Tech Post: Solar Upgrade Reservation
We were pleasantly surprised this week to stumble on a solar installer in southern CA with short enough lead times that we could actually get on their schedule. We saw an Instagram post showing off an absolutely bonkers solar install someone did where they covered their entire rig 40' roof with panels, filled a bay with batteries, etc. It looked like total overkill for almost anyone. But I was curious about the installer (Power Up RV Solar) since they were unfamiliar and located in Palm Springs, on our route south. I looked them up and asked about lead time, and they were only 4 weeks out. This was a pleasant surprise, as previously I'd worked with AM Solar and Quality RV Solar in Springfield, OR and Fremont, CA respectively, and both had 3+ month lead times for installs.
On a whim I gave them a call and had a wonderful conversation with a guy named Lincoln to cover what we've got, what our travel style is, and what we might change. It's a lifestyle business for these two guys who post up in parks and BLM land for a month and do installs. Lincoln was quite knowledgeable and I was particularly impressed with his flexible attitude about finding the right parts and prices for what people need. He buys off-lease commercial panels, and will do 24V Tesla battery setups, or use Costco lithium batteries, etc. Seemed right up my alley to pick something practical and reduce waste.
Then he sent me the bid, and it was the same price as other bids I had seen but was significantly larger, with 40% more solar wattage and a 3000W inverter including a monitor display. This was a serious system that would have 5x the solar, 2x the battery capacity, 30% more inverter output and power our whole RV, not just the fridge and a few other things. While it's more system than we need for our travel style, for the value of what it can do, this price was a scream.
It would mean replacing our existing panel and inverter, so I guess I'll try to sell those or something. No regrets on those, we'll be putting them to use this month, and I'm thankful Evan optioned them in. The rig makes a lot more sense with it given the residential fridge.
When we thought about the freedom such power affords, especially the idea that we wouldn't have to plan our days around generator runtime and battery life, it started to sound awfully appealing. Right now we're a bit wary of boondocking, as even with the generator, it's winter and well, boondocking starts to look a lot like camping in a hard tent with running water when power becomes scarce.
So we contemplated it for a day or two, but this wasn't a very hard decision, and we're looking forward to our install date on Jan 14th near Winterhaven, CA!
