Going Solar with Carey Hart & Go Power!
With more and more people looking to RVing as an opportunity to escape the daily grind, it’s getting harder and harder to find a spot to plug in. We spoke with veteran off-grid camper, and former motocross racer Carey Hart about why he chose to add solar to his coach.
Carey worked with Go Power! and Trailer Hitch RV in late last year to make his Renegade Class-C coach an off-grid powerhouse.
Read on to learn why he chose to go solar, and how it’s helping him keep himself and his family powered off-the-grid.
Why did you choose to go solar?
Me and my family, we do a lot of camping, and we really enjoy off the grid, getting away from people as much as possible. And in those situations, you obviously have to conserve a lot of diesel fuel.
You know, try to run the generator as minimum as possible, and obviously while I’m at it, trying to kinda reduce my footprint a little bit.
What do you enjoy about it?
I just love the technology and the direction that solar is going, I think it’s just a great resource for off the grid camping, you know, when you’re trying to really power a lot of things, it’s just less things to go wrong.
Again, me and my family we do a lot of off the grid camping, and when you’re trying to ration seven days of camping in 100 gallons of fuel, being able to run that generator as little as possible is definitely key in those situations.
How did you learn about Go Power!?
I was turned on to Go Power by Brian and the great guys down at Trailer Hitch RV. I didn’t know much about it. I’d been sniffing around it, doing some solar updates on my coach. Brian and the whole crew down there have been really good, walking me through everything.
This is the second coach that they’ve done Go Power solar on. And, I even love just using the great charging docks for my cell phone. They got this really cool solar backup charging station. You know, I’m still kind of new into the solar footprint but I would definitely be using a lot of the Go Power products.
How did adding solar to your coach affect how you travel?
Again, I have a family. They don’t like turning lights off, they love blasting the air conditioning in the heat or in the wintertime. They’re not very fuel and battery life conscious, so I have to be the captain of the ship, and constantly keeping them in line.
And with the backup aspect of solar, it’s just that much more helpful. You know, you’re having a long day on the lake, the AC is going all day long, you get into dinner time, everyone’s partying, having a good time, not turning the lights off, and all of a sudden you go to bed, and then you’re freezing your butt off come morning.
How does going solar help?
Really, the solar just takes the stress off of me. There’s nothing worse than getting into a situation and you’re not being super militant about charging batteries off the generator, you know, you might not have sure power.
It just kind of lightens the load on me knowing that, oh man, we got in the boat and I forgot to kick on the generator. I know that the sun’s charging my coach, I’m not gonna come back with the coach dead or my dog dying of heat exhaustion inside the coach. It’s just that nice extra tool that it’s just one less thing for me to think of when we’re on the road.
Was there anything else you wanted to add?
I just think for anybody out there that has an RV, sprinter van, anything that you’re running batteries on, gas isn’t getting any cheaper.
The stress of running out of fuel, or trying to keep your trip on budget, the positive effects of solar, and with your carbon footprint.
I mean, it’s something you’d be kind of foolish not to look into. It will pay for itself after the first year, and it’s just one less thing to stress on.
What products are installed on this rig?
The solar setup on this Renegade Class C coach includes:
760-watts of solar power (Solar AE-4)
750-amp hours of Go Power! lithium battery power (3x GP-LiFePO4-250)
3000-watts of pure AC power, with built in battery charging (GP-IC 3000-PKG)
Battery Monitor (GP-BMK-25)
Interested in more real-world installations? Check out our collection of other people using Go Power! here.