RV solar isn’t for everyone. Some people like being tied to an RV park. They get lonely when they can’t see another RV parked 20’ away. Why would you go into nature when there are bears and cougars out there? Also, some people like the sound of their generator because bird songs and crickets can be super annoying. These people have no need for AM Solar products and services.
There’s no way you’ll get enough power with solar.
On an average day, 1W of solar will give you about 3Wh of energy. That means a 600W solar array will give you about 1800Wh of energy. This will run a refrigerator for the day, along with lights, fans, cell phone charging, and about ten minutes on a microwave. Also, solar is just one source of energy. AM Solar also offers alternator charging kits to supplement the energy produced by the solar array when the batteries start to get low. These can deliver up to 150A depending on the application. As for batteries, you can top them off with shore power prior to your adventure which could give you an ample supply of reserve power depending on the size of your battery bank. But, if you need to run an air conditioner 24/7, the sun simply doesn’t put out enough power per square foot on Earth to make that a possibility with solar, and you would be better off with a reliable shore power connection.
A hairdryer uses 1600W and it’s simple math that 600W of solar won’t run it.
If you connected your solar array directly to your hairdryer, you would not get a functional hairdryer. AM Solar systems use a battery bank as an energy buffer and an inverter to turn the power into something that the hairdryer can use. A 400Ah battery bank will give you 5,120Wh (12.8V x 400Ah = 5,120Wh) of usable energy. This will run your hairdryer for over three hours (5,120Wh / 1600W = 3.2h). If you factor in daily solar production, you’ll get 1800Wh per day (3h x 600W = 1800Wh). This will get you an addition one hour of runtime (1800Wh / 1600W = 1.125h). But, some people have REALLY wet hair, and a lot of it.
An RV park gives you 100A and 600W of solar only gives you about 4A.
A 50A RV park connection gives you two legs of 50A 120V AC. A single 3000VA inverter can give you 25A of 120V AC. 5000VA and 8000VA inverters are available. Multiple inverters can even be used in the same system for more power. As for the solar array, you’ll get about 30A at 19V DC from the roof to the charge controller. From the charge controller to the battery bank, you’ll get about 38A at 14V DC. If you invert that power to 120V AC, it will be about 4.5A. Yes, this is small, but unlike your microwave, it is relatively constant throughout the day. Most people never come remotely close to using all of the 100A capacity, but if your RV has six air conditioners that all have to be run at the same time, you will be very disappointed by an off-grid power system.
It’s all Chinese garbage that will fall apart.
The short answer is that North Korea gets us better pricing. The true answer is that none of AM Solar’s direct suppliers are Chinese companies. That doesn’t mean that our suppliers don’t source components from China. Some of the components from some of our products likely originate in China. It’s unavoidable in the global economy for pretty much everything people buy. As for the quality, AM Solar tests and stands behind its products. AM Solar eagerly helps customers with warranty issues, but not everything comes from America.
Have you ever seen a lithium mine?
Despite the memes, that’s actually what a copper mine looks like. Lithium isn’t mined with giant pits.
But, this actual lithium mine makes one think about cellphone and laptop batteries. Maybe getting back to nature and avoiding all that technology isn’t such a bad idea. …But cougars and bears.
If you still aren’t convinced, check out AM Solar’s Google reviews. A few of them are bad, although most of those were written by people who got AM Solar confused with another business…
