Our RV Solar & Lithium Installation In Bend, OR Was Worth the Trip

Because we’ve shared our love of boondocking and our solar & lithium battery system on our motorhome in such detail, we’re often asked about how to find a good RV solar installer. But, because the solar on our Newmar motorhome was a DIY project, we didn’t have a good answer… until now.

Now that we’ve had our first solar & lithium system professionally installed on our new rig, we’re sharing our experience with the best RV solar installer we know of, how we found them, and details on why we consider them well worth a trip to Bend, Oregon.

NOTE: In addition to all the information provided below, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for our new video showing and explaining the components in great detail. Special thanks to Tom & Ely MacInnes of MYT Solar for providing their expertise and giving us an awesome tour of the system. Of course, they designed and installed it, so who better to show us the details?!

ALSO: As you’ll see at the very beginning of the video, we’re excited to announce that we will be traveling back to Bend, OR in late July, 2024. Tom & Ely will be joining us for a live Q&A to answer your questions about solar and lithium batteries. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to subscribe to our blog to be notified when the date and time are announced. Subscribers will also be able to submit questions in advance to be included/covered in the live broadcast.

Why We Decided To Have Our Solar Professionally Installed

You may be wondering, since we have experience installing our own RV solar system that worked well for us for years, why we chose to seek a professional RV solar installation this time. The answer is basically two-fold.

First, we went from a 43′ motorhome with ample roof space to a 19′ travel trailer with significantly less real estate and we wanted to maximize our system. We’re avid boondockers who love to travel way off the grid, but we also still work from our RV, so we need a fair amount of power to run everything… even from the middle of nowhere.

This is the solar array on our former motorhome, a 43′ Newmar Mountain Aire diesel pusher, showcasing the panels and SolaRVector Powered Lift Kits. We moved to a 19′ travel trailer but still wanted lots of power. How could we accomplish that with so much less real estate available for solar panels?

Second, we found an installer we could trust to do the job far better than we could ourselves. Up until then, we’d heard reports of nightmarish experiences from viewers and readers of our blog who’ve had solar systems installed… most often by their local RV dealers. So, we knew that finding a quality installer can be difficult, and finding someone who could help us custom design the best system for us AND handle the installation work was an even greater challenge.

Also, the advantage of an RV is that it’s mobile, which makes it possible to take it to the best solar installer. Compare that to having a system added to a sticks-and-bricks house, and you’d have no choice but to find a local installer who can come to you. So, we traveled to Bend, Oregon to work with MYT Solar, and we’re about to tell you exactly why it was worth the trip and how they’ve lived up to their stellar reputation from our perspective.

Why We Chose MYT Solar

We first became aware of MYT Solar when we started researching travel trailers in early 2023. We found the videos that Corrin at Thompson RV does about new RV models and floorplans, and one of those videos showed a fantastic solar & lithium install that was completed by them. Honestly, it was unlike anything we’d ever seen.

We were duly impressed by what we’d seen, so we did some more research… and the more we learned about MYT, the more interested we became. Next, we visited Thompson RV and saw their work in person. While there, we even had the chance to meet MYT’s owners (Tom & Ely MacInnes) in person, and that sealed the deal for us. We clicked with them instantly, and honestly can say that they are two of the nicest, kindest, most genuine people we’ve ever met.

Here we are with Tom & Ely MacInnes (owners of MYT Solar) after they completed the solar & lithium install on our new RV. In addition to being two very hardworking individuals, they are some of the nicest, most genuine people you could ever want to meet. We feel so close to them, and we’re honored to call them friends.

So, we had them design and install the solar & lithium battery system on our new Outdoors RV 19MKS, and the results have been beyond anything we expected. Now when we’re asked who we recommend for solar installations, our first question is “Can you get your rig to Bend, OR?”

Not only do we think it’s worth the trip, but we’re not alone as they have customers from all over North America who travel to their shop to get the finest solar & lithium battery installations we’ve ever seen. They have a wealth of knowledge to offer and they’re incredibly nice people to boot.

How to Design the Best Solar System for Your RV

To begin, there are a variety of questions that need to be answered to help determine the best solar system for your rig and your particular use case scenario(s). There were many questions we considered as we worked with Tom & Ely to determine what would be the best system for us. Our discussions with them covered lots of topics so that they could ensure that the system they recommended & designed would meet our needs. These included:

• Where do you travel? (national forests -vs- the desert southwest, for example)
• How often do you boondock? (do you only go off-grid a few days/weeks a year -vs- spending most/all of an entire season without hookups)
• How much space do you have on the roof of your RV, and how is it laid out? (obstacles like air conditioners, vent fans, skylights, etc can limit room for panels)
• How much of your roof space are you willing to cover with solar panels? (i.e. is easy walkability a big priority for you?)
• How much storage space are you comfortable giving up for batteries & other equipment? (part-time -vs- full-time could be a factor here, as part-timers are more likely OK with giving up more space)
• What’s your RV’s cargo-carrying capacity and can it accommodate the added weight of the system? (including payload capacity of the towing vehicle for travel trailers & fifth wheels)
• Do you have (or want) a generator? (built-in or portable)
• What kind of fridge do you have? (bi-fuel RV fridge, 120V residential, 12V?)
• What’s your budget?

These were the types of questions we had to consider so that MYT could make the best recommendations. One thing we learned during this process is that Tom & Ely clearly have the expertise to help an RVer make all the right decisions… from how much solar is needed to meet your particular power demands to exactly what gear you’ll need to provide the best results.

Their understanding of all of these factors shouldn’t be a surprise, because not only have they been RVing themselves for years (much of it full-time), but they have extensive training and experience with a wide variety of RV systems.

Not only is our system performing well beyond our expectations, but we’ve literally tried to run out of power… and so far, we haven’t been able to. That’s because of the way Tom has designed our system to adequately meet (and exceed) our power needs.

Details of Our New Solar & Lithium Systems

Here are some of the details of the system MYT Solar designed and installed for us based on our power needs, the space and capacity of our 19′ travel trailer, and our preferred way of traveling and camping.

1,500 Watts of Solar

You read that right. We went from 1,300W mounted on the roof of a 43′ motorhome to 1,500W mounted on the roof of our 19′ travel trailer… and we still have plenty of space to walk the roof to do our routine maintenance and inspections, maintain our AC unit, etc.

An aerial view of the roof of our 19MKS. Even with all that solar, the roof is still quite accessible. That makes access and maintenance so much easier.

The panels are set up in series/parallel, with three 12V Rich Solar MEGA 250W panels (750W total) down each side of the RV wired in series (increasing the output voltage, which helps reduce loss in the wiring run and provides additional energy for the MPPT solar controller to convert into extra charging amperage). Those two sets of three are then connected together in parallel. Wiring them this way helps to ensure that if one side of the RV is shaded, the other side can continue operating at peak output (if all six were wired together in series, shading would affect the whole system… plus, the combined output voltage would require a much larger charge controller).

Rail Mounting System

Whenever possible, MYT Solar uses a rail system to mount the panels. The rails are so efficient with their use of space that they can allow for more solar per square foot than traditional brackets. And, the way the panels are mounted to the rails allows for extremely easy installation and removal, should that be necessary for cleaning, maintenance, etc.

Here, Tom is doing a preliminary layout of the rails used to mount the panels in our system. His care and attention to (literally) every detail is evident in the beauty and efficiency of the resulting system. Using these rails enabled him to get even MORE wattage of solar on our new 19′ travel trailer than we had on our 43′ motorhome!

The solar rail mounting system they use saves space by enabling the panels to butt up against one another, and it also raises them up to allow the panels to clear plumbing vents, skylights, etc. (in our case, 1 skylight + 3 plumbing vents).

NOTE: we didn’t expect to take advantage of the “ease of removal” aspect of the rails quite so soon. But, if you saw our recent video about a tree falling on our RV’s roof after being hit by a tornado, you know that we had to remove our front two panels after they were smashed. That required partially loosening four bolts, lifting each panel off, and then re-tightening two bolts. We were able to remove both panels in about 10 or 15 minutes, and we’ll be able to replace them just as quickly as soon as we get replacements.

Battle Born Lithium Batteries

Our new system has 810Ah (3 x 270Ah) of lithium batteries, which is 35% more capacity than we had on our 43′ Mountain Aire. These are secured in place in the center of the front pass-through storage compartment and interconnected to one another with solid busbars instead of cables. This makes for a very clean installation and only takes up the equivalent of approximately one good-sized storage bin, leaving us with ample space on either side (and even on top of) the batteries for the rest of our “stuff.”

Our 810Ah of Battle Born lithium batteries installed in the front pass-through storage bay of our travel trailer. We love how clean the installation is, with barely any wiring visible.

We partnered with Battle Born Batteries who supplied us with these new Gamechanger 3.0 Intelligence batteries. They’re a new version of their tried-and-true 270Ah Gamechangers that we’re beta-testing. We’ll have more information about what makes these batteries “intelligent” and different in a future post and/or video, so stay tuned.

Battle Born Batteries

Battle Born Batteries harnesses the power of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) to bring you the most efficient, stable, and powerful lithium-ion battery on the market. Whether you're an RV, marine, or off-grid enthusiast, their batteries are built to...Show More

Battle Born Batteries harnesses the power of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) to bring you the most efficient, stable, and powerful lithium-ion battery on the market. Whether you're an RV, marine, or off-grid enthusiast, their batteries are built to help you get out there and stay out there. Show Less

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Victron Component Installation

Most of the rest of our system (other than the panels & lithium batteries) is installed under one side of our booth dinette, all in a very well-laid-out design. The installation location for all this equipment only required us to give up the storage space of the single under-booth drawer, which wasn’t even using all of the space available under that side of the booth.

Phenomenal power… in an itty, bitty space! MYT managed to elegantly install all of this Victron equipment under the street side of our booth dinette, and the only storage we lost was one drawer!

This includes all of the wiring and the following components. Each item’s location in the image above is listed below in parentheses. For an excellent video walkthrough and description from Tom of MYT Solar, be sure to scroll down below and watch the video embedded below.

• 3,000W Victron MultiPlus 12/4000/120-50 Inverter/Charger (bottom left corner): with 3,000W of pure sine 120V power and up to 120 amps of DC charging power, this inverter/charger is plenty able to supply our little trailer with all the power it needs. It’s a hybrid inverter, which allows it to augment a lower-amperage shore power connection (or small generator) by pulling the additional power needed by the 120V AC loads from the batteries. This allows us to run larger appliances like the air conditioner, microwave, or even the water heater (simultaneously), without tripping the breaker.
• SmartSolar MPPT 150/100-TR VE.Can Solar Charge Controller (top, middle): This MPPT solar charge controller can handle up to 150V from the panels, and can output up to 100 amps DC to the batteries (at 12V, though it can also charge 24V/36V/48V DC battery banks).
• SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 Charge Controller with Bluetooth (to the right of the above MPPT charge controller): this second MPPT solar charge controller is installed to handle a separate ground-deploy solar array. Since the 1,500W of solar on the roof could be shaded by trees, adding this controller (and a dedicated external port) will allow us to set up separate panels on the ground that we can position away from the RV in the sun.
• 2 x Orion XS 12/12-50A DC-DC battery chargers (right side, middle): these DC-to-DC chargers enable us to draw up to 100 amps of DC power from our GMC Sierra’s 220-amp alternator while driving. A separately installed run of cables connects the truck & RV across the hitch using a large Anderson connector. Because the Orions are Bluetooth-enabled, we can control them from the VictronConnect app on our phone/tablet while driving down the road.
• Lynx Shunt VE.Can (lower right corner, smaller more square module): this module connects inline between the batteries in the upfront compartment (via the two large cables coming in through the front wall of the booth dinette) and all of the other equipment. It monitors the flow of power into and out of the system and feeds that information to the Cerbo GX Communication Center (see below) so it can be viewed on the touchscreen or via the VictronConnect app.
• Lynx Distributor (lower right corner, larger more rectangular module connected to the Lynx Shunt): this module provides positive and negative terminal busbars and fuses for the other components to connect to. Fuse status is displayed via LEDs on the front of the unit, and is also transmitted to the Cerbo GX for reporting through the system.
• Cerbo GX Communication Center (upper left corner): effectively, this is the “brains” of the operation, consolidating information from the other components in the system and presenting it on a touchscreen display (not seen above). It can connect via WiFi (you must provide internet connectivity separately) to make all of the monitoring & control of the system available via a Victron portal, no matter where we are at the time.
• GX Touch 70 Display Panel (not shown above): an accessory to the Cerbo GX, the Touch 70 display panel is a 7″ touchscreen for locally displaying and controlling the whole system. Together with the Cerbo, it provides a simple-to-understand display of the flow of power (literally, dots move along lines interconnecting the components so you can see what’s happening), state-of-charge of the batteries, etc.
• BatteryProtect 12/24/65 (middle, just to the right of the MultiPlus inverter/charger): connected inline with the cable supplying 12V power to the trailer’s power center (for fusing and distribution to all of the 12V circuits), this module ensures that both the 12V system and the batteries are protected from excessive loads or drain.

And, as you can also see in the above image (and video below), MYT Solar wired everything together (12V DC, 120V AC, and communications cables) in an incredibly neat and beautiful way. It’s like our own rolling piece of industrial art!

Oh… and the LED lighting installed in the booth lights it all up nicely, don’t you think? 😉

Hughes 30A Power Watchdog w/EPO (hardwired model)

While installing the necessary wiring to route the 120V AC lines coming in from the shore power connection, MYT Solar hardwired a 30A Hughes Power Watchdog to ensure our incoming shore power is safe. The unit is mounted underneath the refrigerator, in the space accessed behind the factory-installed Progressive Industries power center (where 120V circuit breakers and 12V fuses are located for protecting circuits in the RV).

Our new 30-amp Hughes Power Watchdog Smart Surge Protector is installed underneath the refrigerator and behind the factory-installed Progressive Industries Power Center.

The built-in DC charger that came as part of the Progressive power center was disabled since the 120-amp DC charger built into the Victron Multiplus inverter/charger is a better, and more powerful, charger.

Get yourself a Power Watchdog and save 10% using the following coupon:

Hughes 10% Discount

Make sure your RV is protected from low voltage, bad RV park wiring AND power surges when connecting to shore power with a Power Watchdog and/or Hughes Autoformer. We never hookup without ours (we have both), and know our RV's electrical system...Show More

Make sure your RV is protected from low voltage, bad RV park wiring AND power surges when connecting to shore power with a Power Watchdog and/or Hughes Autoformer. We never hookup without ours (we have both), and know our RV's electrical system and all our electronics are being protected.

Watch our Hughes Autoformer video
Watch our Hughes Power Watchdog video

Save 10% on your entire purchase when ordering from Hughes!

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RVGEEKS

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Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze

Not shown in the video, but equally important to our off-grid comfort, is a Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze soft-start module. This unit (separately installed inside our air conditioner) reduces the startup current that’s required when the A/C first powers up the compressor. That high-amperage demand can cause problems for inverters, smaller generators, and/or low-amp shore power connections.

The Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze soft start module helps ensure our rooftop air conditioner can keep us cool when on low-amp shore power, using a small generator, or when operating off-grid using our inverter.

With the Breeze installed, we can safely run our air conditioner using our batteries & inverter… or when we’re moochdocking on a 15-amp connection. When combined with the hybrid function of the Victron inverter, it allows us to stay comfortable, even if we forget and have other loads running… the inverter can sense the load and pull power from the 12V batteries (inverting it to 120V AC to help handle the load and ensure we don’t exceed our shore power connection or blow the circuit breaker).

Save $25 on an EasyStart for your RV’s air conditioner with the following coupon:

Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze $25 Discount

Run your RV's air conditioner from a small, portable generator OR run two A/C units on a 30-amp connection. By reducing the start-up current needed to get your A/C's compressor running, the EasyStart Breeze keeps you cool!

Show More

Run your RV's air conditioner from a small, portable generator OR run two A/C units on a 30-amp connection. By reducing the start-up current needed to get your A/C's compressor running, the EasyStart Breeze keeps you cool!

Watch our EasyStart installation video

Get $25 off each Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze you buy factory direct using the code listed here.

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RVGEEKS

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Video Tour of Our New System With MYT Solar

After our installation was complete, we videoed Tom & Ely of MYT Solar taking us on a tour of the complete system. Tom goes over all of what we added, including explanations of how it all works and integrates to provide us with our off-grid electrical capabilities.

All in all, what we have now is a super clean and professional RV solar install, giving us more power than we’ve ever had before – all nestled on and inside our 19′ travel trailer.

Our desire to go with a professionally designed and installed system that exceeded what we’d been able to do on our own (through DIY installs) has opened our eyes to just how incredible a solar system can really be. And for boondockers like us with pretty heavy power needs, that’s saying a lot!

If you’re interested in boondocking (and we highly recommend it!), see our post on the 11 best ways to find RV boondocking spots.

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