Since we work remotely while on the road, we need a reliable way to charge our laptops and other electronics while traveling. Sloth does have electrical plugins, so if we are staying at a campground with hookups, we can plug directly in to “shore power” (using a normal extension cord) and have electricity through an outlet. However, we prefer to boondock (stay in places like BLM land, where there are no official campsites or water/electric hookups), so we decided it was time for Sloth to harness the power of the sun.

100-Watt Renogy Suitcase Solar Panel

We originally purchased a 100-watt suitcase solar panel and charge controller from Renogy. Many RVers and van dwellers install the solar panels on their roof, but because we already have a Thule box and solar shower on ours, we didn’t have enough exposed room. We also chose not to get a panel that would fit in the luggage rack because we didn’t want to lose precious cargo space. With the suitcase panel, we can change the angle and location depending on where we’re parked (i.e. in the shade) and the angle of the sun, and it stores nicely on our upper bunk when the van is all closed up.

GoWesty 110-Watt Solar Panel

After doing some test runs working in the van, we decided we needed a bit more solar power, especially for days when it’s cloudy or when we’ll both be on our laptops all day, so we were excited when GoWesty came out with a 110-watt ultra-compact solar panel kit. The cool thing about this set is the solar panel folds up to a small 12×12 square, so it will store a lot easier than our suitcase panel. This panel can either rest on the windshield or hang in the sun. Using both panels will give us a lot more freedom on how we collect sunlight and will allow us to have 210 watts, rather than just 100.

Auxiliary Battery, Inverter, and Solar Controller

Since solar panels don’t actually provide power (they just charge batteries), we also purchased an auxiliary battery kit and inverter from GoWesty. We have a 50 amp-hour battery that can either be charged by the alternator when the van is running or by the solar panels. We can run the lights and the water pump in the van off of this battery rather than running down the driving battery, and the inverter gives us two plugs, so we can charge our electronics off of the auxiliary battery as well.

Our solar setup may change as we travel and continue to test it out, but so far, this seems to give us enough power to cover our needs.