anyone have anything to provide solar power ?? i have seen hem on some campers at the campground, and was just curious how much it cost to install and how hard it was.

I camp at Cades Cove (no electric/water) and I have an 18" X 12" (about) solar panel. I cost $55 on ebay and keeps my marine battery charged enough to keep the lights (used minimally) and guages going. I also only have an 18' camper. I would like a larger one for long stays, but I also have a small generator - just in case - that I've never had to use. You can find them cheaper now and they have a good assortment at Camping World (don't know about prices). My vote on them is a total thumbs up!

oh ok.. was it hard to hook up ?

Northern Hydraulics on Clinton Highway has a setup for around $50 that looks like it would be easy to use.

dang if i could remember that when were down there

My solar panel hooks up like jumper cables (but little!) I sit it on the tongue and let it go to work!

Happy Camping!

oh ok so it just hooks up to the battery

You got it! It takes longer carrying out of the camper than to set it up.

oh gosh. i have seen them sitting on the roof ?? have you heard of them mounted on the roof ? or are they just sitting on there.

The large ones (like on a land yacht) are usually roof mounted, but mine is so small it is easier to keep it in when travelling and put it out when needed. Mine only weights maybe 6 lbs, but I'm sure one big enough for a large rig would be too heavy to move around without breaking the glass.

oh yea, i see.

It depends on what you want the solar panels to do. The small panels that have a cigarette-style plug or jumper cables only put out 5 watts or so, which means the panel won't do much more than keep the battery charged while in storage. If you actually want a solar panel that will provide enough power to run lights, TV's, etc. you'll have to have a panel (or panels) that provide 100 watts or more. For a setup like that (and that's the kind you've seen mounted on the roofs of larger trailers and motorhomes), you'll likely spend $1000 or more. And yes, they will be more difficult to install.

ooh ok thanks thats what i was looking for. gosh its not worth $1000 .. thanks for all the replys

I think you may find this informational about Solar.
It's from the Fiberglass Camping board. These are mostly all Fiberglass campers but they can pack a lot of goodies into a really small space.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.php

There should be a tutuorial on solar on the home page.

Enjoy

Last spring I added a 130 watt solar panel to the roof of our truck camper. It had the wiring already installed in the camper so all I had to do was hook in the controller and hook the panel in on the roof and mount it. It sure is handy when we are boondocking. We spent 4 days on the beach last year at North Padre Island National Seashore and I sure wish had the panel then. It is a Kyocera panel and the conroller is a Blue Sky SB2000E MPPT charge controller. The panel is 56 inches long about about 27 inches wide so it is pretty big. So far, I really like it and the controller does a great job.