I’ve been fascinated with the idea of solar power as long as I can remember. I bought my first solar cell while I was in junior high (mid 70’s). It was able to move the needle on my meter when it got good light, but not much more.

The RV came with a full solar system, including three panels a bit larger than what I played with forty years ago!

I pulled shore power and ran on just the panels and batteries for 13 days before we hit the road last week. Ran the table saw, compressor, and other tools via the inverter with no problem.

The real test was using the solar/battery combination to keep the refrigerator running while we were on the road. It worked great! 

On the way back we parked at Walmart and made smoothies running the blender off the inverter. Yes, solar powered smoothies taste better!

While it all worked well, I have determined we are not running enough solar panels to keep the batteries charged if we do a few days of dry camping. I’ve got one more on the way, and the roof has room for at least a dozen. Everyone needs a kilowatt of power coming from their roof!