Solar And Wind Powered Rv

The use of solar panels and to a lesser degree wind turbines has taken off in the recreational vehicle community.

Solar and wind powered rv.

When i started out five years ago selecting modifications for my roadtrek to support a full timing boondocking lifestyle one thing i looked into was a portable wind turbine. With two power sources you should be able to run just about everything in your rv and keep your battery charged. An rv wind turbine works just like a windmill only at a smaller scale using kinetic energy. Power output is actually cubed as you double the speed of the wind.

But diyers are clamoring for more cost effective products catered uniquely to the rv community. Like solar panels these allow you to generate electricity without burning fuel so they re great for rvers or so my reasoning went. With a solar system you are more assured of reliable power while you re adventuring off grid and all you need is daylight. In other words a turbine producing 5 watts of power at 2 mph winds will produce 15 watts of power with 4 mph winds and so on.

You d be hard pressed to spend much less than 1500 to obtain solar panels that will produce that much power. A typical rver s wind turbine costing in the mid 500 range can put out 400 watts of power in a 28 mile per hour wind. Having both solar power which is most efficient on bright sunny days and wind power which can be efficient both on sunny as well as overcast cloudy or stormy days could reap an rver the best of both worlds. Priced on a per watt basis wind turbines beat solar panels hands down.

The solar power charging your batteries won t touch it unless you had a really large inverter installed and even then most inverters will pass power through when you re on shore power. In a typical rv without an inverter the only point of crossover between the 12v battery solar and 120v grid power sides is at the converter. So must the turbine. It is necessary to know how an rv wind turbine works to understand all its benefits.

When choosing an rv solar system it is best to start planning with identifying what kind of rv you have. There is interest in renewable energy to charge batteries for a variety of reasons. Wind speed is critical to turbine output. In combination with solar panels you can maximize the savings at the same time save the environment.

Off grid solar power kit with 11 700 watts of panels and 8000 watt 48vdc 120 240vac inverter charger 16 665 82 rv marine 12v charging kit with 1300 watt solar panel 100 amp mppt charge controller with battery. One of the issues with wind is the size of the turbine span.