I bought this travel trailer in 2015. It is a 2011 Forest River 19RR Toy Hauler. The previous owner bought it in 2012 and never used it. Sat in a barn as it wasn’t large enough to haul three dirt bikes as he thought it would. He bought a huge 5th wheel toy hauler and this one sat idle. I got a great deal and hauled it home.
First thing was to install a total solar system. Here is the post on that project:
Forest River Cherokee Grey Wolf 19RR Toy Hauler…Lots of FARKLES (Modifications) – RVB Precision
Thing in the RV world of Solar Technology has changed dramatically as you can see in the “Updates” on that post. Although the 140w panels have remained as has the inverter, batteries, solar charge controller and the wiring architecture has been changed a few times.
(Note: That small 20w solar panel keeps an aux battery charged that operates a 2000 pound winch on the back of the trailer to lift the loading ramp)
Toy Hauler Ramp Lift Assist – RVB Precision
What now?
Recently I drove from Massachusetts to Alaska on a fantastic fishing trip adventure. To transport fish back from Alaska I installed a 12V portable freezer in the truck. To power this freezer I installed a 130w EcoWorthy flexible solar panel on the roof of the truck, feeding a Renogy Wanderer 30 solar charge controller into a EcoWorthy 150aH Lithium battery. This worked out great, keeping food, and fish, frozen for near 5 weeks.
Upon returning home I had no need for this system so it was removed.
Now I had an extre flexible solar panel and a extra solar charge controller (SCC).
Might as well put them to use.
Recently there was a great sale on EcoWorthy 150aH lithium batteries with Blue Tooth and Freeze Charge disconnect. The Renogy 100aH Lithium batteries that were in the trailer (replacing Duracell AGM Lead Acid batteries about 5 years ago) were still working great. (The Duracells are still working perfect, powering my electric conversion tractor)
Electric Garden Tractor Conversion Videos – RVB Precision
The Renogy batteries offered Blue Tooth but not Freeze Charge Protection. And being 100aH this gave me only 200aH of storage. I also recently removed the propane refrigerator and installed a residential 120v refrigerator working off the inverter. And running various cell phone routers 24/7. Although 200aH of Lithium never let me down on a couple 4 month long trips, with never plugging into shore power, I figured another 100aH would be good insurance if bad weather and poor solar gain lasted longer than a week. AND….Rule of thumb is you want 2X solar panel watts to battery amp hours…So now I will have 680 watts of solar to 300aH of battery…..Nice!
I bought two of the EcoWorthy 150aH batteries. Interesting to note that 5 years ago (2020) when I bought the Renogy batteries, they were on sale for $450 each. About half price for other 100aH Li batteries at the time. These 150aH batteries, with more features, were $150 each in 2025! The price of modern solar component have come way down.
Looking at the trailer, it was clear there was no more room on the roof. But there was room on the curved front cap….for two of these flexible panels. As luck would have it, EcoWorthy was running a sale on this panel. Another one was ordered.
When it arrived the two panels were mounted with 3M VHB (Very High Bond) double sided tape. (In the photo, the right side panel looks like it might be coming up. It isn’t. I used the VHB to attach it to the roof of the truck and I simply could not get all the tape off the panel upon removal with out damaging the panel. So in some areas it’s a bit lumpy. But it ain’t going anywhere!)
I’ve had the exact same panel, mounted the exact same way on my truck camper for 40,000 miles, including the Alaska trip.
I wanted to wire the panels in series. But since the Renogy Wanderer was a PWM SCC, they would need to be wired in parallel. There are loads of articles on the internet on why you might want your panels in series rather than parallel. (smaller gauge wire, quicker response to clouds and rapidly changing conditions, Earlier and later in the day solar production to name a few)
But now I need a much more advanced MPPT solar charge controller.
Presently, I use a lot of Victron products in my solar systems. But since this trailer already had two Renogy SCCs (One for the main system and one for the winch battery) and a Renogy shunt based battery monitor and all are connected on one Blue Tooth APP, I figured Id stay with Renogy.
The main system of 420w of solar is controlled by a Renogy Rover 40 and these two 130w panels will feed into a Renogy Rover 30.
But another problem….These Rover SCCs are huge! No more room in the compartment I fabricated that has the Xantrex inverter, Rover 40, solar circuit breaker, battery heater control, air compressor water filter and pressure control etc…
So I had to be creative and mount it on the door of the cargo area.
So there you have it! MORE SOLAR!
And, since I’m now retired and have time on my hands, and always need a project to keep me occupied, this fall I’m tearing everything out of the trailer and moving it all inside like I did for my truck camper. You can watch a quick video all about that project here: