AM Solar, located in Springfield, Oregon, has made it easy for truck camper owners to go solar by just announcing the release of three solar power packages built specifically for truck campers. Called The Ranger, The Explorer, and The Nomad, these DIY solar power kits are priced and sized to fit truck campers of all types from the smallest pop-up to the largest hard-side with triple slide-outs. These kits include not only a complete solar power charging system, but also one or more batteries including AGM and lithium LiFePO4 technology to suit everyone’s budget.
“We sell a wide variety of components and kits on our website that allows any camper owner to custom design a complete system that perfectly matches their camper and their camping lifestyle, but sometimes people need inspiration and a little guidance, which is why we designed these kits,” explained Garret Towne, President of AM Solar.
“With truck campers, space is at a premium and you need subsystems specially designed for small roofs and tight storage compartments. To simplify the design process we have created three grades of complete kits with everything from the solar charger to the inverter,” Garret said.
AM Solar’s starter kit for truck campers, called The Ranger, includes a 100 watt solar panel with mounts and wire harness, a 15 amp Victron SmartSolar MPPT Charge Controller with Bluetooth, a Lifeline 100 amp hour AGM 12 volt battery, and a 250 watt Victron Phoenix pure sine inverter with AC outlet. The kit includes all of the lugs, heat shrink, and battery cables needed for the installation. The kit for DIY’ers sells for $1,145 or $2,705 when installed by AM Solar.
The Explorer, comes with two 100 watt short solar panels with mounts and wire harnesses, a 20 amp Victron SmartSolar MPPT Charge Controller with Bluetooth, a Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor with Bluetooth, two Lifeline 220Ah AGM 6 volt Batteries, a 1,200 watt Victron Phoenix pure sine inverter with AC outlet, and a Sub panel with multiple breakers and AC outlet. The kit includes all lugs, heat shrink, and battery cables needed for the installation. The kit for DIY’ers sells for $2,895 or $5,365 when installed by AM Solar.
The largest kit for truck campers, called The Nomad, comes with three 100 watt solar panels with mounts and wire harnesses, a 30 amp Victron SmartSolar MPPT Charge Controller with Bluetooth, a Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor with Bluetooth, a 200 amp hour BattleBorn Lithium System, a Lithium compatible alternator charging system, a 2,000 watt Xantrex Freedom XC pure sine inverter with an 80 amp charger with 30 amp shore power, and a Sub panel with multiple breakers and AC outlet. The kit also includes all lugs, heat shrink, and battery cables needed for this installation. The Nomad for DIY’ers sells for $5,250 or $10,320 when installed by AM Solar. This cost includes 39 man hours of work.
According to the press release, the AM Solar website gives customers complete freedom to build the perfect solar power system. For example, if a customer likes the solar array of one kit, but likes the battery bank of another, the customer can do this with the custom configuration tool at the bottom of AM Solar’s webpage.
All of the kits and subsystems come with detailed drawings and one-on-one installation guidance from AM Solar’s technical support crew.
“Our knowledge of RV power systems is extensive. We complete as many as five installations per week and are happy to guide many more customers through DIY installations,” Garret said.
Not sure how I missed this article when it was posted back in August last year. Just want to add 2 cents…
AM Solar did the installation of solar on three different motorhomes for us from 2004 to 2013. Their work was always first-rate and we never had any problems with the products they recommended and installed.
Considering the potential for disaster should anything really bad happen with your electrical system, e.g., like burning your rig to the ground!, we always thought the price we paid a good investment. We also thought it was worth it since we boondocked in our motorhomes a lot and, since we really like the quiet of the backcountry, always considered running the generator a last resort. We rarely had to do it and while that suited us just fine, we’re pretty sure our non-generator neighbors appreciated it as well.
We agree. AM Solar rocks.
There’s no doubt solar is a great idea and eventually it will become a part of most peoples life. I greatly appreciate company’s like AM Solar and Host attempting to offer turn key package deals for those of us that are still on the fence regarding weather or not to embrace the product at this time.
The biggest issue I personally have with solar are the panels mounted to the roof. I just hate anything attached to the roof. Additional maintenance as well as the increased possibility of leaks are normally the end result of the roof membrane being penetrated.
Now lets look at the cost. For my needs the Explorer package sounds sufficient, but the cost is a little stiff for my beer budget. I did not run the numbers for labor but if the Nomad package includes 39 hours of labor that’s 130 per hour. I can’t image how long it would take to get back in the “black” after a 10 grand investment. I think I will wait a little longer before I spring for such a package. The future promises to bring many improvements to all of our life’s, hopefully affordable solar will be one of them.