How much solar do you need?

So you’re still thinking about jumping into solar, but how much do you need? You hear people ask, “How many watts do you have on your roof?” Well, what they mean is, “How much potential power do you have to recharge your batteries?” You see, solar panels are there to recharge your batteries, not provide power to them. The question is, “How many solar panels do I need to keep up with demand?”

The first thing you’ll need to do is make a list of all your “Must Haves” and their wattage, like your A/C, laptop, T.V. etc. and add up the wattage to find out how much you use at one time. Then you’ll take that wattage and divide it by 120 because that’s what we use in our rigs. Now you will know how many watts you can put up on the rig. 

Now, our rig has limited space, we only have so much room up top as we already have our air conditioners and vents and still need to be able to walk around for maintenance purposes, so you may want to start off with a couple of panels to help charge up the battery. 

But, if you do want to go ahead and turn on your T.V. and laptop with your A/C, you could probably get away with 3-4 panels at about 170-200 watts each and be absolutely fine. The panels themselves are usually 2 ft. by 4 ft., and the max you’re most likely going to see is roughly around 3000 watts. 

Now, in the grand scheme of things, solar panels are relatively cheap. You’re looking at anywhere from $200-$300 per panel. It’s your batteries, inverter and the like that tend to be pretty costly. The great thing about solar panels is you can start small and as time goes on you can add more as needed.  

And there’s your Tech Tip!

If you would like to be able to fix the majority of the problems on your RV, or let’s say you want to open a business and become a certified technician or inspector? Head over to our website at www.nrvta.com, select the programs tab and get started today!