Buying and outfitting a 25FB

[AStreamNerds]

I hate to beat that dead horse but....

Solar - we do not have it but do not plan to do any camping where we don't have electricity but if we were to get it I would probably go with factory for the warranty from Airstream

Satellite - just another expense I don't want. If you already pay for Dish or DirecTV then it would not be a big deal if you can bring a receiver from home that you already pay for. I have AppleTVs installed on both of our TV's and we use Airplay from our iDevices. If you load the movies/TV shows on your ipad/iphone before you leave home you can easily watch them on your TV's - you do not even need Internet for this to work (check our youtube channel for more info)

WD hitch/sway control - ABSOLUTELY!!!

[Zybane]

Is there any other benefit of the high cost of the factory solar? Like all of the cabling and interfaces are complete? Something that you would have to deal with aftermarket is drilling holes and mounting stuff etc...

[BoldAdventure]

I posted elsewhere the exact amount I paid AM Solar for my 405 watts of solar, and it was still cheaper than that crappy 85W system you get from Airstream. The only benefit to factory is you didn't install it. Lew has repeated elsewhere on the forums how lousy Airstreams factory wiring is.

[dkottum]

Our factory solar consists of two 53 watt panels and two Group 24 Lifeline AGM batteries, as well as a decent solar controller and monitor. The wiring is no problem. The system is nicely installed at the factory during assembly.

In four years travel 6-7 months a year it has worked well for us and still does. It provides enough power for factory entertainment systems, computer charging, lights, water pump and furnace when he sun shines. In overcast weather it is less effective, but there is some charging depending on cloud cover. The weakness is not the solar panels, it is the storage capacity of the batteries, which we plan to upgrade if/when they fail.

List price was about $2500, we bargained for less. We like it for our varied use with and without hookups. We travel without our Honda 2000i generator since we have leaned how to manage the solar we have. It's not crappy at all, we like it.

[BoldAdventure]

Good for you.

Originally Posted by dkottum

Our factory solar consists of two 53 watt panels and two Group 24 Lifeline AGM batteries....

... List price was about $2500

You over paid for 106 watts. Just because it's working, and you like it, doesn't mean it was a good deal.

Originally Posted by dkottum

The wiring is no problem. The system is nicely installed at the factory during assembly.

You clearly haven't seen the way they wire things: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f37/...ng-135945.html


My argument here is that the factory solar, is never a good deal.

That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it, until someone comes up with a better argument than "we like it".