When you say "RVing", are you going to be driving your rig daily? If so, let the RV charge your batteries up when driving.
I don't know what exactly you really want - but . . . if you want a small solar-electric system that's actually useful for something - a bigger panel is a much better buy.
You can buy a 170 watt panel for $3.24 per watt or a 110 watt panel for $3.60 per watt. What did you pay for your 15 watt panel? I bet quite a bit more per watt. One of these larger panels can be hooked to an ASC 12/16 conroller. I mention the ASC because it's the simplest and cheapest on the market for small systems. They sell new for $50, but I bought several used for $15 each and they've been great. I use them mostly for our camper when travelling and also at our cabin in the Adirondack mountains. In regard to the inverter, it all depends on what kind of max loads you want to run. An ex-farmer friend of mine comes up here to NY and camps on his old farm all summer - with no electricity. He borrows my solar equipment, so we've experimented a bit. He started out trying to get buy with two 15 watt panels and they were basically useless. He wanted to power a small TV and DVD player once in awhile, run the water-pump and fan in his RV, etc. Last year I set him up with one 120 watt panel and also let him borrow my 12 volt chest freezer. He ran everything, all summer and it worked great. One 12 volt, 120 watt Kyocera panel, one ASC 12/16 controller, a cheap Harbor Freight 3000 watt inverter ($130) and two golf-cart 6 volt batteries hooked in series. He also used the setup to keep his cell phone charged, and all his cordless power tool batteries. This may seem like more then you had in mind - but it gives you a lot more use for the money spent. About inverters - my 3000 watt Chinese inverter from Harbor Freight cost $130. It's quiet since the cooling fan is thermal operated and rarely comes on. I've used heavy power tools off of it, and also small loads including TVs and DVD players. It has far exceeded my expectations - and it draws less than 1 amp when in stand-by mode - and also comes with a remote control to turn it all the way off if desired. It runs at 95% efficiency - just as good as my high-end inverters that cost thousands.
I also suggest you price some stuff from marine-type dealers in the Florida area - their prices on solar equipment are often better that other types of solar-electric dealers. Sun Electronics in Miami Florida is one of the best I ever dealt with http://www.sunelec.com/ Backwoods Solar Electric in Idaho is also a great place if you not near Florida or marine dealers. http://www.backwoodssolar.com/
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Today's Featured Article - Upgrading an Oliver Super 55 Electrical System - by Dennis Hawkins. My old Oliver Super 55 has been just sitting and rusting for several years now. I really hate to see a good tractor being treated that way, but not being able to start it without a 30 minute point filing ritual every time contributed to its demise. If it would just start when I turn the key, then I would use it more often. In addition to a bad case of old age, most of the tractor's original electrical system was simply too unreliable to keep. The main focus of this page is to show how I upgr
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