An unplugged life with power but no monthly bill.

A boondooging sundog must create all energy used, and since I will be in the trailer more than when I was a wage slave, there is even more energy usage.

There are many inconvenient and noisy methods of energy production, but on a few quite dependable ones.

On my Safari airstream there are two sources of power, propane and 12V electricity. Propane fuels the endless - instant hot water heater, stove, and a catalytic heater. I use very little propane, but it is certainly a constant small expense.
Electricity is the big problem for most full-timers. Most RV's come with one small battery, and a lot of gasoline generating capacity no solar panels. This is the opposite of what the full time RVer needs. Generators are always objectionable - expensive, noisy and they break. What the full timer needs is a lot of deep cycle battery capacity and sufficient solar panel power to store more than a day's use in 5 or 6 hours of good sunlight. Here's the system that I currently run, and I am never electricity poor and I pay NOTHING every month for my electricity.

Four Photowatt 90 watt panels supply 22 theoretical amps for my trailer anytime the sun shines at a reasonable angle. This has worked better than I thought. Because of the limitation of support on the roof of the airstream I could not find a way to tilt the panels to follow the sun. I thought there would be a great deal of loss. Not so, I have hit 20 amps charge even in the winter at low angles. Solar is usually something that works better than you expect.

The secret to successful solar power is to spend your big money in three places, panels, batteries and a good charge controller. You can find salvaged welding cables, you can make bus boxes out of copper pipe and strap, and you can find second hand or free, fuse blocks, etc. But starting with enough battery amperage and enough collection capability is crucial.

I have 4 T-105 golf cart batteries giving a total of 440 amp/hours of storage (a common RV single 12V battery for a 1/2 million dollar RV is 100 amp/hours. Yet I bought my 4 T-105 batteries brand new for only $220 for all. The 4 six volt batteries are connected as pairs - making each pair 12V and then the pairs are linked in series to give 12V.

The rule for guesstimating power requirement for solar can be very complicated, but if you are not running a large refrigerator or a microwave, you'll probably do fine with 2 panels for each person who lives in the RV. New panels are higher power and you might find that you could get by with one 120 watt panel per person rather than two.

In my case I knew that I was going to use a lot of electricity. When it is the rainy season in Oregon I like LIGHT, lots of light. I also watch satellite TV and run my computer almost constantly. So I chose 4 90 watt panels for just me. I rarely discharge the batteries below 30% even over a week of cloudy skies in Oregon. Since installing the panels and batteries at the beginning of winter, I have NEVER had to use a charger to bring them up to full charge. The solar panels have always been sufficient to keep them fully charged.

Click her for information on the fallacy of amp hours.