Sunny day = Power for play

I got asked a question about our solar setup the other day so I thought I would create a post about how we will be using solar power and why we chose a specific product for our solar needs.

About two months ago we bought a Bluetti AC200MAX. When we started our build one of the projects, I fretted about most was the electrical and specifically the solar. There was a lot to learn and I am pretty sure I was going to mess something up. We started our build in August of 2022 and sometime between then and a few months ago we discovered the “solar generator”. These units are basically an all-in-one solar system that have all the components of a traditional solar build in a single box. Our system is capable of being expanded to 6100-watt hours. When we found these little beauties, the choice was easy.

Basically, the Bluetti will allow us to wire the AC200MAX into our bus when we are traveling PLUS, we can remove it when home and use it as a backup power supply should we have a power outage.

We will be installing two 200-watt solar panels on top of our bus to charge the Bluetti when we are out and about. The unit also came with an additional 200-watt solar panel that we can use when stationery. We chose the IronRidge system as the mounting hardware (see the photo) so we can be sure our panels will be secure even in the worst conditions.

It is important to know that we will not be doing a lot of boondocking (no hookup camping) so the 2000 watt hours we have should be plenty. We also realize that our A/C choice is not solar friendly but this is something we can change if we really want to in the future.