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RV World Is Having A Major Comeback With The Influx Of Baby-Boomers

The recreational vehicle (RV) world is having a major comeback with the influx of baby-boomers. Today’s travel trailers, 5th wheels, and motor coaches now include everything from satellite television and central air conditioning to built-in electric fireplaces. However, these luxury land yachts have one major disadvantage over the RV world of earlier years—they require large amounts of electrical power to operate.

Most high-end  Recreational Vehicle can power all of their lighting and a few DC-powered appliances without an external hookup, but their limited onboard battery capacity will quickly be depleted when powering larger loads like a gas furnace fan or color television. These large RVs require a generator to power their major appliance and air conditioning loads when not plugged in at an RV park.

Dry campers, or boondockers, do not move each day from one high-tech camp ground to the next. The motorized covered-wagon pioneers of today head for the backwoods or fishing hole in smaller, less energy intensive campers. Many convert old buses into RVs or build their own truck campers. Some of you may use an enclosed truck-bed cap to protect your camping gear, build a fire for cooking and keeping warm, and set up a tent for sleeping. If you fall into this low tech camping category, your power needs will not include central air conditioning or electric hot water heating. However, you still may want to at least power several 12-volt DC lights, a laptop computer, and a radio. Even these limited power requirements can still deplete a typical RV/marine battery after only a few days. This article describes how you can build your own solar powered charging system for your camping or fishing RV/marine battery, or add a solar charger to an existing truck camper battery system.