I have been investigating a hat made of solar electric for Barth, and am very close to pulling the trigger on a much-too-expensive order of panels, controllers, replacement batteries, and all the wiring, mount hardware and other ‘stuff’ required to install a solar system.

Solar power will give Barth much more flexibility regarding camping and boondocking locations while supporting my spoiled hunger for electronics. We enjoy out of the way locations to over grown and over priced commercial establishments. Yes, there will be some monetary savings. The system will probably pay back a significant amount of the cost in about 40 years, 20 years beyond the life guarantee of the panels, 10 years beyond the existence of their manufacturer, and countless years beyond which I will be plant fertilizer.

The plans are to place 4x 165 watt solar panels on Barth’s roof, not a small task. Just hoisting the panels of 45 pounds each is a chore I have not solved yet. The 660 watts of sun power will be supported by a pair of slaved 30 amp controllers. This should make available up to 50 amps of charge current available to the batteries, best case. I hope for a very approximate available average charge 0f 200 amp-hours per day, which is half charge on a battery bank with 400 amp-hour capacity rating. Half charge is the lowest recommended discharge level for a battery if reasonable life is to be achieved. Additionally, I may increase my battery bank to six batteries, increasing from 400 to 600 amp-hour rating.

I would like more solar capacity, but cost and roof size become limiting factors.