There are many different types, sizes, and brands of solar chargers that you can purchase. Most of them will do as long as they have the right feature set to meet your needs, however, not all solar chargers are created equal. Following are some things to look for in a solar charger: 

  1. Make sure that the solar charger you have chosen has a true three stage charger built in and that it has the ability to properly match the type of batteries you are charging (flooded acid, Gel or AGM). 
  2. Consider purchasing a solar charger that incorporates MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) technology. This technology will allow your charger to boost charge current by up to 30%, which will allow you to extract more energy from your solar panels (relative to a solar charger that does not have this technology). Since solar panels can be expensive, you might as well spend a little extra on your solar charger to extract the most energy that you can from them. Over time it will more than pay for itself.
  3. Consider whether or not you want to purchase a remote monitoring panel that you can install inside the RV to monitor your solar charger and batteries. If you decide this is important, make sure that your solar charger supports this functionality.
  4. Buy a solar charger that is slightly larger than you need and allows room to add an additional solar panel. If you end up using more power than you have calculated or if your habits change, it will allow you the ability to add another solar panel without having to buy a new solar charger.

My Solar Charger Installed In the Storage Compartment

In my situation, I ended up purchasing a Blue Sky Energy Solar Boost 3024i with a remote panel. The 3024i is a 12/24 Volt DC, 30 Amp max, MPPT charge controller with a built in three stage battery charger that allows me to choose the types of batteries I am using (which are AGMs) and thus provide the proper Bulk, Acceptance and Float charges. Since I am currently using three Kyocera KC-130 solar panels that can produce a maximum of 7.39 Amps each for a total of 22.17 Amps, I still have room to add one additional panel should I ever have the need (four panels would produce 29.56 Amps, which would max out my 30 Amp solar charge controller). 

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