Great Video. I'm just starting out at 73 and this is a great solution for us.

@hayeswildrick

Жыл бұрын

Congratulations on starting your RV adventure. After several years we are still very happy with this setup. It matches our needs well.

I love the miles you save me and all th smiles you give me! ;) 😄

Thank you for presenting the information so clearly! Enjoy the road 🚙🌅👍

Wish more boomers were cool like you. Seem like a fun guy to work with. You should also mention that not all RVs are configured for lithium. I looked into it in my Minnie Winnie and i would have had to rip up the charge controller and other stuff.

@hayeswildrick

Жыл бұрын

You are right. RVs that have been configured for 12 V lead acid batteries require modifications in order to use lithium ion batteries. Most charge controllers, like mine, will not completely charge a lithium battery, so I would need to swap that out. Our coach also charges the battery from the coaches alternator. in many cases, they draw from lithium ion batteries can cause damage to the alternator, so it’s often necessary to add a DC to DC controller between them. All of these things start to add up pretty fast! In many ways, I wish I had a lithium ion, but in our case, I don’t think the cost to benefit ratio works in favor of that change. This is especially true, since I don’t have any desire to put in an inverter to run appliances and such off of the batteries.

So for older people its a bit heavy just a fact, For the D.I.Y GUYS I bought flex panels and put into a PVC framework folding and added a charge controller,,,, much cheeper to build also.

Thank you. So straight forward!

Thank you for the great concise explanation! Perfect length video and totally understand your points! 😊 I hate it when ppl drag videos out over 30 minutes that can be done in 10! Thank you!

This really helped me understand the setup! Thanks!

Very informative. I’m thinking of buying the same panels. Thanks.

I just got it for 399 at home depot

thank you this was helpful information

@MilesandSmiles4U

3 жыл бұрын

So glad to hear that it’s helpful!

The timing for this video could not have been more perfect. Just finished a week of boondocking with friends. They installed a $18,000 system of six batteries, multiple panels and all the support equipment. Sure the could watch tv and run both a/c and microwave but all that is not required for us. Was checking systems out as I currently have a 100 watt system I built but needs more. I really liked this setup as I have to wrap mine in blankets and store on our bed when traveling. The system is currently $320 and am going to bite. Thanks and subscribed

@hayeswildrick

Жыл бұрын

Yours is a great example of knowing your camping style and needs before investing in expensive equipment. Thanks for commenting!

Excellent. Clear and honest. Just the ticket that you.

Excellent video thanks for sharing

Good job. Thanks

@MilesandSmiles4U

3 жыл бұрын

👍🏼

Did you notice a decrease with the longer 30 ft wire on your solar suitcase. And how do you like the 200 watt suitcase

@hayeswildrick

2 жыл бұрын

We don’t notice any loss with the longer wire. That would be a problem with a higher gage (thinner) wire but I got 10 gage. The 200 has worked well for us and easily recharges our two batteries in just a few hours on a sunny day. On a typical Florida winter day with light clouds it still does the job but takes most of the daylight hours.

@A1kaching

2 жыл бұрын

@@hayeswildrick Thank you

Thank you buying one right now under your link

Bluetti AC200 mine is on the way by Mid October cant waite

Good info, Jeff! Being a new owner of a Engals fridge freezer next is solar. I appreciate you didn't have any negative comments concerning Renergy as that's the direction I'm leaning. Buy once, cry once. I might have to employ 100 watt sized panel, possibly multiple configuration. Camping with a SUV, I think a portable suitcase style might be best option. AGM battery as they performed well with my trolling motor. Many good points , the best is you don't have issues with Renergy products and tech support! Huge in my opinion...

@MilesandSmiles4U

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the encouragement, and have a great time camping!

@michaeltichonuk2176

3 жыл бұрын

@@MilesandSmiles4U yeah, attempting to design/configure solar system with Duel DC charging...and I don't have Smart Charge in my GMC Envoy. Appears I may have to use controller AND battery charger/isolator. Kinda rough knowing I will upgrade to newer vehicle which most likely have PCM control over alternator output.

If we ever get back to Florida or the South West we are most definitely going to upgrade to at least 200 watts. Our 100 watts was Ok, but just OK. Still had to run the generator every evening to watch TV. Really hoping the borders open in the fall so that we can come to the warm weather for the winter. Great video. We hope you guys are doing well.

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Gone RVing For TV the crucial issue will be batteries, but certainly possible with an inverter.

Thanks for the informative video :)

Great video love the info and the points that you made regarding just using a suitcase and not paying for an expensive system. I have been apprehensive about going there and I watch tons of videos on it on KZread however I was more thinking about it then my husband, so he is going to love to hear this as well. We have a new Fifth Wheel and a solar preped port, so even easier, thanks LeLe from Cali.🌞😎

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks. We love to just stick our toes in first whenever possible!

Great info! Thank you!

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! We appreciate your encouragement.

nice job

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks

Please humor with me because I don’t know anything about how to hook these things up, but I’m obviously missing something that everyone else seems to know because literally everyone who does a video on this doesn’t explain the battery connection. I’ve got 2 house batteries, It looks like the renogy system only sends one set of battery clips. Do you just clip it to one battery or do you clip the positive to one battery and the negative to the other? Thanks!

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

That’s actually a great question. The answer is that it depends on how your batteries are hooked up to your coach. You might have two or more 12 V batteries wired in parallel, or two or more 6 V batteries wired in a combination of parallel and series! Either way, what do you want to find is where the positive cable goes from your batteries into the coach.That’s the terminal you wanna hook the red alligator clip from the solar panels to. Where the neutral wire goes from another post on a battery into your coach is where you want to clip the negative alligator clip from the solar panels. The panels come with instructions that will make that more clear than I just did!

@billhuntillustration3404

3 жыл бұрын

@@hayeswildrick thanks much Jeff! 👍👍👍

Upping the wire size to #10 helps the efficiency. We have the 100w version. They work very well considering they use a PWM controller. Do you max out at about 13A?

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

Yep. Heavier wires give much better efficiency. We typically are using our in the winter, so I'm often getting as little as 8A, but that's a factor of the sun, and also why it's usually a good idea to get more solar than you think you need since the real world conditions are often far from perfect.

I love how u explained the portable solar panel!! Do u think we b ok with the 100 one cause we just want it for nights for our lights and small refrigerator ?

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

I think it depends on how much power your refrigerator draws from your batteries.

Hey I jusaw your info on this 200 watt renogy solar how has it held up since you got it and are you still happy with it? Thanks

@hayeswildrick

2 жыл бұрын

That’s a great question! Yes we still are very happy with our 200 W solar suitcase. We find that on a sunny day it is more than enough to recharge our batteries after a night of normal use. It’s very easy to use and comes ready to go, except that I highly recommend getting at least 30 feet of extension cables so that you can place the panels in the sunniest spot near your rig. A friend got 40 foot, and sometimes I wish I had done the same. Get 10 AWG something like these so you don’t loose power over the longer distance. amzn.to/3xyzXHu

Thanks for a good balanced review. The big issue with rooftop units besides expense and water intrusion is that if flat-mounted, efficiency is never achieved except near high noon. The portable units are easy to adjust and can double for emergency, non RV use. Renogy is well engineered and has a fine reputation.

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. A year later we are very happy with our choice.

2 Gal/hour on the generator?

@MilesandSmiles4U

2 жыл бұрын

Guess not. I misread the manual. Still burns a lot but not that much.

Excellent review! Question: Do you experience a drop in recharging voltage with the 30 foot solar panel cable? Will the 30 foot cable work with the Renogy 100 watt solar suitcase? Lastly, I do car camping and only need the solar panel to keep my 12 volt refrigerator going, is the Renogy 100 watt solar suitcase good enough for that use? Thanks in advance

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your kind words. The size of the solar suitcase that you need is ultimately about the amount of power you use in a typical day and the amount of battery storage you have. So the question is how much power your 12 volt refrigerator uses - how many amps per hour. This should be in the user's manual. For instance, the Dometic CC 40 refrigerator the looks like a cooler uses up to 5.5 amps/hour to get cool and then 1.1 amps/hour to stay cool. In PERFECT conditions a 100 watt solar suitcase can produce about 8 amps per hour. That's in the Arizona desert, in the summer, at noon. Your refrigerator will burn about 24 amps per day. So, if the weather's good you should be able to produce enough electricity for your batteries to recover on most sunny days. Get big enough batteries and you should usually be fine to make it through a few cloudy days with little or no charge from your solar. Check the capacity of your batteries in amp hours, and remember that if they are lead-acid batteries you can only use half of that.

@caltari

3 жыл бұрын

@@hayeswildrick Thanks for the quick reply. Last question: Any drop in voltage recharging the battery with the 30 foot solar panel cable and can it be used with the Renogy 100 watt solar suitcase? Best Regards

@MilesandSmiles4U

3 жыл бұрын

@@caltari I haven't done a measurement with a meter, but Renogy says that using a 10-gauge wire should not have any appreciable drop in voltage.

Interesting how much solar pricing has come down. You noted in the video (10 months old at the time of my comment) that you paid $550 for this unit. Amazon has it on Prime for $336.00 right now with free shipping. Thanks for sharing.

That's pretty impressive how good you are at making due with 200 watts! Did you ever think about getting a 2nd one and running them in series? If you could get by fine on 200 watts then 400 watts would probably be like Heaven for you!!

@MilesandSmiles4U

3 жыл бұрын

At the moment we don’t feel like we have a need to go beyond 200 W. On a cold night we tend to use about 10% of our battery capacity, which is easily recharged on a sunny day with our current setup. Ultimately I believe that your battery and solar capacity should be determined by your actual electric usage, which is why I am such a big proponent of having a good battery monitor like the VictronConnect.

@ima4tubing

Жыл бұрын

I presume you mean running them in parallel for more current/power vs series. Just added this reply for those who see your great question which is also my question.

@aolvaar8792

Жыл бұрын

@@ima4tubing The voyager 20A PWM is 26V max, I use a 20A MPPT in the popup allows 100V (series) 20V @ 20A or 40V at 10A =400Watts

Hi Jeff, thanks for the great info. We have the same system you have. When you leave for the day do you leave your panels out? We kinda worry about them getting stolen. Any suggestions? Thanks John and Linda

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

I think that would depend where we are and how long we'll be gone! There's really no way to lock them, but it would be a pain to take the system apart too. What do you do?

I am looking at the same solar system. I notice that there are 2 different Renogy 200w suitcase solar systems. The one that you have is about $500. There is another one that is $360. Do you know what the difference is? Thanks for the informative video. What I loved was it is what we want, something small for a 3-4 night trip. We are not full time RVer's. Most other videos are about huge systems for full time RVer's.

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

I don't know the specifics, but the more expensive one uses newer, more efficient solar cells.

@skepticalmechanic

3 жыл бұрын

Miles and Smiles 200 watts is 200 watts..

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

@@skepticalmechanic True, but some panels are more efficient and can generate 200 watts with less sunlight

@captlynhall

3 жыл бұрын

Some Renogy suitcases come with the controller and some do not. Perhaps that is the difference.

Onan generators do not require two gallons of gas per hour...try one half a gallon of gas per hour.

Thank you for this informative video. I am leaning on the 200w suitcase kit. We are weekenders right now and once in a while 3 days. We do like to dry camp as much as possible. Which batteries do you use? Renogy? thanks again.

@MilesandSmiles4U

3 жыл бұрын

We currently have two Duracell 6-volt golf cart batteries, but one day I hope to upgrade to Lithium.... if I can get a battery company to send us some freebies!

how do you keep someone from stealing the panel when you are gone from coach?

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Pure hope!

Thanks for your informative video. I have a Class C motorhome with 2 marine 12 v batteries. My refrigerator is a compressor type and with the batteries fully charged they are dead after 1 day, will this 200 watt systems be what I need or would a 100 watt system work just as good?

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

This is a deceptively difficult question! The answer depends on a combination of several factors. I had started writing a long involved answer calculating theoretical energy usage, but gave it up. The simple answer is that your biggest problem is probably battery capacity. You need to figure out how much power you are actually using over the course of a day and be sure that your batteries have enough capacity to handle it, which means that they should have AT LEAST twice the capacity in amp-hours than you are actually using. A solar suitcase is basically a battery charger. Under ideal conditions a 100 watt solar suitcase will produce 8 amps per hour. A 200 watt solar suitcase will produce up to 16 per hour. Multiply that by the number of hours of direct sunshine and you see how much electricity they can pump back into those deleted batteries. But my guess from what you've written is you don't really have near enough battery capacity to handle the power consumption of your refrigerator plus everything else using electricity in your RV.

@agm6095

3 жыл бұрын

@@hayeswildrick Thank you for your reply.

@agm6095

3 жыл бұрын

@@hayeswildrick Thanks for your reply. I think a 200 watt system should help a lot and then I could use my generator just a bit.

I have a 170wh lithium battery. Should I purchase a 100 W or 200 watt solar suitcase? Thanks for the great video.

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

RV battery capacity is usually calculated in amp-hours rather than watt hours, so I'm at a bit of a loss. (At 12 volts I think that would only be a capacity of 14 amp hours, which is pretty small, but this is getting a bit beyond my expertise.) That said, if it's actually a 170 amp hour battery I'd definitely recommend the 200 watt suitcase. My suggestion would be to contact Renogy customer service for a more definitive answer.

Hi Jeff and Kathy. Love your videos. We just discovered your channel yesterday and watched many of your videos last night. I’ve had my eye on the same 200 watt brief case solar panels for some time now. Could you tell me how often you use the panels? Are they enough to keep your batteries charged? Or do you find yourself needing more solar panels to satisfy your needs?

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Donn. Thanks for watching! I think the panels are adequate for our needs, depending on the weather. As you will discover in our next video, which should be out in a few days, the panels were not enough to allow us to Boondock for several nights that were going down into the low 30s. There wasn’t much sun, and in cold weather like that the furnace runs almost constantly and drains the batteries pretty fast. In other settings, with more sunshine and milder weather, we found the panels more than adequate to meet our needs. It’s really as much a question of how much battery capacity we have asked the size of the solar panels.

@dlt32

4 жыл бұрын

Miles and Smiles Thank you. We’re looking forward to seeing your next video. Stay safe.

VERY curious how the suitcase interacts with your battery monitor...or if it even does.

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Great question. When power is coming into the battery through the suitcase it registers on the battery monitor in the same way that it would if the generator were running. The way that the battery monitor determines how full the battery actually is is by measuring power in compared to power out.

@toadstead1

4 жыл бұрын

@@MilesandSmiles4U Outstanding. I am building a small semi-off grid system for a small home and this monitor seems to be JUST what I need to monitor the system. GREAT video!

Where do i buy the exter cord at?

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

I got mine on Amazon. It's heavy-duty and seems to be very high quality. amzn.to/2WcdlJJ

Can I disconnect that charge controller? I'm looking for something to charge my bluetti power station which has a built in controller.

@MilesandSmiles4U

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry. I’m just not familiar with that. I’d ask the manufacturer of the bluetti

@santoraofcali5458

3 жыл бұрын

@@MilesandSmiles4U I have the adaptors. They were included with the power station. I just wanted to know if the controller has standard connectors. And can easily unplug the charge controller.

my van has a 100 watt 12v rigid panel on the roof and 20a controller. I'd like to park my van in shade and connect this in parallel to my system with a 20' cable. Possible? any concern with reverse diode protection?

@MilesandSmiles4U

4 жыл бұрын

Sorry. Way above my knowledge level. Hope you find a good answer.

@ima4tubing

Жыл бұрын

You can connect the roof in parallel with a suitcase EXCEPT that you can have a problem blowing out diodes between the 100w and 200w since your diodes in 100w were likely engineered to be compatible in capacity for 100w panel and diodes heavier on a 200w panel. Conversely you will pop diodes should you even accidently connect panels in series. I have 100w and buying a 200w so i will then have first-hand direct experience; however, my plan is to wire in an A-B switch so my 100w roof and 200w suitcase are never both on at same time. Recommend you look for video of someone who has done what you are proposing or consult with RV Shop local to you.

would a 100 watt panel work for a rv with two batteries? thanks for the video

@hayeswildrick

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, but the issue isn't the number of batteries you have. It's the amount of power you use. A 100 watt panel on an average sunny day will produce 30 amp-hours or electricity which will go directly into your batteries to recharge them. How many amp hours will you typically use during a day? Well, for example, a ceiling vent fan draws about 3 amps per hour. The refrigerator (even when running on propane) draws about 1 amp per hour to run its control panel. 3 LED light bulbs draw about .2 amps per hour (Love those LEDs). Everything you turn on such as the water pump, cell-phone chargers, LP gas detector, water heater control panel, etc, draws a little more power. So how many amps a day are you likely to use when boondocking? If it's less than 30 a 100 watt panel will keep your batteries full on a sunny day. If it's more than 30 the 100 watt panel will extend the time before you need to plug in or run your refrigerator to charge your batteries, but you'll eventually need to do so.

@popatop75

3 жыл бұрын

@@hayeswildrick Hi ! i want to thank you for the time and responce and i just subscribe to follow you for the next 6 months and longer if your video are this goodl. thanks again be safe david

Less is more; noise is unacceptable...Period!

Love the blooper reel 😂

Way over priced... made my own with two 100 watt panels and some hinges with a handle and latch for $230.00

@chrisgabbard639

3 жыл бұрын

I just bought this on an online auction site for 105.00

hell ............ you can just stay at a hotel.......