RV Solar Calculator: What Size System Does Your Rig Actually Need?

Most online RV solar calculators hand you a formula and leave you to guess what it means. This one checks your real appliances against three real, buyable systems — with real pricing — and tells you honestly which one fits, or if you need something custom.

Built by an ABYC- and Victron-certified shop that’s sized systems for 200+ Tucson RVers · 5.0★, 71 Google reviews

Tucson RV Solar · Free Tool

What Size Solar System Do You Need?

Tell us what you actually run in your RV and how you camp — we’ll show you which of our three packages fits, or whether a custom build makes more sense.

1. How You Camp

2. Your Appliances

3. Your Recommendation

How do you camp?

This sets how many days of cloudy-day battery buffer we plan around — you can change it any time.

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Weekend Camper

A few nights at a time, mostly off-grid on short trips.

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Extended Boondocker

Week-plus stretches off-grid between hookups.

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Full-Time / Off-Grid

Living in the rig, off-grid most or all of the time.

Check off what you run

Defaults are typical values — edit watts, hours/day, or quantity for anything you know more precisely. Don’t see something? Add it at the bottom of any section.

Want to double-check your numbers?

This tool gives you a real, package-matched estimate. If you’d like to cross-reference with other independent RV power-audit tools first, these are solid:

Estimates assume roughly 4 productive sun-hours/day for roof-mounted panels in Tucson’s climate and 80% usable lithium battery capacity — real-world figures vary by roof angle, shading, season, and how batteries are cared for. A final quote always includes an on-site assessment of your actual RV.

How This Calculator Works

It adds up the watts and hours of everything you check off to get your real daily energy use in watt-hours, compares that against how much each package’s solar array can realistically recharge per day in Tucson’s climate, and checks how many days each package’s battery bank could cover if the sun doesn’t show up.

Daily energy use. Watts × hours/day × quantity, added up across everything you run — the same math we walk through by hand in our How Much Solar Do I Need for My RV? guide, just done automatically and matched to your real appliances instead of a usage tier.
Solar recovery. Each package’s panel wattage against roughly 4 productive sun-hours a day — a real-world number for roof-mounted panels in Tucson’s climate, already accounting for flat mounting, heat, and dust rather than a full-sun best case.
Battery buffer. Each package’s usable battery capacity (80% of its rated size) against how many cloudy or shaded days you want covered, based on how you told us you camp.
Peak draw. Whether your heaviest appliances running at once would exceed what that package’s inverter can handle — daily energy use alone doesn’t catch this, but it matters just as much.

If a package can’t cover your numbers on solar alone, we say so rather than rounding up — some setups are genuinely a custom build, not a bigger version of a standard package.

The Three Packages This Calculator Chooses From

Every recommendation this tool gives you comes from one of these — real components, real pricing, installed by us in Tucson.

Package	Best For	Solar	Battery	Price
Weekender	Weekend and part-time campers ready to break free from shore power	800W (4× 200W Rich Solar MEGA)	460Ah Epoch LiFePO4 (12V)	From $8,860
Glamper	Full-time RVers and serious boondockers running AC, fridge, and appliances for days off-grid	1,200W (6× 200W Rich Solar MEGA)	600Ah Epoch LiFePO4 (12V)	From $10,045
Monster	Serious off-gridders who want AC-assist and heavy draw essentially unrestricted	2,500W (10× 250W Rich Solar MEGA)	300Ah EcoWorthy server rack (48V)	From $16,968
Custom Design	Heavy AC use, all-electric kitchens, or larger rigs that need more than any package above can cover on solar alone	Sized around your specific rig and usage		Quoted after an on-site assessment

Full component lists, specs, and installer credentials are on our Solar Installations page.

Questions About This Calculator

How accurate is this RV solar calculator?

It’s built on the same real-world formula we use to size actual systems: watts × hours of use, checked against real solar recovery and battery capacity for Tucson’s climate. It’s accurate enough to point you to the right package with real confidence — the one thing it can’t replace is an on-site look at your specific roof and electrical setup, which is why every quote still includes that step.

What if my numbers don’t match any of the three packages?

Then we tell you that directly instead of rounding you up to a package that won’t actually cover your usage. Heavy air conditioning, an all-electric kitchen, or a larger rig can genuinely call for a custom build — bigger array, larger battery bank, or a different inverter setup. The calculator routes that straight to us with your appliance breakdown attached.

Does this account for Tucson’s heat and sun?

Yes. The solar recovery estimate is based on real-world sun hours for roof-mounted panels here, not a generic national average — see our solar sizing guide for why that matters. We also factor in some headroom for extreme summer heat, which affects both panel output and battery performance if a system isn’t sized with that in mind.

Is this the same math you’d use for an actual quote?

It’s the same core methodology, applied automatically. A final quote still starts with an on-site look at your roof, your existing electrical panel, and how you actually camp — the calculator gets you a real, well-reasoned starting point before that conversation, not a replacement for it.

How is this different from your “How Much Solar Do I Need” article?

That guide walks you through the math by hand, with usage-tier estimates you apply yourself. This tool does the same calculation automatically against your actual appliances, and matches you directly to one of our real packages with pricing — a faster, more personal version of the same answer.

Ready to Talk Through Your Results?

Whatever the calculator recommends, a real quote always starts with a look at your actual RV. Reach out any time — or just scroll back up and get your number first.

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