THE POWER OF SOLAR AND MUSIC TOGETHER

With mobile power becoming more accessible to everyone, it isn’t long before people’s innovation with how they use it takes shape. Following a recent Go Power! tagged Instagram post from professional musician, Marc Charron, we were curious to ask him what the inspiration was behind using our IC Series Inverter Charger paired with solar for his unique “pop-up” concerts and how he incorporates mobile power into his everyday life.

Below are the Q&A’s. Enjoy and get inspired!

Why did you decide to use solar?

Living full time in a custom RV has allowed us to move and live nomadically. Quite literally, if we don’t like a spot, we move. As opportunities have come up, we’ve been able to take them or leave them. In this instance, we built a solar-powered system for the RV to allow us to live as comfortably as possible without having to rely on shore power or noisy generators.

How has mobile power made your life easier?

We are able to live off grid and power our lives from the sun. I’ve wanted to be able to say this and do this for forever (and it feels amazing)… We use the sun to power our fridge, diesel heater, toilet fan, water pump, charge our devices, blender, lights and sound equipment. Also, I’ve been writing songs over the last many months and plan to record my next album using solar power to run the studio setup. I’ll record when the sun shines and practice when it’s cloudy. Using solar power is the least we can do. We are eliminating/minimizing our use of non-renewable energy and maximizing our use of renewable energies.

Where did the idea of these concerts come from?

Being a professional musician for 15+ years, I’ve spent many weeks of my life in bars, clubs, restaurants & at festivals. I once saw a band power their show using bicycles. But that’s too much to carry for us! We love the outdoors. The sunshine is free and now I can perform concerts anywhere I choose without relying on anyone or anything. Also, I’ve never heard of anyone doing solar powered concerts, so I guess the idea came from me. Ha!

I’m an environmentally minded musician. Going solar powered is the way. I’m not perfect, but I’m trying. Our RV is retrofitted with the solar system and basically carries, charges and stores the power for us! It’s clean, quiet, free and sustainable. I’ve always been attracted to doing things a little differently and standing out I suppose. I love being able to park anywhere, set-up my music gear, plug into the solar in the truck and play live music. It’s the coolest.

I once saw a band power their show using bicycles. But that’s too much to carry for us!”

How has Go Power!’s IC Series Inverter helped with the system and the ability to put on the concerts?

We picked the IC 2000 Inverter due to the capacity for 3-way use. We also knew we needed 1300 watts for our Vitamix blender. The 2000 watt inverter was the obvious choice. My PA system is 1000 watts with a 6.5 amp draw. On sunny days, the batteries barely register a power drop (we have 530 watts of panels on the roof). The inverter is quiet to my ears and easy to turn on/off. I’d say it is seamless and easy to install the Go Power! Inverter. We are very happy with the choice. It was recommended by Mike at Solar Tech Canada.

Moving forward, we would like to add more rooftop solar panels or suitcase style panels. We could be harvesting much more solar energy as we have more usable space and the sun is unlimited.

About Marc

Marc, his partner Jen and their cat Starla live full-time in a converted box truck named Tessa. They are self-described full-time nomads. You can check out Marc’s music and concert line-up on his Facebook page; follow their adventures as nomads on Instagram (@boxtrucktessa); and learn about decluttering your life with Jen’s blog, JenRao.com.