AM Solar

This is what we had done over Memorial Day- 300 watts of solar power !

Wednesday morning we left for Springfield,Oregon with AM Solar being our final destination.  We did our research over the last few months and knew we wanted to add solar panels to Ruby.  Roadtrek is retrofitting models with solar now but we would have to get to Kitchener, Ontario (5000 miles roundtrip) to have it done and that part of North America isn't on our travel plans until 2015 !  We didn't want to wait until then for solar.  So after much research we decided on AM Solar; they have been in business for 26 years and came highly recommended by a multitude of our fellow RVers.

When we pulled into the property we were impressed by how meticulous and clean everything was.  And they have a beautiful piece of land in the commercial area that is right along the river.  You don't even feel like you are in an industrial area.  Jim and I laughed and said overnighting in their parking lot was nicer than some campgrounds we have been at . Rodger got us set up with the 30 amp cord and told us what we could expect in the morning.  We quickly set up camp and knew that we would be starting to unload Ruby early in the morning so after a quick dinner and walk around the property we went straight to bed.

We met the entire AM Solar family in the morning-Dave,Rodger,Deb and Gregg along with our 2 fabulous installers and sweet Sammy the dog.  As soon as I saw the shop area, I knew we were in good hands.  Everything was meticulously clean and in order.  Being just slightly OCD myself I felt that if they took such good care of their tools and property then their work would be performed at even higher standards-and I wasn't wrong.

After we went through a walk through with the crew we decided that yes we would remove the antenna, we weren't using it anyway, and it would add another 100 watt panel for us. Score !

I wish I would have taken pictures of the waiting room-again the same attention to detail for their customers.  A huge RV library covered one wall; there was a dining room table for spreading out our laptop and Kindles on; a comfy couch that could convert to a bed if we didn't want to spend the night in Ruby; snacks,soda,water,coffee,tea, a fabulously clean restroom and access to another bathroom with a full shower-Score again ! They started working on Ruby at 8am and finished up at 830 pm so being comfortable all day was important and they took great care of us.  We did spend quite a bit of time outside enjoying the beauty of the property.  And they took care of lunch for us-no detail missed.  They offered us dinner but the lunch was so huge we passed  and finished our leftovers.

After everyone went home we re-loaded Ruby with everything that had been moved out of the way for the installers . We went to sleep, excited about our solar walk through in the morning with Gregg.

Wow, overwhelming is an understatement with all the information Gregg shared with us about our new solar system.  He's very patient and very helpful-he explains things clearly and you don't have to have an electrician's license to understand.

Our new best friend

This is a picture of our new best friend.  After we left AM Solar we headed to the Washington Coast and a return trip to Cape Disappointment.  We reserved a site with no hook ups to test out our new solar !  And it did not disappoint-there are still many things we need to learn but it was nice not having to run the generator like everyone else in the campground.  And even though it was rainy and overcast our little solar baby was still charging. 

Site 106 at Cape Disappointment

We started day dreaming about all the places we could go with solar now and not have to worry about electric hook ups ! So looking forward to starting our Road Trip of a lifetime in December ! Thanks again to  Gregg and Deb and their entire crew at AM Solar -you guys rock .  If want solar on your rig contact these folks-you won't regret it .