If you own an RV you know how wonderful they can be. How much nicer would it be if you also had a great environmentally way to run your RV by installing your own solar panels. This will be a wonderful addition for your RV and it will cut down a lot on the use of the generator for your RV. Although it is a little complicated to do you can do it with some patience.
The first thing you are going to need to do is to figure out just how much power you think that you are going to need. This will help you decide upon how many of the solar panels you are going to need to be able to produce that much power. Remember there is only so much room on the roof so take that into consideration as well.
After you have figure out what you need and you have purchased them you will need to disconnect the battery and any other power sources you have like the generator and your shore power cord. Make sure to also cover the panels with some sort of paper or maybe some cardboard when you are installing them.
Next you will need to find a good place on the roof of your RV to where it is going to fit the best, more than once space if you have more than one. It needs to be in a convenient place so that the wiring is easily accessed by a vent or another opening. The roof also needs to be strong in order to support it and they also should be no closer than 8 inches to the edge of the RV roof.
Once you have found the spot you need to mark where the mounts will go. It is important that you line these up perfectly. You can make sure they are lined up right by using a laser tool or something like it so that you have a straight line to go by.
After the area is marked you need to drill the holes for your mounts. Make sure that the drill bits are the right size for the holes that you need for the mounts. Be careful that you don't drill into any existing wiring that's in the interior of the RV.
Next place your mounts in their spots that you have marked and drilled and them secure them tightly with the screws that came with the mounts. You should also make sure that you have some sort of sealant on hand so that you can fill in any spaces there might be around the holes.
Now you are ready to take the actual panel and put it into the panel mounts and securely tighten them into place. How they are positioned will completely depend upon the kind of panel that you have bought for your RV.
Now you can go inside of your RV and find the best place to put your regulator that will contain the control panel. Then you will need to make a hole in the RV wall that will be big enough for the control panel to fit for easy access. A good place might be to place the regulator is above the refrigerator in your RV.
You will now take the wiring that is connected to your panel and have it run down to where you have positioned your regulator and then connect these wires to it, always making sure that your polarity is correct with the wiring.
Now take the battery wires from your regulator and connect them to your RV's battery. Again make sure your polarity is correct and that your positive wire is connected to the positive terminal and the negative is connected to the negative terminal of the RV battery. Final step is to reconnect your terminals to the RV battery and your solar panel should be ready to start generating it's own energy for the RV battery.
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