welcome to the channel I'm Not Lost I'm RVing for those who are new my name is
Thomas and today we're going to do a
six-month review on our RV solar system
we've had a ton of requests for this
video and I'm pretty excited to make it
for y'all because y'all already know
that I'm pretty much a solar nerd so I
love this kind of stuff but I want to go
ahead and mention if you want any of the
components that we're gonna be reviewing
in this video or heck if you want our
exact solar system then you could get it
from the same place that we purchased
ours from continuous resources we
learned about continuous resources from
the RV community in fact I read so much
positive feedback about them that that
is why we decide to purchase our solar
system from them as well now they are
not sponsoring this video
they're not paying us to make this video
in fact they have no idea that I'm even
making this video I'm making this video
because y'all requested it ok that's why
I'm making it if you do decide to use
continuous resources that is awesome
don't forget we do have a discount code
in the description below so if you want
to get you know a couple batteries and
an inverter just to power your CPAP
overnight or you want our exact solar
system on your lazy days we actually got
someone who got that how cool is that
you can do it and continuous resources
can help you out we're gonna start out
talking about the components and kind of
reviewing each component as we go along
and then later in the video I'm gonna
answer some questions and give you all
some cool stats so let's start here with
what I think is the most important part
of any RV solar system actually in any
solar system period that is the heart of
the system the batteries in my opinion
if you can only afford to upgrade one
thing and you want to increase your
boondock ability upgrade your battery
bank it is the most expensive thing to
do
but it's the most you know beneficial
thing to do as well so what type of
battery bank do we have well we have 4
100 amp hour
12 volt lithium batteries by battleborn
now technically I do have it wired into
a 24 volt system so what that means is
we have a 200 amp hour battery bank at
25 point 6 volts so same equivalency to
a 400 amp hour battery bank at you know
twelve point eight volts no matter how
you look at it 12 volt or 24 volt the
amount of battery power is the same both
of them are still 5,000 120 watt hours
since I installed this battery bank
about six months ago in this compartment
they have held up really really well
we've had no
problems with the batteries themselves
at all they have you know charged every
time we needed them to they have put out
power every time we needed them to
actually we've had like I said no
problems with the actual batteries we
haven't even had like any you know wires
work themselves loose or anything like
that and that is something that I was
concerned about because we go down a ton
of washboard roads on the National
Forest and just bumpy roads all over the
place so the fatigue mat down here I
think was a great idea it hasn't
absorbed any water no water has gotten
into the bay so I did a good job
distilling that and everything has
worked out really really well and then I
think the four batteries has been more
than enough
in fact our average depth of discharge
is only 53 amp hours on average so
basically out of four batteries that's a
little over one battery being used on
average so I think the size of our
battery bank is great as well now of
course there's been a few times where
the battery bank has gotten lower and so
it's been nice to have all four of them
but honestly for the most part we
actually only really need two of them
the majority of the time but when you
get into the inclement weather I'm so
glad that we have four to you know
actually make us get through that time
period so is there anything that I would
change in here I think there's a couple
things I need to address the first one
is I think I'm going to adjust the
brackets down here a little bit that's
holding in the battery because I'm
getting a little bit of wear on the
plastic housing and I want to address
that so I think I'm gonna pull these out
put a cushion in between and put them
back in other than that I think I'm
pretty good our battery bank has been
averaging right under ninety-eight
percent efficiency so instead of using
to walk cable
I'm a slop to Faurot cable just so that
can be a little more efficient but I
mean I'm really just nitpicking at that
point overall the battery bank has
performed awesome and we are so happy to
have it this is the heart of our system
and we couldn't live like we are without
this system we've moved inside the coach
because this is our solar cabinet that's
what I call it so this is where all of
our components live other than our
battery bank and our solar panels on the
roof pretty much all of our solar
components are inside this little
storage area here now this was the best
option for us because how our coach is
laid out and where I could kind of fit
everything but to be honest I never
actually need
access to this it's not like I go in
here everyday and do anything in fact
I've never opened this the only time I
have opened it since I did the install
in January is if people are visiting and
they just have questions about the solar
system or they want to see the solar
system or if I'm filming it for y'all
other than that I pretty much never open
the solar cabinet so I'm bringing that
up because you don't have to put all of
your solar components like inside the
coach and something easy to access
location if we had a fifth wheel or a
Class A this would be in some storage
Bay where it's you know easier to get to
if I need to but something that I don't
have to have access to all the time if
that makes any sense so what we're gonna
do is I'm gonna go ahead and move the
camera over here we're going to open up
this cabinet turn on a light and we'll
check out all the components
individually all right let's go ahead
and start here in the top left-hand
corner with our inverter now this is the
multi plus model by Victor on Energy
specifically it is the 24 volt 3000 watt
model and this is a hybrid inverter
charger so what that means is it can
make 120 volts it has a 50 amp transfer
switch built into it on the 120 volt
side and then it also has a 70 amp
charger so we can recharge our batteries
so this thing has all kinds of cool
bells and whistles as well I can do
relay control what you have a setup to
do it can do networking which it does it
has all kinds of cool stuff you
definitely don't need a inverter this
fancy but I have to say we absolutely
love this thing
there's not a real whole lot that I can
say about reviewing it it's a really
good inverter and we've had really no
issues if I could nitpick something then
I may change my wiring to a 4 aw--
instead of 2 watt just to reduce you
know any voltage drop that way you may
get and that's pretty much it
one common question that we get about
the inverter is how loud is it so let's
go ahead and talk about that now how
loud is the inverter charger well I got
the door open let's listen to it and see
if you can hear it working because
currently it is powering our
refrigerator and it's powering all the
plugs in our coach so let's be quiet and
listen to it now hopefully it picks up
on the mic but essentially it's like a
low buzzing noise actually let's kind of
kick on these fans let me turn on the
microwave so that way you can see just
how loud it really is let's go ahead
turn on the microwave alright so the
fans just kicked on but in my opinion
the microwave is probably just as loud
as the fans
so that is just the fans running
turn out the microwave
all right so you just heard the inverter
when it's normally making noise and then
that light buzz sound and you heard it
when the inverter fans kicked on and
that's the loudest that it ever gets so
now you can tell how loud the inverter
is but to be fair we always have this
cabinet door closed and I have the
camera in front of it with the door open
and that's pretty much where you really
have to be to hear the inverter I mean
it's just the truth of the matter when
we're running the microwave and we're
you know cooking in the kitchen
we don't ever notice that the inverter
fans kick on and then as soon as you're
done microwaving something a few seconds
later those fans you do hear them for a
little bit but in the kicker right off
but if we had a Class A or a v we'll and
this was in some other storage Bay we
would never hear it so I think it
depends on where you put your inverter
to if you're gonna hear it or not and
then when you really compare it to what
else would make this much power well if
you don't have an inverter you'd be
cranking up a generator so in hindsight
if you compare how loud this is compared
to running a generator I don't really
think it's a fair comparison
I mean per Onan for the manufacturer you
have to crank up the generator let it
warm up so you're listening to that and
then you use your microwave for three
minutes right or however long you're
gonna microwave something and then you
have to let the generator run for a
minimum of thirty minutes any time you
crank it that's what it says right per
the manufacturer in the manual so you'd
be listening to a generator run for a
minimum of thirty minutes to microwave
something for thirty seconds or even
five minutes you're still into that
generator the entire time which is way
louder than this inverter is so yes the
inverter does make some noise but it's
so minut and you really have to be close
to it to hear it that I don't really
think it's that big of a deal but it's a
common question we get so I want to
answer it for you time to switch
components and we're going to be talking
about this component up here in the top
right hand corner this is our solar
charge controller now specifically this
is the smart solar charge controller
MPPT 100 / 30 with bluetooth by victor
on energy as you can see all the blue
stuff in here
everything is victor on energy and
honestly there's not a whole lot that i
can say about the solar charge
controller it has done a great job one
I set up the original light charge
parameters and all the settings after I
did the install that's pretty much the
only thing I've ever had to do to it
I've never turned it off since it's
always been working since it turn it on
in January we haven't had any of our
breakers down here you can see flip we
haven't had any wire issues everything
has done a fantastic job and I don't
think there's anything I would change
I think the 30 amps is perfect for us
and yeah there's nothing that I would
really even can it pick and say that I
would like to change I love that I can
monitor it via bluetooth on my phone I
also like that the networking cable
connects to our color control which I'll
show you in a minute and I can monitor
everything from there as well so solar
charge controller does a fantastic job
when we get enough power in the morning
it automatically you know from the solar
panels and automatically turns on starts
charging our batteries and then at night
when we don't have any sunlight it turns
itself off you know I don't have to do
anything it's been doing that for six
months now and it's been doing a
fantastic job now if we move down a
little bit and talk about this little
blue box right here that is our DC to DC
step-down converter so that takes in the
24 volts from our battery bank and then
steps it down to 12 volts for all of our
lights like this one right here actually
all of our lights throughout the entire
coach our water pump that's 12 volt our
exhaust fans that are all 12 volt
basically anything that is 12 volt in
the coach this little blue box is
constantly powering it can put out a
maximum of 85 amps and then continuously
can always put out seven B amps which is
more than enough for us so that little
blue box has also been working six
months straight I've never turned it off
and it has never let us down there's
nothing else I've changed about that is
doing a fantastic job and honestly
that's kind of the theme of this whole
solar cabinet I never have to go in here
there's nothing I really ever have to
worry about down here in the left corner
you can see our Linux distributor now
this basically holds all of our fuses on
our 2004 volt side and can't have any
complaints there it's done a great job
nothing's worked its way loose I'm glad
that we haven't popped any fuses and I
think overall it has done a fantastic
job and the only little thing in this
cabinet that I can really mention is our
battery disconnect switch by blue C's
systems this is in here so that I can
turn it off if I need to work on
anything or if there was some emergency
like a little electrical fire or some
I can come in here quickly turn off our
power this is a must in my opinion for
any solar you know system and it's just
a little safety feature when you do a
battery disconnect make sure you go with
a good quality component like this this
is a blue si systems you know component
it's a little pricey but I mean it's
definitely worth the safety it provides
to be able to switch it off real quick
other than that we haven't had any real
problems and down here in the solar you
know charge controller cabinet as I
mentioned earlier I neighbor getting and
never ever have to gain access to it you
know nothing's worked itself loose think
overall I'm very happy with it and
there's nothing here that I would really
honestly change let's move on to the
solar portion of this solar system
review video the solar panels up on the
roof of our RV I apologize I'm not up
there is just way too windy outside so
it's just not great for filming
conditions but I'll be roll over it and
I'll give you all the information here
so let's get started with what solar
panels do we have we actually have 4 200
watt high-tech solar panels that are
made right here in the USA and that we
got from continuous resources and have
to say the high-tech solar panels have
worked flawlessly we haven't had any
issues with them whatsoever they've all
they've none of them I'd like stopped
working they haven't made the wrong
voltage the bypass diodes have all
worked the brackets that come with the
solar panels have all worked really well
we've been through cold weather hot
weather they've been hailed on a few
times in fact they were held on earlier
this week then they haven't been damaged
they've been super dirty pretty much all
the time because I never really washed
the things and they have still output
plenty of power and 800 Watts has been
plenty for us so I think overall that
the solar panels have done a phenomenal
job and I don't have any complaints on
the actual solar panels themselves or
the wiring or the brackets or anything
like that the only issue that we have
had comes from my own doing it was
completely my fault because you know
sometimes we make mistakes and I simply
did that I made a mistake and I didn't
use the correct hardware so let me tell
you what I did so that you don't make
the same mistake whenever we bought our
solar panels I wanted to go ahead and
ops to get the tilt option so you
these cool little brackets here that you
can you know tilt the solar panels and
it comes with these little hand turn
bolts I don't know exactly what they're
called but essentially it's a little
plastic housing it's easier to turn you
know with the bolt in it and then the
nuts themselves are actually pressed
into all the brackets which is really
really nice you don't have like anything
on the back or to worry about I mean all
this has been fine all the actual
components have been perfect the air
comes in where I didn't use the proper
you know basically equipment that they
did send me on the solar panels
themselves they have a little you know
nut that's pressed in just like this and
so these can screw into that very very
easily well they sent me lock washers so
I should have used a lock washer in
between these and they probably never
would have worked themselves loose or I
probably never should have used the
little hand tighten ones when we're
actually going down the road removing
period in hindsight I should probably
only use these when I'm actually tilting
the solar panel so that's my fault might
end up happening was because I was not
using the lock washers I just had these
hand tightened on there we'd go down all
these crazy bumpy roads and washboard
roads and so they were slowly working
themselves loose in fact one of them
worked itself completely out and we
heard like a weird noise coming from the
roof while we were driving I pulled over
immediately and learned that we lost one
of these hand you know bolt things
whatever they're called I can't remember
so we lost one and I had to replace it
so that's completely my fault I think if
I use the lock washers with these I may
not have had any issues but I didn't and
now that I did have issues with these I
just don't personally trust them so I
never ever plan to use these unless we
are just tilting the panel's and then
when we go to move again I'll go back to
using the bolts and the lock washers
that continues to resources sent to me
in the first place and keep them flat
mounted like they pretty much are right
now now speaking of flat mounting them
that's pretty much how they are you know
they're always in that position it's
very very rare that we tilt the panel's
so did I really need to buy the extra
brackets for tilting them I don't know I
think it's a great idea we always have
these with us and we can always tilt
them when we need to but the majority of
the
time they are in the flat position yes
when we first got our solar system I was
always pointing the RV south I was
always told in the panel's south and
collected as much power as I can because
I'm kind of a solar nerd and I thought
it looked cool and I wanted to make sure
we were making plenty of power I slowly
stopped doing that and realize that I
actually didn't need to do that pretty
much the majority of the time so is it
nice to have these tilt brackets yes
absolutely there has been a handful of
times where we've had inclement weather
for multiple days in a row or it's
really cloudy for multiple days in a row
and so tilting the panels to get that
extra 20 to 30 percent efficiency they
say you get out of them has made the
difference to make the 800 watts enough
power while we're in those situations I
don't know if everybody absolutely has
to have the tilt brackets I don't think
that we really tilt them that often it
is nice to have them but I went in to
tell everybody you have to have tilt
panels or anything like that I would say
if you have a limited roof space and so
you can't fill it you know you can't fit
a lot of panels up there then you may
want to go with the tool option just so
you can collect more power with a
limited amount of space you have for the
panel's then that will work in your
benefit but most our viewers have in
your larger RVs and you could probably
fit plenty of power up there anyways
without actually needing to tilt them so
just something that I've kind of learned
over time I think that it's a great
option but we just don't need it all the
time and overall our solar panels have
worked phenomenally in every scenario
that we put them in and they have been
more than enough power for us
finally we're talking about the last two
solar components up top we have our
battery monitor now this is actually the
BMV 7:12 with bluetooth by victor on
energy and right below it is the color
control by Victor on Energy which I'll
talk about more in just a moment let's
start with our battery monitor now I
know a few of you may be a little bummed
because this is the last two components
but don't worry don't go anywhere yet I
have lots more cool information have
some stats and some questions I want to
answer for you so don't click off just
because I'm about to be done the last
two components what do you think it look
at all the information and watch the
whole video that's why I'm making it
certainly alright let's get started here
this is our battery monitor up here in
my opinion whenever you upgrade your
battery bay
one of the first things you should do is
add in a real battery monter anybody who
has ever tried to use the factory push
button they're guessing off of how much
voltage you have in your battery you
know system those are all trash they are
they're all very very terrible you might
have some nicer one but the majority of
them are pretty bad this thing is really
cool because you can actually set how
many amp hours of battery you have and
you know what your voltages are and
stuff like that so it gives you an
actual real reading not just a random
voltage meter or reading that is not
going to be really that accurate anyways
technically because we have this we
don't need this system down here because
this really just you know reads this
information it reads all the other
information and puts it together in one
easy convenient spot so we don't really
have to necessarily have the color
control it's just really really
convenient and we're glad that we spent
the money on it we haven't had any
issues with either one of these
components but let me show you why this
color control is so convenient what this
basically does is that networks and it
talks to all of our other components and
it displays all the information and one
easy-to-read spot and it lets me you
know do a couple other things as well
and change settings and stuff like that
so personally I'm glad that we have it
but you know it's not necessarily
required the main reason that we really
like this is these last two settings
right here of course so I can see
everything in one location is nice but
this allows me when I move my little
cursor here to this section this is the
AC mode of the inverter so this allows
me to turn the inverter to charger mode
only to off or to leave it in the on
position which is just really convenient
to build a do you know from here with a
few clicks compared to you know getting
access to the inverter opening that
cabinet reaching back in there and
turning the inverter on you can do that
nothing wrong with that I just like
having this right in the middle of the
coach because it's more convenient for
us and the other thing I really like
about it is I can very quickly limit our
AC current so AC current limit this is
how much power is coming into the coach
from shore power so as you can see I
have it set to 13 amps and I have it set
that way because if we're doing some
driveway surfing and we're going to be
plugged in to a 15 amp
I don't want to pop any buddies outlet
so I can set this a 13 amps so I'm not
you know popping their outlet so I
really liked it I can do that and then
with a quick click of the button I can
change the amps so say we're plugged
into a normal 30 amp receptacle because
we're at an RV park with a few clicks of
the button I can change that and be done
with it compared to you know needing to
hook up to a laptop and doing it a
different way that's the main reason
that I really wanted this so I can
control my AC current right here it's
just super super handy and of course all
the other cool networking stuff just
makes it even better
since it has Wi-Fi I can actually
monitor all these things and make
setting changes food the app on my phone
or through a laptop which is really
really nice all right on to the moment
that I personally have been waiting for
and know a few of you have been waiting
for as well because I'm going to give
you some pretty cool stats and I'm gonna
be answering some questions that y'all
had after we did our initial walkthrough
video of the solar system so if you want
more of the solar don't forget I have
plenty of solar videos to teach you
about solar and I have a walkthrough of
our system if you want to watch that as
well but let's jump into this first
question I'm gonna be looking down
because I have quite a bit of stats and
some questions written down so let's get
right to it
question number one how can we charge
our batteries and the answer is we can
recharge two ways and two ways only
currently the first way that we can
recharge our battery bank is off of
shore power just like every other RV are
out there and the second way is off of
our solar panels that are on the roof of
our RV and currently those are the only
two ways that we can recharge our
battery bank I'd never set it up for us
to be able to recharge off of the engine
while we're driving I just simply didn't
add the components that need to my
thought was I could save some money up
front which we did and you know if I
need it later I can add it which we so
far haven't Stacy wasn't quite sure
about that but so far it has worked out
and then the other way is we used to
have an onboard generator we actually
had an Onan 3600 propane generator and I
removed it to make you know some weight
room for the solar system and to make a
little bit of money to help pay for our
system so we don't have a generator and
we cannot recharge that way either the
second question is how many times have
we needed a generator to recharge our
battery
pink and the answer is zero times in
fact we haven't needed electrical
hookups to recharge our battery bank a
single time since I installed the solar
system in January now if you remember
earlier I was talking about the battery
bank I said our average depth of
discharge is 53 amp hours so on average
we use about 25 percent or so of our
battery bank you know any time we
actually use it it has you know we have
gotten down to I think 30 around 30
percent one time and around the 50 to 60
mark maybe two other times but the
majority of the time we don't really get
that low and we haven't needed any other
way to recharge other than the solar
panels but I'm not stating that we
haven't needed electrical hookups and I
say that because we have needed them to
run the air conditioner question three
what is our longest run with no electric
hookups
the answer is we came out of Mexico on
March 1st 2020 this is pretty much we've
been tracking since then but we came out
on March 1st 2020 and we made it all the
way through May 24th 2020 so 85 days we
made 85 days straight that's our longest
run so far when no electrical hookups so
at this point hopefully I've established
that our RV solar system has been more
than capable enough with keeping up with
our normal demands while we're
boondocking and like I mentioned we
haven't needed any other electrical
hookups whatsoever since January but of
course since we don't have enough roof
space to mount enough panels to keep up
with a crazy demand of an air
conditioner and you also can't get solar
at night and we don't have enough
battery bank or space to put one we just
can't keep up with Ryan our air
conditioner all the time so we have to
go find you know an RV park occasionally
but it is pretty rare now some of you
might be thinking to yourself or you
know maybe you're even typing right now
Thomas I bet you wish you didn't take
that generator out and honestly no I'm
still happy that we removed it because
we haven't actually needed it we're the
type of people that if we're gonna have
to run the air conditioner for multiple
days in a row because we need air
conditioner we're not gonna want to
listen to it run that's just how we are
personally and so we'll just go get in
RV park and plus if we're gonna run the
generator do
the day because the air conditioner well
if we need the air conditioner at night
and we need to run the generator at
night
what if there's generator hours and so
then we can't run it at night so then
we're still getting in our Vee Park so
for us personally
we are totally happy with our decision
it is definitely not for everybody I
don't think there's anything wrong with
having a generator backup or anything
like that we just needed the extra you
know weight capacity so that we could
put our solar system in in our case so
now do whatever you think is best for
you and let's get on to question number
four question number four is how many
times have we needed electric to run our
air conditioner since March first the
answer is twice for a total of nine
nights the first time was a dead horse
point State Park in Moab it was
beautiful there and that was on may 25th
so if you remember earlier I said 85
days that's because we got caught in a
heat wave in my lab and so we needed
that electricity we stayed at Deadhorse
State Park for four nights and it was
beautiful they were glad that we did the
second time that we needed electricity
was right after that when we left there
we headed east towards Colorado we are
still trapped in a heat wave because we
hadn't you know got to that higher
elevation yet and so we actually can't
with a Boone dockers welcome for five
nights that boondocks welcome host
provide electricity so for a total since
March first we've actually only needed
that nine times or nine nights since
March first now today is June 19th
so since March 1st that is a 111 days
y'all isn't that cool 111 days and we've
only needed electricity to run our air
conditioner for nine nights all of those
111 so if you do a little quick math 102
out of 11 or 111 is 91.8% of the time so
we have good docked and not needed you
know electricity to run our air
conditioner and not need to stay looking
RV park or anything
we have boondocks successfully since
March first ninety one point eight
percent of the time that's pretty cool
this is how this is our preferred method
of camping is definitely boondocking
alright let's move on to question number
five question number five is me trying
to answer a question that I think you
would ask after hearing question number
fours answer about us boo
knocking 91.8% of the time and that is
how much money have we saved by
boondocking that much and I'm gonna
share it with you now I think this is
pretty cool but Before we jump into how
much we've saved let's establish a
baseline for how much campaign cost what
we're gonna do is we're gonna use forty
dollars a night for camping I think that
that is very reasonable and I say that
because dead horse point State Park was
forty eight dollars a night and that's a
state park and the KOA in Moab was
sixty-five dollars a night for a back
end 30-amp site and eighty-five dollars
a night for a pull-through 50-amp site
so on top of that there's some people
who in the past who have said yeah but
you can get monthly rates so we're gonna
kind of add that in as well so if we're
using that sixty-five dollars a night
for a high end for a low end let's use
16 dollars and 44 cents a night now I
got 16 44 by taking a $500 a month
monthly average making that into six
thousand dollars for the year and then
divide that by 365 days which gives us
the 1644 the median between $65 and 1644
is forty dollars and seventy two cents
so to make it simple we're just going to
use 40 dollars a night and again I think
that most people are gonna find that
very very reasonable so let's see since
March 1st 2020 we have boondocks 102
days so far so if you take 102 multiply
that times 40 we have saved four
thousand and eighty dollars so we've
saved over four grand which is pretty
awesome
we've saved quite a bit of money that's
really nice the way that we look at that
is that's kind of help you know paying
us back for buying the solar system
upfront so that's why we like solar so
much even though it's obviously not for
everybody this is how we like to pay for
camping essentially is by camping for
free and then buying the solar system up
front
Noah's give you some more cool stats as
well if we can keep up that 91.8%
boondocking ratio
there are currently 195 days left in the
year so if we maintain that ratio we
would need to basically boondock for an
additional 179
days at the $40 a night that's another
additional potential savings of 7160
dollars on top of the 4018 that we've
already saved if you add those two
together if we can boondock for 91.8% of
time since march 1st we could
potentially save eleven thousand two
hundred and forty dollars and let me
just go ahead and state that that is
well over how much our solar system cost
so potentially if we keep this up our
solar system will be more than paid for
before this year is even over and then
campaign past this is gonna be just
truly free camping now I personally do
not think that RV solar is for everybody
in fact I've stayed in the past in my
opinion you should make sure you like
your RV first then go out and try
boondocking make sure you like
boondocking and then if you do like
boondocking then maybe consider a solar
system so I'm not trying to sell you
solar or anything like that you all
requested this video so I'm making it
for you now if you are interested in
solar don't forget we do have that
discount code in the description below
and I think that pretty much wraps up
this review video as always I enjoyed
making it for you hopefully you enjoyed
watching it and we'll catch you next
week
you
you
