One of the concerns about solar panels on RV rooftops is space, particularly with smaller rigs. There’s only so much real estate available on an RV roof and there are plenty of important items already up there… like plumbing vents, vent fans, and air conditioning units. If you’ve got a smaller rig with little roof space available and want solar power, a Lippert solar awning could be the solution.
The idea of sitting in the shade of your awning while it soaks up the power of the sun and stores that power in your RV batteries is a great concept. In this post, we’re looking at Lippert’s Solera OG solar awning.
What Is a Lippert Solar Awning?
Lippert offers a solar awning through its brand Solera. The Solera OG solar awning allows RVers to relax in the shade of their rig’s awning while the awning material soaks up the solar power and stores it in your RV battery bank for later use.
The solar awning was introduced by Lippert in partnership with Renogy in the summer of 2023 but hasn’t quite hit the market as we write this post in the summer of 2024. So, why are we featuring it on our blog?
Well, there are other solar awnings out there, but the Solera OG is noted by Lippert to be a fully retractable, shatterproof, laminated vinyl awning that uses Renogy Thin Film solar panels, the cells of which are designed to be flexible. These flexible solar panels sit at the edge of the awning closest to the RV and can continue harnessing the power of the sun when retracted, even as you travel down the road (or when the awning is only partially extended).
Here you see the Lippert Solera OG solar panel fully extended. The Renogy flexible solar panel is shown. When retracted, it can continue to harness up to 200W of power.
By contrast, the Xpanse solar RV awning we highlighted in a previous article uses sections of solar cells pieced together in flexible segments that can be rolled up. That’s a whole different concept and could present issues with weight (it’s gotta be heavy!), noise, cleaning, and general maintenance.
The glass panels of Xponent’s Xpanse solar awning are heavy in contrast to Lippert’s lightweight flexible integrated solar panel. The glass panels would likely also be much more difficult to keep clean.
That said, the Xpanse solar RV awning is slated to be available in 1,200W, 1,000W, and 800W versions which will offer a lot more power than the Solera OG solar awning which is limited to only 300 watts in the extended position and 200 watts in the retracted position (even while traveling).
The Lippert solar awning is far lighter weight and much easier to keep clean and maintained, but it offers more limited solar power. This could be perfect, though, for campers who only need a few hundred Watts of solar power to replace the power used by their RV lights, vent fan(s), water pump, and charging a few accessories and devices.
What Are the Main Benefits of a Solera OG Solar Awning?
Solera OG solar awnings use Renogy’s proprietary thin-film solar technology enabling you to harness up to 300 Watts of solar power without having to install solar panels on the roof. There are several benefits to this combination of awning + solar material.
- Solar Power: The main benefit of a solar awning, of course, is that it’s capable of harnessing the power of the sun for use in powering your RV’s lights, fans, appliances, devices, etc. So, not only will it provide the shade and sun protection you need, but it will also serve as your solar panel.
- Less Labor: With your awning gathering solar power for you, there’s no need to spend time researching, buying, and installing solar panels on your RV roof. The solar material is built right into your awning so you’ve got shade and solar power all in one.
- Less Expense: Without the need to purchase, install, and wire solar panels, there’s less expense. If you wanted an awning anyway, you’re getting the benefits of both without the additional expense of buying flexible or rigid solar panels, wiring, and the hardware to install them. But you’re still getting the benefit of solar power.
- Less Weight: Adding solar panels to your RV roof, particularly if they’re rigid solar panels, adds a considerable amount of weight to your rig, as do some other solar awning solutions like the Xpanse we noted above. A Lippert solar awning is not only lightweight, but its presence also means you don’t have to add more weight to the roof of your RV (unless you need more than a maximum of 300W).
- Fewer Roof Penetrations: With an OG solar awning, and thus not needing solar panels installed on your RV roof, you’ll have fewer penetrations through your RV roof for panel installation, which translates to less vulnerability to leaks.
- More Solar Power: If you max out the space on your RV rooftop, a solar awning can give you more solar. Depending on the size of your RV, there’s a certain limit to the amount of space you have to install solar panels. You can use flexible solar panels and be innovative with their placement if, say, you’ve got a 5th wheel (like our friends Tom & Cait Morton of Mortons On the Move), but other than that, once you’ve maxed out the real estate on your roof, you’ve got all the solar power you can get unless you want to carry portable solar panels as part of a separate ground-deploy system.
Our friends Tom & Cait Morton took good advantage of rig real estate by using the cap of their 5th wheel to mount flexible panels for additional solar power.
What Are the Drawbacks of a Solar Awning?
There are a few potential downsides to solar awnings in general, though these don’t apply only to Lippert solar awnings in particular. Here are a few concerns about solar awnings in general, including the Solera OG:
Newer Technology
Since solar awnings are a newer phenomenon (the Solera OG solar awning hasn’t even hit the market as we write this post), some questions remain regarding durability over time and use. These solar awnings have been tested in terms of being extended and retracted hundreds of times to make sure the solar quality of the material remains strong. But, real-world use can sometimes prove to be a bit more challenging, especially with the constant force of the elements of nature involved. Time will tell for all solar awnings, including the Solera OG.
Expensive
While it’s true that if you only need a small amount of solar power you may be able to save some money by buying a solar awning (that combines the two features in one device), in truth, these solar awnings are still more expensive than just a standard RV awning would cost… and the cost of solar panels themselves has come down considerably in recent years.
So, if you’ve got space on your roof and you’ve already got an awning on your RV, you’d be looking at a fairly expensive upgrade for a solar awning. Also, for around a dollar per watt, you can squeeze a lot of solar onto your RV roof for the cost of a solar awning. The downside, of course, is that you’ll still need to add several penetrations to your RV roof.
Potential for Damage
Despite the strength of a Solera OG awning, there’s a possibility that any awning can be damaged by high winds, falling branches, hail, or flying debris in a heavy storm. If your awning is extended when high winds kick up or a heavy tree branch falls, your awning (and your integrated solar panel) could be damaged, possibly beyond repair. And, because you’re more likely to want to leave your solar awning extended (at least partly) in order to allow it to generate power, you may be more likely to have it out when the winds pick up.
Sudden storms can result in unpredictable wind and damage. Our new RV was damaged when a tree broke off and fell right on top of it!
Limited Solar Power
With the Solera OG solar awning, you’re limited to up to 300 Watts of power under optimal conditions of full sunlight when the awning is extended. With the awning (fully) retracted, you’re limited to up to 200 Watts. Again, that’s under optimal conditions.
However, with solar panels permanently installed on your RV roof, you can likely harness more power, depending to some degree on how much free space you have for solar panel installation. You can even buy a single 400W solar panel that may be able to fit on your camper’s roof, which is more than the maximum potential from Lippert’s solar awning.
Needs to Be Carefully Cleaned
As with anything exposed to the elements, awnings tend to collect dust, dirt, grime, leaves, small branches, tree seeds, sap, bird 💩, pollen, etc. It’s not difficult to clean Lippert’s Solera OG solar awning, but it does need to be carefully maintained and cleaned regularly to keep it in good condition and performing well as a solar panel. If leaves, sap, bird doo, etc. are covering your awning’s solar cells, it’ll be harnessing less of the sun’s power.
Summary of the Lippert Solera OG Solar Awning
All in all, it appears as though Lippert’s Solera OG solar awning may be a great way to grab some additional solar power when you’ve maxed out the space on your RV roof. Or for someone looking to add/replace an awning on their RV, it’s a great option to get an awning AND some solar. Most RVers who love to camp off the grid as much as we do know that you can never have too much solar power (we’re loving our new solar and lithium installation that MYT Solar installed on our Outdoors RV). For this reason, we think that the innovation that brought us solar awnings is a great one for many RVers.
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James
Thursday 4th of July 2024
I have a NO-BO 19.6 with the solar package. I would like to add aditional panels but feel there should be a way to rotate and elevate to receive maximum effect of the sun. Is there an apparatus to mount a panel that allows adjustment to azimuth and altitude?
TheRVgeeks
Thursday 4th of July 2024
Hi James. You can use solar panel mounts that allow you to insert tilt bars, so that you can pivot the panels (usually only along a single axis) to tilt them toward the sun. Of course, you have to install and remove the tilt bars each time you setup/breakup camp. But there's a motorized version from a company called SolaRVector (https://rvector.net) that makes a product that might interest you: it's a motorized solar panel tilting mechanism. We had four of them installed on our old motorhome, and they worked great. Tilting the four panels increased their output by as much as 33% when we were in the desert southwest in the winter. We considered installing them again on our new travel trailer, but they do add weight (though typically less than an additional solar panel) and aren't particularly cheap. But with small RV's that have limited roof space (where you can't add all that much solar), being able to tilt them can be like have 33% more panels. And being able to tilt them with the push of a button on a remote? Priceless! 😉