If you have a RV solar system get this if you don’t have a shunt-based battery monitor.
If you are planning on installing a solar system on your RV, buy this first. It can be used to determine your energy needs before buying solar panels. I will be publishing a guide on how to size a solar system in a few days.
This post will explain what a battery monitor is and how to install and set up a TriMetric Battery Monitor.
When it makes sense, I love solar power. In my recent post of my all-time favorite camping gear our campers’ solar system was my favorite gear. In my post Solar for Backing I laid out all the considerations but did not say if it was a good or bad idea
If you want to carry this stuff, go ahead, it’s okay. Just isn’t my personal cup of tea.
In other words, I am not interested in carrying a bunch of electronic devices when backpacking, other than a headlamp and sometimes a camera and solar doesn’t make sense to me. I did try to be objective and present good information for those who are interested in solar for their backpacking trips.
Starting next month I will be on a fixed income, so planning to reduce my monthly fixed overhead has been a priority. The greatest opportunity for savings is our monthly utilities. For most people, the first thing that comes to mind is installing a solar system – especially since most of us have been bombarded by telemarketers and door-to-door solicitors over the past 4 or 5 years. When we get this volume of sales pitch bombardment, your first reaction should be “someone is making a ton of money and they are going to try and take advantage of me.” In other words,
home solar might just be a pig with lipstick
As with our last camper, the very first mod we did to our Milan was to install a solar system.
Recently I wrote about our RV solar system, which is the best and most favorite modification done to our tent trailer camper. Do I use solar when backpacking? The answer is a simple, “No.” However, some backpackers find them useful. If you are one who is wondering about using solar as part of your backpacking kit, this article might be interesting or even helpful.
By far the best and our favorite upgrades to our campers are the solar systems.
You might also be interested in our:
2006 Fleetwood Niagara Dual Battery Set-up (Trojan T-125s)
1992 Starcraft Meteorite Dual Battery and Dual Propane Tank Set-up
“At this point they came in sight of thirty forty windmills that there are on plain, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them he said to his squire, “Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes; for this is righteous warfare, and it is God’s good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth.”
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes