Sweet, I really enjoy seeing how others design and build things. You do nice clean, sturdy work. We're retired FTers who discovered we love boondocking so designed and built our solar system ourselves, on a tight budget. It took us 5 years to gather the resources and finally complete the project. We're living this lifestyle off of a limited retirement income so had to take the low budget route, foregoing name brand components like Victron and Battleborn for more affordable options. We started by building a 620-watt liftable solar array on the side of our 1999 National Tropical MH using two 310w panels. We built our side array out of 1" aluminum tubing and 1" aluminum angle. It makes a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself with a couple gas struts to the exact angle needed, and it's easy to clean, standing safely on the ground. Next, we built a 12v, 560ah LiFePo-4 battery using 8, 280ah prismatic cells and a Heltec 330amp (1,200a surge) BMS with a 5a active balancer. These cells fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of golf cart batteries used to reside yet is roughly the equivalent of a pair of Battleborn Gamechangers. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a small hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging due to low temperature or their life reduced from getting too hot. Our 12v system uses an 80A LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy inverter, a 50a Epever MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor. All this cost us under $3,500 and met all our off-grid electrical needs except for our air conditioning and microwave. By mounting the solar array on the side of our coach, we left the roof free to rack 8, 550w solar panels down the length of our 35ft Class A, 15" off the roof, above our AC, vents, etc. We built the rack out of 2" 6061-T6 structural aluminum angle with 1" angle used for cross bracing. It's super light, yet rigid. The front 2 panels slope down at a shallow 9.5-degrees to meet the roof, producing a smooth laminar airflow over the array, making the RV more stable with less wind drag while driving. This 4,400w array adds about 525 lbs. to our roof, but it's within the weight limit of our tag axle MH and I've noticed with no adverse handling effects. I don't worry about them getting loose or flying off as each of my rack's 18 feet have three 600 lb tensile strength toggle bolts, not screws, securing them, which are capable of withstanding a total of 32,400 lbs. of lifting force. Clearly my entire roof would rip off or the motorhome would become airborne before they blew off. It shades our entire roof, allowing plenty of cooling air underneath - sort of like I'm carrying a shade tree with me. It increases the solar output and reduces the heat load on the air conditioners too. It only adds a couple inches to our overall height with our coach coming in just under 12 ft. After we attached the rack, we coated the entire roof, including the array mounting feet, with Henry's Tropicool 887, 100% silicone sealant to keep things watertight. Our 4,400w fixed array can run both our A/Cs, our household appliances and charge our batteries from solar at the same time, even in winter. We mounted a Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W Inverter/100A charge controller/battery charger, breakers and another Lnex battery monitor on the wall in our bedroom, saving us space as well as money compared to a system built with individual components. This all-in-one unit has the same 99% charging and 95% inverter efficiency as the Victron unit, though it lacks some of the bells and whistles to come in at only $764. Our 48v battery uses 16, 320ah prismatic cells and a 200amp Heltec BMS to keep it safe. Together with our 560ah 12v bank, we have a total of 23.5 kwh of batteries onboard - kept charged by 5,020 watts of solar. We removed our old rooftop bedroom A/C and replaced it with an EG4 28.5 seer-2, 12k btu mini-split heat pump on the upper rear of our motorhome. It's super quiet and cools as well as our 14.5k btu soft start equipped Furrion we have up front, but only draws about 1/3rd the power. This second phase provides 24/7 off-grid air conditioning and heat from the heat pump. We now have total off-grid electrical self-sufficiency without the need to run our generator. Our total budget for both 12 and 48v systems was around $11,500, including the $1,500 high-efficiency heat pump, but this is doing all the work ourselves. The cost would easily have doubled if we had to pay someone else to design and build it for us. If you'd like to see some pictures of our rack or side array, e-mail me at sushidog@earthlink.net. You might get some ideas for your next project - or at least learn what not to do. 😉
I'm old now but over the years, I have worked with engineers, designers, and mechanics. Amongst those three disciplines, it was somewhat rare to find a person that was well versed in all three. That guy that would just look at something, and know the correct course of action and how to go about it. No, I ain't a big internet usin' person. But I can clearly see why folks check in to see what you're up to.
So many thoughts: First, thank you so much for all the details. I'll gladly take any minutiae you're willing to provide, especially on the hardware installation side. Second, I can't believe that roof is only a few years old. That TPO installation is embarrassing. They should be ashamed of themselves for that one. Third, the solar panels are going to provide a huge amount of shading on the roof and keep the temperatures down, which will go a long ways towards assisting the AC units in doing their job off-grid. Keep it up, I'm loving it!
I have residential solar on my RV, works great. Bought used off Craigslist for super cheap. Barely used and since I live in California, Im loving the fact that none of my money is going towards SDG&E or CA taxes😂
I’d been thinking about doing something like that the next RV solar I do. Seems you can often find 400+ watt modules at a bargain. If you can mount them high enough to clear vents and what not, big modules can let you fit more power, more cost effectively. Nice that these worked out far enough below max input V you didn’t have to calculate temperature coefficient. 30a max fuse and 13.5a short circuit current is nice also. Should be no need to fuse prior to the branch connector.
The mounting system came out so good. I love the redundant aluminum brackets on the panels. Honestly for what y'all were trying to accomplish I would give you a 100/100 on this. I know how many hours you must have spent figuring out exactly how you wanted to do this and picking out the materials before you tackled it. I love to see your projects/fabrications.
Great job!!! I added an angled wind deflector at the front of my panels to reduce wind. Left a small gap on the bottom of deflector for some air flow. Seems to work and no noise. Not sure I needed to do it but I did.
Im still somewhat undecided on the true performance of bi facial panels outside a lab setup. It might be because I'm stubborn, but panels are tilted for maximum production with the incoming light angle as indirect sun has less energy, let alone reflected scattered indirect shaded light. It seems overpromised and maybe if the undersides were seperate panels from the top side it would make more sense to me.
Very nice, I have been thinking about adding a large 400w panel onto the roof rack of my toad (no additional holes in the roof) that I pull behind my class A. Also allows me to park the RV in the shade and put the toad in the sun.
@AZExpert if I did this I could use my Toad to charge a house connected bluettie while it sits in the driveway, charge my portable solar generator while on the go and my RV when I'm rving.
Damn you James --- My wallet is hating you forgiving me ideas for my MH. Since my '04 Dolphin has one of those 7.0 HGJAB Onan gensets that refuses to run as you drive down the road here in AZ. This sounds like the perfect solution to run the AC's and refrigerator. The only issue I'm going to have is getting the wires down from the roof... Thanks as always for your great videos.
I am not really a fan of gluing Solar brackets to the roof of an RV, based on the poor quality of the roofs installed by the MFR. Whether it is rubber or vinyl to me I would have one more thing to worry about while driving along, especially in the winds of Oklahoma. Still a believer of using bolts or big screws, has worked for the last 14 years with no issues.
Solid ideas, but a few questions... 1. With mounting the panels flat, any concerns about water pooling and constantly having dirty panels? Since they can't even shed the water, they won't seem to rinse themselves, and as you filmed, there was definitely some water spots all over the glass. Simply not concerned, or nature of the beast? 2. Why not opt to run more panels? Have the space for sure. 3. Why run panels that large? I'm setting up a system using a slightly smaller panel that will fit between the AC and the outside (just barely). We all come up with our ideas that build off of everyone elses... You gave me an awesome idea with those wire clips. Care to mention where you got them? Thanks!
Klein DMM! My man! luv the wire clips - I'd X the A/C's - Install 1 dual control mini split, finish the roof with more panels- true off grid camper - anyway - nice job
Cool, one thing I would add, just for looks is to hole saw holes on your side bracket panels, lots more work though, it wouldn’t make it weak, just aerodynamic looking even though it’s on the sides, wait, you could run PVC across from one side to the other to… store anything that is ~8’ long 😂 okay I’m getting carried away 😂
Just got in some BougeRV 100 watt flex panels. I will be trying those out see how they work on the AC 200 Max. Maybe gluing a bunch of those down on an RV roof may work okay for a inexpensive set up?
is there any concern of having all 4 panels rigidly mounted on the same rails? Maybe twisting and going down the roads would pull on the panels possibly damaging them or pulling screws out of the roof? Maybe two separate side to side roof racks instead of one large? Just thinking out loud as i will be doing the same this fall and the roof rack is a great idea for roof protection and shade for the RV is a big bonus.
So looking at the video with your coach being next-door, it looks like it’s time for you to add more solar on yours. I’m not saying a rack system, but just more solar.
While it is possible to add tilting brackets, more complexity and wind forces and roof wear and possible personal injunry seems like diminishing returns to me.
James, can you share parts you used for the rack and where you bought them? I'm confused by some terminology used for the metal channel so any weblinks for your sources would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I bought the actual racking "K Rails" and brackets from @santansolar in gilbert, AZ. While some RVers like unistrut this system seemed easier lighter and more versitile .
The situation is understandable but it’s a shame that such a fine installation is completed on such a barely mediocre quality trailer. Great work James.
My experience is flex panels are less effective and as they capture sunlight, they get very hot and can damage fiberglass and low to the roof means lots of shadows.
You are wrong about the resale value of RVs with solar setups. They sell incredibly quickly on RVTrader. There is a huge demand for not having to do it yourself. In fact, you could make a big business of buying good RVs at low prices, installing solar systems, and selling them at a big markup. The only thing I don’t like about this setup is the notion of walking one foot in front of the other between the panels. It may not be any problem for you to do. But what about the typical middle-aged or senior RVer, especially when it is windy?
thanks, it's been my experience that most people underestimate the cost of solar and will not pay for the true cost of the materials and definitely not the cost of the labor as social media says how cheap and easy it is so they may sell fast but at a 30% to 75% loss of the value put into it. As a tech, the aisle is narrow but better than some roofs and much better than 20 small panels at toe height, tiny spaces require compromise, but even the solar on my house has a death zone for the bottom row along the eaves I cannot get to without a 40 foot ladder.
@@AZExpert It is getting simpler and simpler with the newer 48v systems that integrate nearly all the components into a few boxes. At that voltage the wiring is also quite a bit cheaper. But you do have a point. I doubt many people would pay for the true cost of older system.
James if there was an award for best RV Service Technician I would demand you be awarded it.
Sweet, I really enjoy seeing how others design and build things. You do nice clean, sturdy work. We're retired FTers who discovered we love boondocking so designed and built our solar system ourselves, on a tight budget. It took us 5 years to gather the resources and finally complete the project. We're living this lifestyle off of a limited retirement income so had to take the low budget route, foregoing name brand components like Victron and Battleborn for more affordable options.
We started by building a 620-watt liftable solar array on the side of our 1999 National Tropical MH using two 310w panels. We built our side array out of 1" aluminum tubing and 1" aluminum angle. It makes a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself with a couple gas struts to the exact angle needed, and it's easy to clean, standing safely on the ground. Next, we built a 12v, 560ah LiFePo-4 battery using 8, 280ah prismatic cells and a Heltec 330amp (1,200a surge) BMS with a 5a active balancer. These cells fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of golf cart batteries used to reside yet is roughly the equivalent of a pair of Battleborn Gamechangers. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a small hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging due to low temperature or their life reduced from getting too hot. Our 12v system uses an 80A LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy inverter, a 50a Epever MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor. All this cost us under $3,500 and met all our off-grid electrical needs except for our air conditioning and microwave.
By mounting the solar array on the side of our coach, we left the roof free to rack 8, 550w solar panels down the length of our 35ft Class A, 15" off the roof, above our AC, vents, etc. We built the rack out of 2" 6061-T6 structural aluminum angle with 1" angle used for cross bracing. It's super light, yet rigid. The front 2 panels slope down at a shallow 9.5-degrees to meet the roof, producing a smooth laminar airflow over the array, making the RV more stable with less wind drag while driving. This 4,400w array adds about 525 lbs. to our roof, but it's within the weight limit of our tag axle MH and I've noticed with no adverse handling effects. I don't worry about them getting loose or flying off as each of my rack's 18 feet have three 600 lb tensile strength toggle bolts, not screws, securing them, which are capable of withstanding a total of 32,400 lbs. of lifting force. Clearly my entire roof would rip off or the motorhome would become airborne before they blew off. It shades our entire roof, allowing plenty of cooling air underneath - sort of like I'm carrying a shade tree with me. It increases the solar output and reduces the heat load on the air conditioners too. It only adds a couple inches to our overall height with our coach coming in just under 12 ft. After we attached the rack, we coated the entire roof, including the array mounting feet, with Henry's Tropicool 887, 100% silicone sealant to keep things watertight.
Our 4,400w fixed array can run both our A/Cs, our household appliances and charge our batteries from solar at the same time, even in winter. We mounted a Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W Inverter/100A charge controller/battery charger, breakers and another Lnex battery monitor on the wall in our bedroom, saving us space as well as money compared to a system built with individual components. This all-in-one unit has the same 99% charging and 95% inverter efficiency as the Victron unit, though it lacks some of the bells and whistles to come in at only $764. Our 48v battery uses 16, 320ah prismatic cells and a 200amp Heltec BMS to keep it safe. Together with our 560ah 12v bank, we have a total of 23.5 kwh of batteries onboard - kept charged by 5,020 watts of solar. We removed our old rooftop bedroom A/C and replaced it with an EG4 28.5 seer-2, 12k btu mini-split heat pump on the upper rear of our motorhome. It's super quiet and cools as well as our 14.5k btu soft start equipped Furrion we have up front, but only draws about 1/3rd the power. This second phase provides 24/7 off-grid air conditioning and heat from the heat pump. We now have total off-grid electrical self-sufficiency without the need to run our generator. Our total budget for both 12 and 48v systems was around $11,500, including the $1,500 high-efficiency heat pump, but this is doing all the work ourselves. The cost would easily have doubled if we had to pay someone else to design and build it for us. If you'd like to see some pictures of our rack or side array, e-mail me at sushidog@earthlink.net. You might get some ideas for your next project - or at least learn what not to do. 😉
thank you for this! It's not often that we find folks who aren't using Victron et al to make a capable system. I definitely took notes...
I'm old now but over the years, I have worked with engineers, designers, and mechanics.
Amongst those three disciplines, it was somewhat rare to find a person that was well versed in all three.
That guy that would just look at something, and know the correct course of action and how to go about it.
No, I ain't a big internet usin' person. But I can clearly see why folks check in to see what you're up to.
Nice quality workmanship and engineering.
Thank you very much!
Great work James. Love watching your do your thing. You are a very talented young man!
Thank you so much 👍
Been planning to do for a while now.... so cool to see you do a vid on this James ❤
Hope you enjoy it!
One tip, when using stainless steel hardware, Anti seize is A MUST!
Good work, James! I look forward to the AZ Experts Kits!
You are the one to know a RV roof. Thumbs up 👍
So many thoughts: First, thank you so much for all the details. I'll gladly take any minutiae you're willing to provide, especially on the hardware installation side. Second, I can't believe that roof is only a few years old. That TPO installation is embarrassing. They should be ashamed of themselves for that one. Third, the solar panels are going to provide a huge amount of shading on the roof and keep the temperatures down, which will go a long ways towards assisting the AC units in doing their job off-grid.
Keep it up, I'm loving it!
Thank you!
I have residential solar on my RV, works great. Bought used off Craigslist for super cheap. Barely used and since I live in California, Im loving the fact that none of my money is going towards SDG&E or CA taxes😂
I’d been thinking about doing something like that the next RV solar I do. Seems you can often find 400+ watt modules at a bargain. If you can mount them high enough to clear vents and what not, big modules can let you fit more power, more cost effectively.
Nice that these worked out far enough below max input V you didn’t have to calculate temperature coefficient. 30a max fuse and 13.5a short circuit current is nice also. Should be no need to fuse prior to the branch connector.
You should enable, Gifting to yourself so people can gift you some coin for Super size drinks etc.
Thank you, I think I can enable tips but life is good and would feel anxiety not thanking everyone properly.
I love the setup. Looks solid
Thanks, I've been inspired by this guy on youtube @minutemanprep :)
Fantastic job! You're a genius :) This system should serve Stacey really well. Love the design of the panel rack. GREAT JOB!
You’re a beast James, over 100F down your way today. Unless you film this back in February lol.
The mounting system came out so good. I love the redundant aluminum brackets on the panels. Honestly for what y'all were trying to accomplish I would give you a 100/100 on this. I know how many hours you must have spent figuring out exactly how you wanted to do this and picking out the materials before you tackled it. I love to see your projects/fabrications.
SS fasteners - use Mylanta on the threads (seriously, it used to be required in aviation, maybe still?) prevents thread galling.
What an AWESOME and STURDY, BEAUTIFUL DESIGN!!!! You should truly GO IN TO BUSINESS doing this as you are a perfectionist!!! Hello from TEXAS!
Good to see Stacy is a Cleetus fan.
The middle supports are a good idea I think. Going down the road at highway speeds would offer a lot of turbulence I would think.
James, I think you did a very good job with that install
Nice job, very impressive.
I used 5 inch wide c channel to mount ladder racks to go over ac’s.Same concept as you have.Great job !
Great job!!! I added an angled wind deflector at the front of my panels to reduce wind. Left a small gap on the bottom of deflector for some air flow. Seems to work and no noise. Not sure I needed to do it but I did.
That's a great idea!
Well thank you.
Great design! If you switch the panels out for bifacial panels, you'll gain 10-20% power AND much better performance in partial shade.
Im still somewhat undecided on the true performance of bi facial panels outside a lab setup. It might be because I'm stubborn, but panels are tilted for maximum production with the incoming light angle as indirect sun has less energy, let alone reflected scattered indirect shaded light. It seems overpromised and maybe if the undersides were seperate panels from the top side it would make more sense to me.
Very nice, I have been thinking about adding a large 400w panel onto the roof rack of my toad (no additional holes in the roof) that I pull behind my class A. Also allows me to park the RV in the shade and put the toad in the sun.
That's a great idea!
@AZExpert if I did this I could use my Toad to charge a house connected bluettie while it sits in the driveway, charge my portable solar generator while on the go and my RV when I'm rving.
great job - center supports are a must - I like it
Damn you James --- My wallet is hating you forgiving me ideas for my MH. Since my '04 Dolphin has one of those 7.0 HGJAB Onan gensets that refuses to run as you drive down the road here in AZ. This sounds like the perfect solution to run the AC's and refrigerator. The only issue I'm going to have is getting the wires down from the roof... Thanks as always for your great videos.
Love the design
Very nice job James.
Looks like a solid design. I really doubt the angle brackets supporting the plates are necessary, especially with the center supports.
There is a fellow RV'er that sells a kit, with a slick rack that allows you to tilt up the panels to optimize when the situation arises.....
I have 3d printed brackets that you can glue to the roof to mount solar panels with no holes.
I am not really a fan of gluing Solar brackets to the roof of an RV, based on the poor quality of the roofs installed by the MFR. Whether it is rubber or vinyl to me I would have one more thing to worry about while driving along, especially in the winds of Oklahoma. Still a believer of using bolts or big screws, has worked for the last 14 years with no issues.
Dang, that sure looks good.
Mighty fine job there!!!, 💪👏
Nice job…Any problems with wind turbulence while driving highway speeds??
Solid ideas, but a few questions...
1. With mounting the panels flat, any concerns about water pooling and constantly having dirty panels? Since they can't even shed the water, they won't seem to rinse themselves, and as you filmed, there was definitely some water spots all over the glass. Simply not concerned, or nature of the beast?
2. Why not opt to run more panels? Have the space for sure.
3. Why run panels that large? I'm setting up a system using a slightly smaller panel that will fit between the AC and the outside (just barely).
We all come up with our ideas that build off of everyone elses... You gave me an awesome idea with those wire clips. Care to mention where you got them?
Thanks!
Cool stuff!
Klein DMM! My man! luv the wire clips - I'd X the A/C's - Install 1 dual control mini split, finish the roof with more panels- true off grid camper - anyway - nice job
Nice! 🙂
Thanks for sharing. Like 513.
Cool, one thing I would add, just for looks is to hole saw holes on your side bracket panels, lots more work though, it wouldn’t make it weak, just aerodynamic looking even though it’s on the sides, wait, you could run PVC across from one side to the other to… store anything that is ~8’ long 😂 okay I’m getting carried away 😂
i agree but dimple the holes to add strength.
Need panels with more bypass diodes, which will help keep higher efficiency in partially shaded spots. Or amorphous silicon panels.
sure and micro inverters can help too, but I just want everyone to understand how much shading even a little bit affects panels on a rv
When will manufacturers have installed as option on new RVs if ever? Solar is pretty popular now.
my 2023 Genesis Supreme Vortex Toyhauler came with two panels, but lead acid batteries.
@@megadesertdiesel1468
Cool, I was told I have two panels on roof of my 95 Safari, no idea what they go to, or even work
Mate. What I great job !!
This rack looks awesome. I imagine you could lift the trailer off the ground by it. It is sad to see the build quality of newer RVs.
Just got in some BougeRV 100 watt flex panels. I will be trying those out see how they work on the AC 200 Max. Maybe gluing a bunch of those down on an RV roof may work okay for a inexpensive set up?
is there any concern of having all 4 panels rigidly mounted on the same rails? Maybe twisting and going down the roads would pull on the panels possibly damaging them or pulling screws out of the roof? Maybe two separate side to side roof racks instead of one large? Just thinking out loud as i will be doing the same this fall and the roof rack is a great idea for roof protection and shade for the RV is a big bonus.
So looking at the video with your coach being next-door, it looks like it’s time for you to add more solar on yours. I’m not saying a rack system, but just more solar.
Thanks, it's about 900 watts so not huge but large enough without breaking the sight lines of the roof.
I was wondering if some sort of wind break on the forward edge would keep the panels from “sailing” reducing strain on the roof while traveling.
Was curious if you were going to show how you moved around on the roof after putting the panels on the Roof...
Just treading single file in between, wasn't too bad compared to some roof solar installations.
How about tilting the panels upon arrival like you saw at that RV show?
While it is possible to add tilting brackets, more complexity and wind forces and roof wear and possible personal injunry seems like diminishing returns to me.
James, can you share parts you used for the rack and where you bought them? I'm confused by some terminology used for the metal channel so any weblinks for your sources would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I bought the actual racking "K Rails" and brackets from @santansolar in gilbert, AZ. While some RVers like unistrut this system seemed easier lighter and more versitile .
The situation is understandable but it’s a shame that such a fine installation is completed on such a barely mediocre quality trailer. Great work James.
That's a pretty over the top, complex and expensive (2wks work?) install. Looks pretty rugged though.
Do you use Loctite threadlocker for the bolts? I had good luck with it on my motorcycles because they need to vibrate everything loose.
no locktite just lock washers
When you use the eternabond flat on the roof like that do you lap seal the edges or does the tape seal well enough on its own?
it does not require lap sealant, I tried to lay it down like shingles too with the top layers over the bottom
👍 nuttin' wrong with that
Butyl tape or any other sealant on the side pieces?
nvm
I'm in West Virginia. It's a d*** shame you don't live around here. I would definitely hire you to put some panels on my roof nice job
Looks great, I'm sure the design will be copied
Why not to install flexible panels with eternabond tape direct to the roof?
My experience is flex panels are less effective and as they capture sunlight, they get very hot and can damage fiberglass and low to the roof means lots of shadows.
Did he step onto the slide out?😬
I want to be “your friend” also. I have an rv …………
You are wrong about the resale value of RVs with solar setups. They sell incredibly quickly on RVTrader. There is a huge demand for not having to do it yourself. In fact, you could make a big business of buying good RVs at low prices, installing solar systems, and selling them at a big markup.
The only thing I don’t like about this setup is the notion of walking one foot in front of the other between the panels. It may not be any problem for you to do. But what about the typical middle-aged or senior RVer, especially when it is windy?
thanks, it's been my experience that most people underestimate the cost of solar and will not pay for the true cost of the materials and definitely not the cost of the labor as social media says how cheap and easy it is so they may sell fast but at a 30% to 75% loss of the value put into it. As a tech, the aisle is narrow but better than some roofs and much better than 20 small panels at toe height, tiny spaces require compromise, but even the solar on my house has a death zone for the bottom row along the eaves I cannot get to without a 40 foot ladder.
@@AZExpert It is getting simpler and simpler with the newer 48v systems that integrate nearly all the components into a few boxes. At that voltage the wiring is also quite a bit cheaper. But you do have a point. I doubt many people would pay for the true cost of older system.
yes, I think the solar generators are the most obvious path forward too, especially after building this one! :)