On Thursday night, I am sitting here reading when I there was a knock on my door. It's Greg Young, from RV Solar Solutions to install my Solar panels. YEAH!!! He says he will mount panels tomorrow since the AM is supposed to be nice but rain later in day is forecast. This will give the mounting adhesive ample time to adhere before I travel home. It needs 3 days to cure. He will jump back and forth from my install to the other 2 he is doing here. Both of them are my fellow boon dockers that I met at RVdreams.com boon docking rally given by Howard and Linda Payne. That is also where I got the recommendation to use Greg for this install. Thank you, Howard and Linda.
So it's Friday and I walk over to see Louise and how her solar install is going. Greg says he's about finished mounting hers will be up to see me soon. About half an hour later he arrives with panels in tow. After he gets panels up on the roof he gets a call from his
wife who was at work but he had sent her to go pick up supplies for my rubber roof install. She tells him, "they just had a storm go through with large hail which broke over a dozen windshields in her work parking lot. If he hadn't sent her on this errand, her car would have been in the lot!" OMG!!! He says "Jean, she says - I should hug you, you saved my car". Well, he gets the panels adhered to the roof and it's clouding up here real quick. He put away his tools and the sky opens up. Guess what? Here comes the hail too. Thankfully, the biggest we got here was grape size. But Greg says, it is no problem for these panels unless they get softball
size hail and then we would have bigger problems then the panels. So, no worries. I am all warm and dry in the "Baby" watching it hail.
Saturday by 10 AM, the real work begins. Greg has brought his business partner, Ethan, who is helping with my install. Ethan and he own a construction company and Ethan has been doing residential solar installs for years. We went over exactly what they were going to do, where they were putting the controller, inverter,
cut off switches, etc. I told him I have future plans to remove my dinette unit and have a credenza/desk unit installed in it's place. Taking that into account, he is putting my "electrical outlets" in that area with a 3' loop of extra wire so it can be relocated at that time. He has positioned the panels so I can add another one if I decide I need more power. (That made me think of "Tim -the tool man- Taylor' from Home Improvements"). MORE POWER !!!!!!!! AW! AW! Am I dating myself here? Did you all watch that show back when TV had funny sit coms still running? But I don't think that another panel will be necessary since I do have my portable 100 watt solar panel for a backup. If I am parked in the trees or somewhere the sun can't shine on the roof, I can connect that portable and move it to where the sun is shinning. He is also putting a shut off switch in my battery box for me. Here are some pics of the install process and the finished results.
I will tell you, RV Solar Solutions is the one to contact for your solar needs. They are very knowledgable about what I needed since I didn't have a clue other than I wanted panels and a plug in to use power inside the RV. My friend, Kyra, had advised me to get a battery monitor while this was being done so he is installing that too. On my initial contact, Greg just needed information about my rig, size, year, battery bank, converter and how I use electricity. Then he figured out the rest. They have been great to work with and I highly recommend them. Also having them come to me in the campsite where he is staying has been very convenient. I am actually sitting here writing this blog while he is walking around on my roof doing my install. Thank you, Greg and Ethan for a job well done.
As always, fellow RVers and bloggers, stay safe. Love to family & friends in PA.
