With an increasing number of people going off-grid for prolonged periods (instead of looking for rare, powered campsites) RVs have become more common than ever. RVers are also taking more personal electronics and appliances with them, placing unprecedented demands on their off-grid setups.
An excellent method to take care of your energy requirements and remain comfortable while travelling is to install solar panels on the roof of a van, motor-home, or RV. There are two primary solar panel choices to pick from when it comes to your mobile lifestyle: rooftop and portable solar panels.
Emerging portable solar solutions offer flexibility and a lower barrier to entry, while conventional solar panels are reliable and have become more user-friendly than their previous versions.
In this guide, we will discuss the advantages of portable solar panels for RVs, and how these portable solar solutions stack up against their traditional counterparts.
What Are Portable Solar Panels?
Portable solar panel systems allow you to produce and store your own electricity with the help of lightweight solar panels, inverters, batteries, and charge controllers. Portable panels that can be hung from your car or other vertical surfaces, folding suitcase panel kits that can be set up on the ground, and other portable solar panel options are all available as alternatives to attaching your solar panel to the roof.
Like conventional solar panels, portable panels are made using numerous silicon solar cells. An electric field is produced by the positive and negative layers found in solar panels. Solar panels generate an electric current when they are exposed to sunlight.
A charge controller, which regulates the amount of electricity flowing through batteries, is then linked to the solar panels. DC power is generated and stored by batteries. An inverter converts DC power into AC power so that household AC equipment like blenders, laptops, and phone chargers can be utilized.
Types of Flexible Solar Panels
Thin-Film Amorphous Silicon
A type of thin-film technology, amorphous silicon is being used since the 1970s. Although this technology's maximum conversion efficiency was 14.0%, it also has a low cost of $0.69/W.
One of the key advantages of amorphous silicon solar panels is their tolerance to high temperatures. Only a temperature coefficient of around-0.234%/degree Celsius has any impact on them. When travelling in states with hot weather in your RV, this technology will be a great ally.
Monocrystalline Silicon
Previously, monocrystalline silicon was used almost exclusively for traditional solar panels. However, over the last decade or so, this technology has been modified and refined for portable solar panels as well. Using this feature, modules can be attached to the roof without the need to drill holes for racking installation.
These technologies' efficiencies, which range from 23% to 25%, are comparable to those of conventional monocrystalline technologies. These portable solar panels are frequently used for temporary installations at campgrounds and rooftop installations on RVs.
What Are Roof-Mounted Solar Panels?
Roof-mounted solar panel systems are available in a flexible or rigid form. They are placed at the roof of an RV or van using mounting hardware, brackets and bolts. There are two main types of rooftop solar panels for RVs: polycrystalline silicon and monocrystalline silicon. Both are manufactured with the same source materials, but have varying properties and manufacturing processes.
Types of Roof-Mounted Solar Panels
Monocrystalline Silicon
The most potent and effective solar technology for RVs is monocrystalline silicon. Solar cells made from a single silicon crystal using the Czochralski technique can be used for residential and recreational vehicles.
RV solar panels made of monocrystalline silicon typically cost $1.25/W, and their maximum recorded efficiency is 25.4%. If you want a solar system that produces the most power possible, you should certainly consider this technology.
The temperature coefficient for these modules is almost -0.38%/degree Celsius. Although they sometimes come in portable forms, installation typically demands drilling holes and the use of a fastening rack for the roof.
Polycrystalline Silicon
Polycrystalline silicon is produced by fusing several silicon crystals together. This results in a solar cell with slightly higher impurities and reduced efficiency, but a significantly lower cost.
Polycrystalline silicon has a maximum efficiency of 24.4% (only around 10% lower than that of monocrystalline silicon), but costs just $1 per watt. These solar panels can be affected at a temperature coefficient of -0.39%/degree Celsius.
Other Components for Portable Solar Panels for RVs
Solar panels are the primary component for any solar RV system, but they are far from the only one. RV requires the installation of an off-grid solar system to power DC and AC loads.
RV solar panel systems require a charge controller, power bank, and an inverter. In this section, we will briefly cover these components and their functions.
Charge Controller
The charge controller modulates the DC voltage and current transferred to the load and solar batteries, thereby optimizing the power output.
The controller uses the MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) technology to optimize output from the solar panels. Using this technology, the solar charge controller identifies the amperage and voltage that will allow it to extract the maximum possible power from the solar system.
The controller also prevents overcharging of the batteries, and provides power to the load as and when needed.
Power Bank
The power bank (also known as the battery bank) stores the solar energy for future use – something that is particularly important in harsh weather or during the night when sunlight is not available.
The power bank consists of one or more batteries that match the input of the charge controller and inverter. Generally, battery banks operate at 12 volts, 24 volts, or 48 volts.
Inverter
The inverter converts the DC electricity from the solar charge controller into a pure sine or modified 120V wave. Hence, it is the inverter that allows you to use your solar panel to power electrical appliances like TV, computer, and coffee maker.
Which Type of Solar Panel is Best for RVs?
The solar panel technology you choose will depend upon your needs with respect to cost, efficiency, and installation ease.
RV solar panels made of monocrystalline silicon produce the most electricity. These are the perfect choice for RVs if you need a lot of energy to live comfortably or if you want to speed up battery charging. Polycrystalline also generates a fair amount of power, while still saving you money. Although this technology is less efficient, it is also less expensive.
Both polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon can be manufactured as portable solar panels for RVs or put on RV roofs using a mounting rack. Monocrystalline silicon technology can, however, be used to create flexible modules that can be shaped to fit the RV's roof.
Amorphous silicon is a special technology that allows for the manufacturing of solar panels that adapt to curved RV roofs, have a considerably lower per-watt price, and strong performances in harsh temperatures. The low power ratings and efficiency, however, are a drawback. Amorphous silicon can be utilized to make portable solar panels for roof installations as well as to manufacture flexible solar panels for RVs that are fully roll-able.
Benefits of Portable Solar Panels for RVs
Flexibility
Unlike rooftop systems, portable solar panels free you of the need to park your RV in a spot where your RV rooftop can receive the most sunlight. Instead, they can set up camp under the shade or in the spot with the best views – all while using a portable solar panel to charge the RV's batteries.
Sunlight Optimization
Portable solar panels, naturally, are easier to move. Hence, you can easily move them throughout the day in order to maximize their exposure to sunlight.
Easy to Use
Using portable solar panels means there is no need to drill holes, mount panels to the roof, or run cables inside the RV. Should you choose to upgrade the RV, you can easily move your portable solar panels from the old RV to the new one.
Cost
Although portable solar panels often have a higher purchase price than their traditional counterparts, they are actually cheaper once you factor in their (lack of) installation costs.
Allow You to Test the Waters
RV owners who aren't ready to install a permanent solution can start enjoying solar power's advantages with a basic portable solar kit. If you decide to go fixed, you may upgrade your portable system as per your needs, or use it as an additional charging source.
How to Calculate Your RV Energy Needs?
RVs don't use as much power as homes do, especially since there aren't as many power-hungry appliances as there are in a home.
When in your RV, you may want to spend the day watching some TV (requires around 150 watts per hour), use the satellite internet for working (requires around 25 watts per hour), or use the laptop to surf the web (requires around 100 watts per hour), use your coffee maker (requires around 1000 watts per hour), or conduct some other low power-requiring tasks.
With the exception of the coffee maker, which uses 1,000 watts per hour, but functions for 5–10 minutes, all the other equipment have quite low power usage. You can determine how much power you'll need and the appropriate RV solar panel size by taking into account and examining your power consumption patterns.
Solar Panel System Size (KWP) = [Daily Energy (Kilowatt-hours per day) *Operational Days]/HSP*0.6
You may determine the appropriate PV system size for your RV using the above equation. In order to solve the equation, you must take into account your daily energy needs, the predicted Peak Sun Hours (PSH), or the actual hours when power generation at full capacity will occur at your camping location, and a de-rating factor to account for PV losses (in the above equation, we have used a de-rating factor of 0.6). You can use the widget as a guide to get the power demand in order to accurately estimate your energy consumption; all you need to do is determine how long you plan to use each appliance.
Get BLUETTI Portable Solar Panels for Your RV
After learning about the advantages of different kinds of panels for RVs, you should now compare the solar panel's power, efficiency, rating, and price to the space that is available on your RV's roof. This will enable you to pick the best portable solar panels for your RV.
If you are looking for a portable solar panel system for your RV, we invite you to check out our wide range of options. We offer a number of portable solar panels and can help you pick the one that best serves your budget and RV power requirements.
To learn more about portable solar panels for RV and explore your options, please feel free to reach out to us.
