I had a few very definite ideas about this trailer. One of them was that I wanted to have a solar panel on it. I was going to use only LED lighting, so there would be minimal electrical load for lighting. I wanted an electric refrigerator, but what kind? The first cooler I tried was a Koolatron, with a Peltier Diode array for the cooling This is a large solid state electronic diode which "produces cold" when electricity goes through it one way, and gets warm when electricity goes through it the other way. This unit does not have to be level, like a gas refrigerator, and it does not use a compressor or refrigerant like a "regular" refrigerator does. The only moving part is a small fan for circulating air around in the unit. The price was also very attractive. There were some drawbacks, though. It has limits on how cool it will get. It would only get about  40°  below the ambient temperature, at best. This was not so good in warm climates. I also had to use a block of ice, because the solar system could not keep up with the electrical demand from this cooler.

I was not at all happy with the performance of this cooler, and decided that it was not suited to be a refigerator for my camper. I got a Waeco refigerator, which has a compressor and refrigerant in it, just like a regular household refrigerator. It runs on 12 volts, and just uses a very small amount of electricity. In addition, it is very, very quiet. It also does not dump a lot of waste heat into the galley. I also had to learn to set the thermostat so it would not freeze everything inside it. This has been a wonderful unit for us, and I recommend it whole-heartedly. It is about four times as expensive as the Koolatron, but worth every penny.
My solar panel is rated at 80 watts, and is just the same width as the trailer. The mounting brackets that came with it were a generic sort of bracket which I decided would be inadequate for my desires. The charge controller was in a neat and compact package which I mounted in a home-made aluminum box on the ceiling of the trailer cabin. I used some 2" x 2" x 1/8" aluminum angle on both long edges of the solar panel. This makes for a sturdy mount and also keeps the wind blast from getting under the panel and causing some mischief.
In the real world, an 80 watt solar panel will only produce that much power if the sun hits it at right angles to its surface and the sun is fully bright. In actual practice, I found that this panel works nicely for me as long as I have good sunshine about half the day. The other thing is that I am using the Waeco refrigerator. With the Koolatron, the battery could never get fully charged. The Waeco refrigerator is key. I can run this unit for a couple of days with very little sunshine, if I start with a fully charged battery. I hooked up an extra wiring harness to take power from the car's electrical system to charge up the battery on cloudy days. This works well, but it is important that this setup only be used while driving, and disconnected whenever the engine is not running. This is a little awkward, but it is simple and works for me.


Looking down upon the trailer, the solar panel is just in front of the galley hatch hinge. The 9" roof vent is just in front of the solar panel.

 Looking straight on at the controller, you can see that the battery charge level LED is in the middle of the "good" range and the current is at zero amps. In a few seconds the indicator will show the battery voltage. It will probably be around 12.5 or 12.8 volts, as the temperature is around 30° F. right now. (Night time in late March) The controller is mounted on a box I made. This is the controller that came with the solar panel

This is an idea of what the charge controller looks like, under the ceiling in the trailer cabin. The box is about an inch and a half deep and made from the same sheet metal as the trailer skin. I made it with rounded corners to be more compatible with my balding head.

The bolt head you see at the lower left corner of the charge controller is one of the mounting bolts for the solar panel.

The solar panel cable goes straight through the roof and into the controller box. I sealed it with a generous squirt of silicone caulk. Additionally, the solar panel itself acts as a roof for the cable penetration. There have been no problems with water leakage.

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