Summer Preparations Part II - Going Solar

During the trip I wanted to stay out of your typical RV campsite, row after row of campers with little to no privacy.  I also didn't want to be running my generator day in and day out just to charge my phone or computer.  After a little research I decided to try my hand at solar power.
After scowering the internet and reading some reviews I decided on a 100W kit from Renogy Solar.  The package included a solar panel, a charge control panel, an inverter, and power cables.

100W solar panel, mounted and soaking up the rays.

The installation seemed simple enough.  A solar panel runs to the charge controller.  This keeps the panel from overcharging the battery.  From there you connect the charge controller to the battery, charging it.  Then the battery connects to your inverter(an inverter converts power from DC(car battery) to AC (household plugin). 
In an RV many of the electrical items are run off of 12V DC power.  The Betty has a separate deep cycle battery for running lights, water pump, fan, and the electronic ignition on the fridge.  Previously the only way to charge the house battery was to run the generator or run the truck(and shore power hook ups, but that's not an option anymore).

This is the charge controller. A charged battery is a happy battery.

Now this is where I decided to get a little more creative.  The kit I purchased would have only given me two outlets off the inverter to use.  It was not designed to run the existing outlets and wiring in the RV.  So I did some research seeing if I could tie directly into the RVs wiring system.  I found out that there is a way but the systems cost $1000 and up.  This was way too much to spend.  I started calling electrical contractors in the area seeing if they had any thoughts on a simple wiring solution.  Eventually some cold calling led me to a solar power contractor in Breckenridge.  The person I talked too had actually had a similar set up on his camper trailer during his stint as a raft guide.  He took one look at my system and said "Give me an hour and you'll be set up".

In the above picture is where I needed the help of a professional and in this case a prior off-grid RV'er.  The fuse panel on the right contains both a DC and AC fuse panel.  So again, the12v DC panel runs off the house battery while not plugged in or running the generator.  The second panel is the AC which is your typical household set up. 
The lower power cable is hooked into the 12v DC panel and runs to the inverter.  The 12v DC power from the battery and solar panel is then inverted to AC(household power). The inverter is the unit on the left.  The top power cable runs back to the AC fuse panel, carrying AC power that I was only getting from a generator or shore power, allowing me to use the existing outlets and wiring in the RV. 
I certainly learned a lot about electricity by tackling this project.  Hopefully I explained it well enough so you have some idea what's going on.  It has been working great so far! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

I will be putting this system to the test on the next adventure to Arapahoe Basin for some off grid winter RVing. a huge May snow storm, and some last powder turns...