When we decided to have solar panels installed back in late 2011 we were referred by several RV owners to
A.M. Solar. They are located in Oregon, but they have certified installers in different parts of the country. I contacted one near me. He came out to my location (then in Riverside, CA) and did an inspection of my coach, discussed my electrical needs, used a multi meter to determine electrical draw of my main appliances....micro wave, TV, etc. then in about 10 days sent me an e-mail proposal. Once we settled on what we needed I ordered everything from A.M. Solar and had it shipped to the installer down in Temecula. We drove the coach down there in late January 2012, and he and his wife did the VERY professional installation. He, too, insisted I learn how to program the battery monitor, and insisted I read the manual from cover to cover while the installation was going on so he could ask me questions to be sure I knew how the system works. Obviously he gave me a verbal overview of the system and how it would work, but he wanted me to be familiar with the manual so I could be self sufficient in operating the system.
All during the installation process he involved me in every decision regarding routing of cabling, location of the charge controller, and battery monitor. There were no surprises, and I would HIGHLY recommend he and his wife to anyone.
After we left Temecula, and were down in Indio over Super Bowl weekend visiting friends, the battery monitor starting giving me odd readings so I called the installer. He tried to help me over the phone, but determined that he needed to come out and check it in person, so the next morning he drove out to Indio from Temecula....probably about 80 miles each way.....and spent a couple of hours trouble shooting the problem, which he solved. Later, when we were in Tyler, TX I had another problem and called him.....he spent several hours with me on the phone trouble shooting the problem which ended up being a sheared screw head in the charge controller box causing a wire to come loose. Because of the problem he gave me a $150 credit.
We love our system, and spend more and more time off the grid....currently we are in a 4 week stretch where we have not been plugged in.....it's has been difficult here in the east to depend solely on the solar panels, but now that the weather is finally warming up and we are getting consistently sunny days it is easier. We expect to spend at the next 18 months in the west camping on BLM land and using our solar to power the coach.
PM me if you want to talk, or have any questions.