The best thing solar has going for it is you won’t be tied to camping in places that have electricity. Some of the best western camping (especially Colorado) can be found in primitive National Forest campgrounds with no electrical, sewer, or H2O hookups. Water comes from a hand pump, toilet facilities are the old vault style, and given enough sunlight you will have plenty of electricity for lights and furnace operation. The larger, more private sites as well as the scenery make it all worthwhile. No generator noise either!
Some considerations:
1. Battery storage. Many of us use two Trojan 105 225 Amp Hour 6VDC golf cart batteries wired in series. Great storage capability and they seem to handle the deep cycle workout we give them. Disadvantage is the ~150 lb weight penalty. Keep in mind where you put them and how it affects your tongue weight.
http://www.trojan-battery.com/Produc...spx?Name=T-105
2. Solar panels. Still very expensive. You can place two smaller ones on the roof to help balance the shell when you put it up or take it down. Your torsion bars will still require adjusting to handle the 40 to 70 pounds of additional weight. Plenty of formulas out there to figure the size panel you will require.
3. Controller. I recommend a MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) type that uses a tapered charge as opposed to the on-off style. These will also take the higher rated voltage producing panels and trade off the excess voltage to increase amperage for battery charging. If your panel is producing 17.5 volts, the MPPT controller will convert (with minimal loss) the excess voltage to increased amperage for more efficient (read smaller panel) charging. I use a 100W panel that has one extra row of cells to give it as much as 21.5VDC capability. Supposedly that converts to 4.54 amps that the controller can boost to 7.5 amps. Realistically, I see 4-6 amps on a good day. Still very good for a 100W panel.
http://www.amsolar.com/sunrunner100-22.html
4. Roof attachment. Ray has it down.
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...4&page=2&pp=10 I modified his retaining the larger footprint with countersunk tapered head bolts protruding upwards to secure the panel legs. On half I used his adhesive solution (Locktite Depend) and on the other half I used 3M VHB tape because my panel came with it. No problems with either. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Q9KzYsPDdaP0I8yizeIt_By0S _IcFQEAIje0Z0!
5. Wiring. I ran mine down from the roof following the air conditioner power cable attached to the lift support. You will need UV resistant cable that is flexible enough to handle the repeated bending of set up and takedown. Creativity required when running your wiring from there.
Solar is definitely worth the effort and cost if you desire to get a little primitive. If the KOA is as rough as it gets, I wouldn’t waste the money.