Adding Solar Panels to your RV

Adding solar power to your RV is simple and inexpensive, depending how elaborate you want to get. I saw a system on an Airstream twenty years ago. It was a custom designed trailer built for Frank Sargent, founder of Thetford Corp. I said, "Frank, you mean you never have to plug in?" He said, "No, people plug into me."
I had a simple one panel arrangement on my Class C motorhome. I didn't want to spend a lot of money so I bought one 80 watt panel on Amazon, a ten dollar on/off controller and used part of a heavy extension cord I had to wire it to two 6 volt Sam's Club golf cart batteries. I did everything wrong. I used wire that was too small gauge, and ran it to far to the batteries. Yet, it did a great job of keep my batteries charged because we are very conservative with our power usage. Instead of running the coach furnace blower motor during colder mornings, we installed a Wave catalytic heater. Instead of running 12v lights while we played cards in the evening, we installed a gas light that gave us heat as well.
When we bought a new Class A I wanted to put in a system with higher output. I studied YouTube videos on the subject, googled RV forums, read expert opinions, and shopped manufacturer and retail sites to see what they were suggesting. I found that most RV systems included an inverter. This is the device that turns the sun gathered 12v power into 120 ac. This is not a necessity if you just want to keep your batteries charged so that you can run your 12v system without worry of draining your batteries. Not adding a high end inverter (2000+ watt) will also knock a couple grand off your solar cost. You can always buy a small/cheaper inverter for equipment that does not demand a lot of juice.
So what your system decision comes down to is panel size, controller size and wire size. In my case, I found a lot of inexpensive panels that were more of the home systems. They were powerful panels, but all seemed heavy and took up a much bigger foot print on the roof than I wanted to give up. After a couple weeks of studying dozens of online sources my decision was to deal with AM Solar, an RV specialty solar business from Oregon. They were very competitive, helpful, knowledgeable and running a special on a great package deal. You can decide, as I did, to go at this in stages. I put two 150 watt panels on to begin, charging 4 6v Sam's Club golf cart batteries wired in series/parallel. I decided on a Tristar 45 MPPT controller, with all the bells and whistles, that I could grow into. Phase Two if needed will be two more panels giving me a total of 600 watts. Phase Three could be the inverter if I decide I can't live without AC. We seldom use the microwave and when we vacuum we turn on the generator. We use the generator so little we need an excuse to fire it up once in awhile so it doesn't die from lack of exercise.
For good info google "HandyBob" and "Jack Mayer" solar. Both offer great articles with links to good solar info.

--Keep Smilin', R.V.Shrink