A couple of weeks ago I purchased a 100 Watt Renogy Solar panel and other hardware to add Solar to my RV. Today, proudly splashed across the top of a web page I saw an advertisement from Amazon for a 160 Watt Solar panel from Go Power that costs three times what I paid for my whole Solar System (wires, brackets, controller, everything)!
I paid $125 for my 100 Watt Renogy panel and the 160 Watt Go Power panel is $630.85. That is quite a difference ( + 225% ), especially when you consider the $ per watt cost: $1.25 vs $3.94 ($ cost/watts).
My point is that you need to be a Savvy, Well Informed, customer before you spend more of your, hard earned, money than is necessary just to add Solar to your RV.
Well that is pretty much the case in any area, not just solar.
But perhaps one should wait to make any purchase and instead wait for "The solar panel as light as a SOAP BUBBLE: Super thin cells could be added to clothes, gadgets and even sheets of paper."
Then again, it might be some time until this comes to market. But even if less efficient, because its "power-to-weight ratio is among the highest ever achieved" you could pack as many as your could fit on a Scamp and get good results, using not only every square inch of roof space available but also the curved sides.
BTW Man with a Van, your article in the solar section was very well written. I also tried to read part three, but it seems that even though I have contributed quite a bit to the discussions here, I cannot access part three unless I contribute something else.
Gordon,
Lots of new technology is coming to solar similar to the item you link to. I particularly like the lithium battery and the Tesla Powerwall developments as they may eventually revolutionize RV sytems.
Part three of the solar resource on Batteries has not been published yet, but is coming shortly. I had not removed the link to it on the one page, thanks for finding that. Also, parts 4-6 are in process as well. We've been asking for contributors to help write sections, and input on what's already there as the technology changes as fast as we write it. This is one of the big problems researching solar, while many of the concepts remain current, a lot of the information out there is dated, and we hope to be able to keep this section up to date with new developments. Let us know if you or anyone else wants to contribute to any of the sections.
Solar is a very hot topic right now in molded fiberglass trailers and we hope to become a solid and simple to access resource for how to best approach it.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale