-Fan-Tastic vents, if not already installed

-Something else I haven't thought of

We know solar can be added at any time, but is it something you'd prioritize fairly quickly? We don't know how much solar we'd need yet (obviously) but would you prioritize money toward it even if it will be purchased a few months into the journey?

 

 

Many good questions, actually very good questions.  You have received lots very good responses, but not nearly as many, detailed and informative as there have been, in the past and will be over the next year or more in this forum. 

I suspect you have followed some forum topic, but I strongly encourage you to come to this forum every few days and click on "unread content" near the upper right corner of the forum website.  Scroll down the list and read whatever topics which relate to information you are interested in.  Also as time permits browse back through old topics in the various sections, such as the one you posted in "Beginning RV'ing". 

Some of questions, like solar and upgraded batteries are best determined once you get on the road and have some experience. 

It is very, very difficult to really "know" what you want before you have some experience practicing your dreams.   Think back to most every major experience in your life.  Did you plan and "know" exactly what you wanted in a job, apartment, partner, etc, etc before you actually took the leap?  Once you did decide, you probably had thoughts about what you would have done differently or perhaps taken a different path.  

Not to say you shouldn't do your research.  You learn lots, and lots just reading forum topics.  The more you read, the more you learn.  

What I would write in support for or disagreement with, or recommendations to your questions is just one reply.  There is such a wealth of experience in old and new to come topics that just what is written in this topic is just a snapshot. 

Also consider breaking up all your questions into a separate topic.  A single topic on a specific question receives more, better and more specific replies to your questions.  

 

[TherapyBound]

I've been on several forums over the past year, mainly just reading everything that sparks my interest, and I've also been doing a fair bit of research on blogs, YouTube, in person, on RV social media groups, etc. I've asked a few questions here and there, but mainly I read topics to get an idea of the broad range of opinions and real-world advice about how to deal with challenges. I've got a massive folder on my computer with documents about everything from toilets to solar to how to cook in your RV, and so on. 

The focus of this post was originally "what would you prioritize money toward," but it sort of took on a life of its own, and a few more questions sprung up from there. I will certainly ask more questions as separate posts, but this was meant to be "of these things, which would YOU say would be a priority". 

I also know everyone's style and experience are different, and that was valuable for this question. Most of the people who replied here are "names" I've come to know through reading their previous replies to others, so I have some "feel" for how they travel. It's all been very useful, and I do like the challenge of thinking, "Okay, that isn't an answer I expected, so now I can look at the issue from another perspective." 

This does feel like a friendly, helpful forum, which hasn't always been the case in other places, so I've felt comfortable asking questions here. And I'm grateful for the replies.

 

[Barbaraok]

We've been on the road since 2006 so have some experience at this.

We went with bottled water only because of our cats (when they were still alive) - they would become upset at any change in their diet, including water.   And trust me, you don't want two cats with diarrhea!   We've just continued that way every since.   In a pinch we will use the fresh water tank for drinking water, but generally don't.     Just a preference of ours.   Plus I can't stand the noise that the pump makes and during the first few years we went through a pump every 18 months or less (all replaced under 'warranty!) until we got the AquaJet a few years ago.  

We don't really boondock - we use mostly membership parks as we travel and usually have water and electricity.   

Our generator runs off of the main fuel tank for the coach - we just need to make sure we have at least a 1/4 of a tank of fuel.   We use the generator for running the air conditioning while traveling down in the road in the really hot summers we have been having - - dash air just doesn't do it for all of the coach.   Most motorhomes will have a generator that is sufficient for the coach wiring - just depends upon which coach you get.  

Best decision we made was to go with AGM batteries - - not having to crawl down and reach into that dark battery bay to do monthly checks and refill with water is PRICELE$$.    We didn't go with solar because, like I said, we don't boondock and for the few nights we might it just didn't make sense dollar wise to put in a solar system.   We don't camp - we RV.  My camping days ended after a 3-day in the rain with a teenager years ago.   I want COMFORT.    That said, we have a large battery bank and can function quit well with the occasional day not hooked up, or when the power in the park goes down (which seems to happen at different parks either during extreme heat or cold snaps), so we are always ready.     

Yes, get the fantastic fans. 

Depending upon how much boon docking you think you are going to do, consider a residential refrigerator.   That's the one thing (besides NOT having carpeting) that I wish we had done.  

My priorities would focus on the "living" in the rig for days on end in the rain.  When you start investigating rigs, spend at least a couple of hours in those that seem plausible to you and go through the motions of 'living'.  

• Pull all the slides in and see if you can access everything.  No,  a couple of drawers you can't access isn't a problem - a fridge that won't open or can't get to the bathroom, right it off the list.  
• I don't know how many nights we have sent in places with significant storms coming through with everything pulled in, but you need to be able to do that.    
• Kick your shoes off and get in the shower - - and go through the motions of taking a shower, washing your hair, etc.   Sit on the toilet - is there room enough with the door closed (if it is a separate room) or is there any impediments around it?      
• Can you walk around the bed easily?    
• How will you load groceries into the rig.  
• How will you serve your guests on the patio?  
• Look at the hookup bays - are they easy to get to, can you hook up utilities without practically getting on your stomach?   BTW - KNEE PADS should be on your list because trust me, you will be on your knees at various times moving things into and out of bays.    
• Make sure you have good leveling jacks and that work smoothly.  

Make sure that the tires are fairly new (less than 2 years would be my wish when purchasing a used vehicle.  And that they are the best that you can afford.     

And ask a lot of questions.   Also once you narrow down your search, do see if there is an owners forum somewhere - iRV2 seems to have a lot of them.  Those are the places where a wealth of information can be found, especially about older coaches.

 

[Al F]

On 5/28/2019 at 9:12 AM, Bigthinkers said:

We're now one week less than two years away from our "launch" date as extended/full-timers (up to 2 years on the road full time, more if we love it), and we're taking steps each day toward that goal. I've been putting money aside in envelopes marked with things we think will be important purchases/modifications for us once we buy a used 36ft Class A (gas). We're not made of money, so we'll have to pick and choose, and add things over time. All of this assumes things like insurance, new tires, memberships, etc are a given.

A new mattress is at the top of our list, so that's a given. A washer/dryer is non-negotiable for me, so that's also a given. But after that we get stuck. Of the following, how would you prioritize? We know everyone is different, but I'd be grateful for your insights based on experience!

Washer/dryer is nice.  However it adds a lot of weight to a MH which is already somewhat lacking in CCC (Cargo Carrying Capacity).  Don't forget to add in the weight of 2 adults when calculating how much stuff you can carry.  Also the washer/dryer can only be used with full hookups. It also takes up valuable storage space.  Although many people love them.  Just another trade off.  Most fulltimers carry 2000 pounds of stuff.  Some as much as 3000 pounds.  Not counting passengers, water and what is in the holding tanks.  

-Plumbed drinking water purifier (we would prefer not to buy bottled water, and we're not sure of the water quality everywhere we'll go)

Why the water purifier?  Yes, I know the people who have them love them.  Of course they love them.  They went through the cost and trouble of installing them and the work to replace the filters.  Also add in the mental aspect of "horror of horrors, drinking the water out of the tap that hundreds or millions of people do every day".  You don't hear much from those of us who have traveled the USA & Canada for close to 50 years and have always drank the tap water.  I do admit that once every couple of years we find water that doesn't taste very good.  Keeping our fresh water tank filled when we travel allows us to not use bad smelling water.  There are hundreds of thousands of people in RV's traveling and not using purifiers and/or filters.  This is one of those things you can defer until you find you can't tolerate the local drinking  water.  I truly think this more of a mental thing, being scared of drinking the local water. People live in these areas and drink the water every day. 

-Solar set-up (we DO intend to boondock, though we'll spend time in campgrounds, too. That flexibility is important to us, but without experience we don't know how long we'll boondock ((a few days or a few weeks at a time))

Solar and upgraded batteries.  Defer this until you find out how you will travel and what you like to do.  IF you find your preference is to dry camp or boondock then upgrade your system.  IF you dry camp extensively, that is go from places to place for a week or two or maybe a month or more w/o elect hookups, then yes you really want as much solar and lithium batteries as you can get.   Plan on $6,000-$10,000 for a quality system w/lithium.  If you just dry camp for a few days to a week  or so and then back to elect hookups, then golf cart batteries (4 batteries is best for a 36' MH) and 400 watts of solar works very well. We have 650 watts of solar and 400AH of lithium and love our setup.  We also seek out places to camp w/o elect.  We spend as much time w/o elect as we do with elect hookups.  Some years we spend more time w/o elect hookups. In 2016 we spent 137 days on our Alaska trip w/o elect and only ran the generator for 1.5 hours one day to charge the batteries. 

-Upgraded batteries (at the very least Golf Cart, but would you prioritize for lithium?)

-Better-quality generator

Almost all quality 36' MH's have a good gas inverter based generator which is fairly quiet. 

-Upgrades such as Safe T Plus, Rear Trac Bar, premium shocks, etc

Expensive add on's that people who spend the money, love them.  Wait until you drive the rig for a couple of months to decide.  Also are you going to be driving 10,000-15,000 miles a year?  You are fulltiming, no need to go everywhere and see everything in 1 year.  Also plan on $4,000-$7,000 for a full upgrade of everything you listed including the "etc".  Can you live w/o all the upgrades?  Many people do.

-Fan-Tastic vents, if not already installed  Good quality vent fans are a must.  It does NOT have to be Fan-Tastic. 

-Something else I haven't thought of

We know solar can be added at any time, but is it something you'd prioritize fairly quickly? We don't know how much solar we'd need yet (obviously) but would you prioritize money toward it even if it will be purchased a few months into the journey?

Keep in mind that people who install all the stuff they want and can't live w/o are going to be strong advocates for their stuff.  After all they spent the money and time to install it so are reluctant to say, "Well maybe we could live w/o it."  To me one case in point is "chemicals in the black water tank".  A strong majority of fulltimers or people who spend months each year in an RV DO NOT put chemicals in the holding tank.  You don't hear much from them.  The vocal people are those who swear they can't live w/o the chemicals.  We have traveled for 4 to 10 months of the year for 15 years.  Except for the first 6 months we have not put chemicals in our holding tanks. Forgot to add the chemicals a few times and then realized we really didn't need them. 

 

 

 

[FL-JOE]

14 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Just a thought I wanted to add to this discussion.  I listen to and read what people say about "RV Solar Systems" fairly closely.  I have done a number of installs and assisted others with their installs.  It is an area of the RV lifestyle that I am very interested in.  In my opinion, some understand it very well and others, not so much.  The major misconception that I see people have about these systems is what makes them up.

Really they are four separate systems that interact to allow for off grid use of everything in the RV.  One piece is the battery bank, one piece is the inverter, another piece is the solar array and the final piece is a generator.  There are lots of other components within each of these groups, but these are the four main pieces.  You do not have to have all four component groups to be a successful boondocker, but all four together do make things more convenient.

The battery bank is the primary component of any system.  It is what supplies reserve power when not connected to the grid or a generator.  The larger the battery bank capacity, the longer you can run things in the RV when off the grid. 

The battery bank by itself though, will only allow 12 volt systems to continue to work in the RV when not connected to the grid or generator power.  If you want to be able to use 120 volt appliances (like TV's, microwaves, hair dryers, residential refrigerator, etc.) when you don't have shore power or aren't using the generator, then you need to have an inverter.  The inverter takes 12 volt power from the batteries and inverts it to 120 volts to power regular appliances.  How long you can power these appliances is a function of how much power they draw and how much battery capacity you have.

The battery bank does need to get recharged at some point and this is typically accomplished with a solar array or generator.  The solar array will provide DC voltage directly to your battery bank to replenish/recharge it as long as the sun is shining.  How fast a solar array will recharge the battery bank is a function of how large the array is, how depleted the battery bank is and how much sun is shining.

The generator can be used as a means to recharge the battery bank or as a replacement for the grid/shore power or some combination of the two.  You can run the generator when you wish to run 120 volt appliances in the rig and/or to recharge the batteries.  How often you run the generator will be determined by what other components you have in your system.  The generator is also handy to have to power high draw 120 volt appliances like an air conditioner (or two or three - depending on the size of your rig).  You don't typically want to run these type of high draw appliance through an inverter because they deplete the batteries too quickly (although a large enough system can do it).

You don't have to have all of these components, but some combination of them will make a boondocker's life more convenient.

This is a very basic overview of the various components involved to make boondocking a possibility, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what you may need depending on your style of RV'ing.

The system can be very large and expensive or it can be small and used for very specific needs or it may be somewhere in between.  Only you and your budget and lifestyle choices can determine the best system for your needs.  We can make suggestions but the decision will ultimately be yours.

If you have any specific questions, I will be happy to answer them.

This is probably the most complete general explanation I have read about the electrical usage in an RV.  

The bottom line is if you have a big enough battery bank and the correct inverter you can run lights, fans, residential frig, microwave, hair dryer, and about anything else in an RV except the air conditioning units.  Solar has nothing to do with running these appliances or systems off the grid, it all comes from your house battery bank.

Like Chad expertly explains above, at some point, prior to the batteries discharging below 60% or so, they must be recharged.  This is where the question of solar comes in.  Do you want numerous panels on your roof to recharge the batteries or can you get by with just running the generator?

My generator with a load uses about 1/2 gallon of diesel per hour to run.  I would have to boondock in a sunny area for many months to ever begin to make up the expense of installing a large solar system.  I do have a 12"x18" solar panel that is dedicated just to my starting batteries, but we just do not boondock enough to justify the cost of a solar system that would recharge our house battery bank.

Another point to consider.  With the correct battery bank and inverter you could possibly boondock for up to 3 or 4 days without running your generator or having solar anyway.  You would have to conserve and only use energy for your residential frig, lights, hot water, TV, and fans part time, but it can be done.

[SWharton]

If you camp in mostly locations that have restricted generator hours and a residential refrigerator solar becomes part of the critical mix. We boondock about 50% of the time. Mostly we camp in NFS parks.

We have always had at least one panel on all our rigs. This was to keep the batteries charged when in storage, that was the only reason. We bought an MH with a residential refrigerator, camp in locations with restricted generator hours and a larger solar array became imperative. We ended up with 4 165w panels, 4 AGM batteries(this was not part of the solar upgrade). We initially had 2 panels but realized we really needed at least 3, 4 to be sure. We elected to have the additional 2 panels installed as a separate system. Cost us less in the end. We now have enough solar to take care of all our needs with no worries when gone for the day and missing a few generator hours. We run the generator for about an hour in the evening to get to at least a 90% SOC. The batteries easily supply the residential refrig overnight which had been a problem.

This forum is very patient when one is going through the learning phase of Rving.

 

[TherapyBound]

2 hours ago, Al F said:

I truly think this more of a mental thing, being scared of drinking the local water. People live in these areas and drink the water every day. 

I wish that were so. It's BECAUSE people live in the area and drink the water ever day that they're not affected by it. When you're in a new area every few days or every few weeks your body may react to the water (as mine does). Once you've been drinking it for a while, your body adjusts to the bacteria and trace amount of e-coli. I'm usually okay in the US, but can react to well water. A higher-cost system may not be worth the expense, if we'll only encounter challenging water now and then and I can just drink bottled for a few days. I just don't know how often it will be an issue.

34 minutes ago, FL-JOE said:

The bottom line is if you have a big enough battery bank and the correct inverter you can run lights, fans, residential frig, microwave, hair dryer, and about anything else in an RV except the air conditioning units. 

This is the balance I'm trying to strike. And it's the unknown until we actually get going and see how much boondocking we'll do, and for how long. Would you say the cost and weight of a larger battery bank outweighs the cost of a few solar panels if, say, you're boondocking for a week at a time?

2 hours ago, Al F said:

Washer/dryer is nice.  However it adds a lot of weight to a MH which is already somewhat lacking in CCC (Cargo Carrying Capacity). 

Bear in mind we're not "fulltimers" in that we're selling everything and have no home base. We'll be on the road "full time" (meaning,  not returning to a house) for at least a year, probably two, but will still have a house so we won't be bringing everything we own with us. 

[TherapyBound]

15 minutes ago, SWharton said:

This forum is very patient when one is going through the learning phase of Rving.

It certainly is! And I appreciate it.

I think we'll save for solar, but wait until we have a much better idea of what we need, if anything.

[FL-JOE]

1 hour ago, Bigthinkers said:

I wish that were so. It's BECAUSE people live in the area and drink the water ever day that they're not affected by it. When you're in a new area every few days or every few weeks your body may react to the water (as mine does). Once you've been drinking it for a while, your body adjusts to the bacteria and trace amount of e-coli. I'm usually okay in the US, but can react to well water. A higher-cost system may not be worth the expense, if we'll only encounter challenging water now and then and I can just drink bottled for a few days. I just don't know how often it will be an issue.

This is the balance I'm trying to strike. And it's the unknown until we actually get going and see how much boondocking we'll do, and for how long. Would you say the cost and weight of a larger battery bank outweighs the cost of a few solar panels if, say, you're boondocking for a week at a time?

Bear in mind we're not "fulltimers" in that we're selling everything and have no home base. We'll be on the road "full time" (meaning,  not returning to a house) for at least a year, probably two, but will still have a house so we won't be bringing everything we own with us. 

Here is how I would approach it.  You find your coach and see how it is set up.  How large is the battery bank, can the existing inverter handle adding more batteries, how many more?  Then maybe you try a couple simple overnight stays without being hooked up to see what your existing system handles the draw and go from there.

Comparing the weight and cost of a solar system and the weight and cost of a larger battery bank doesn't do you any good.  You can spend $6,000 and have some really great solar panels all over the roof of your RV, but if you still have two 12volt wet cell house batteries you aren't going to be running anything much anyway.  Remember, without being plugged in the only way you are running appliances is through the use of your battery bank and your inverter.  Solar systems and a generator are the two ways you would actually recharge those batteries.

So in other words, if you add all those solar panels you will still need to enlarge your battery bank and probably purchase a new larger inverter anyway to be able to stay off the grid for extended periods of time.  So why not skip the expense of solar and simply use your existing generator to recharge your battery bank?

Edited May 30, 2019 by FL-JOE