Ep. 242: Big Solar Upgrade! | RV travel camping boondocking

We're now full-time RVers who use a lot of energy. Because we work full-time from the RV we're running multiple computers, VOIP phones and more, all of which are energy hogs. And because it's our home, many evenings we prefer to just sit and unwind on the couch in front of the television.

On our recent visit to Quartzsite we found that while boondocking we were losing 5-10% battery state of charge per day, especially now that we have Starlink which draws 35 to 40 watts by itself. We want to get back to 100% battery state of charge most afternoons so that our energy supply while boondocking is basically unlimited. We therefore wanted to increase our battery capacity, but with our daily loss we'd also have to increase our solar array even more to close that daily deficit.

Join us as we share our expansion to 1200 watts of solar on the roof of our RV, and 400 Ah of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries to turn our Grand Adventure fifth wheel into an electricity generating substation!

Filmed: February 7-14, 2022

CHAPTERS

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:53 Our previous solar & lithium installation
• 1:26 The "why" behind our upgrade
• 2:17 What we're upgrading
• 6:07 Where to find everything
• 6:28 An important disclaimer
• 6:56 Wrap-up

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Everything we used in this project: https://www.amazon.com/shop/GrandAdventure?listId=2L64LYQ09QKH6
• Grand Adventure Shop on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/shop/GrandAdventure

These are affiliate links. Grand Adventure earns a small commission on each purchase to help support the channel; however, these are only the products that we use and love ourselves, and wholeheartedly recommend to our viewers.

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We've created some fun and quirky merchandise particularly for RV campers, including t-shirts, coffee mugs and more. Sales help to support Grand Adventure to keep bringing you outdoor adventure videos each and every week. Visit https://teespring.com/stores/grandadventure to browse our selection.

USE WHAT WE USE

We've opened a Grand Adventure store on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/shop/GrandAdventure Unlike other Amazon shops, every single item you see in our store is hand picked from things we use ourselves in our own Grand Adventures, from RV stuff to our dogs and even photography and videography. We've tried it, we've tested it, and we can heartily recommend it. No random stuff or paid product placements.

It costs you no more to shop Amazon with us, but by shopping our store a portion of each sale goes to bringing you more and better Grand Adventure videos! Thank you for clicking through to give us a look!

CREDITS

🎵 We license music for our videos from Soundstripe https://soundstripe.com?fpr=grandadventure. Use the coupon code "GRANDADVENTURE" to get 10% off a yearly or monthly Soundstripe subscription.

ABOUT US

Welcome to Grand Adventure, a YouTube channel that focuses on RV-centric outdoor activities including not only of course camping, but also mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, skiing and more, always filmed in stunning 4K.

We're based in Salt Lake City, Utah during the winter months, and invite you to come along as we travel all around the U.S. My wife Patricia and I, and dog Zoe are avid boondockers, so while you'll occasionally find us in RV parks or even dry campgrounds, we're usually camped in some of the most remote and beautiful spots that you could ever pull a travel trailer into. We've now transitioned from "long-timing" for six months a year, to living and traveling in our RV full-time.

We'll provide beautiful travel videos, as well as some tips and insight on trip planning, and equipping and maintaining your RV to make your next adventure a grand one indeed! So, subscribe to make sure that you catch every episode, and remember...life is nothing but a Grand Adventure!

CONNECT WITH US

Become one of our Grand Adventurers and subscribe to our YouTube channel! 
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admin

Grand Adventure is the creative video outlet for Marc Guido, a 50-something outdoors enthusiast who first added an RV to his gear bag in spring 2017. Outside of ski season he travels the U.S. in his fifth wheel RV trailer with his lovely wife Patricia, and their overly-caffeinated Labrador retriever Zoe. During winter, they base their RV in Salt Lake City for the skiing.