Originally posted by CharLac Yep, soon I will be doing the same to ours and installing the solar retrofit.
Ours has a 190W solar panel on the roof but the charge controller can easily handle a second one. It also has something called "Solar on the Side" where I can connect a solar charge controller and panels and then supply energy directly to the batteries. At the moment I am using two 64Ah lead acid batteries. This allows you to place panels in the sun and chase it around during the day.
For fun I am building a home made "solar generator". It will probably be contained in one of those plastic milk crates. I am thinking of other options too like those plastic tool boxes with wheels and a handle to roll it around. It will center around a 50Ah LiFePO4 battery and a 600 watt pure sine wave inverter. It will be charged either by solar panels or a 10A lithium battery charger. All parts have been ordered to get it started.
I was inspired by watching Will Prowse build one on YouTube. This will be have several advantages over the all in one units. Components can be replaced if they fail of I want to upgrade any part of it. It is less expensive than that all in one units like Bluetti, Goal Zero, Jackery etc. I have a neat little project to do and I learn a bit along the way.
Additionally I can use the MPPT solar charge controller to feed into the batteries in our RV if needed. There will be plug and play options on the finished product to allow this. All I need to do is change the battery type on the controller. I already have three 100 watt solar panels I can connect to the controller. I also have a 90W folding solar array that can keep my 40L battery powered refrigerator/cooler running for quite awhile when off the grid. And another 120W folding solar array to keep out smaller solar generator charged up when we are off the grid.
I do want to add more solar capacity to the roof of the RV too. I am split between one more 190/200w panel or two 100 watt panels. The roof of our RV has a pretty big curve to it so the 100 watt panels can be placed at two different angles to catch the sun. It also keeps then away from things like the AC unit which can shade it. Not urgent and probably not a project for this year.