This Dec. 29, 2015, photo shows Steve Nelson, left, and John Yozamp, then owners of Zamp Solar in Bend.

John Yozamp received the inspiration for Zamp Solar by way of an early-morning knock at his camper door six years ago in a campground off the Cascade Lakes Highway.

“What had happened was, I was using a generator to power my sleep apnea machine,” Yozamp said Dec. 22. Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person stops and starts breathing while sleeping. To correct that, a machine keeps air flowing through the patient’s nasal passage while he or she sleeps. “And about 2 o’clock in the morning, I got a nice, gentle knock on my camper,” Yozamp said.

A neighboring camper asked Yozamp if he would turn off the generator Yozamp used to power the machine. Yozamp could only apologize: “Gee, I’m sorry that I have this noise here and all this stuff. It’s a medical piece of equipment.”

Afterward, he bought a silent, solar-powered system to recharge a battery that provided power for his machine. “And I fell in love with solar right there and what it could do for off-grid camping and exploring,” he said.

Today, Zamp Solar provides solar-powered charging systems for more than 50 makers of recreational vehicles. Thousands of RVs have ports built into them to accommodate Zamp Solar systems.

“They’re very reliable, and they’re very innovative,” Rick Breeden, general manager at Big Country RV dealership in Bend, said about Zamp Solar. “They’re keeping RVs on the cutting edge.”

But RVs are only half of the applications for which Zamp Solar provides hardware. The company expanded to provide solar-powered charging systems for batteries in blinking signs at highway construction projects and those roadside caution signs that indicate a motorist’s speed, Yozamp said. The company also makes units that provide power to automatic gates for big-box stores like Home Depot and for homes and ranches.

It’s a long way from the first 10 units — each a complete kit with small solar panels, voltage regulator and wiring — that Yozamp ordered from a factory overseas, loaded into his trunk and sold within hours.

Now the company, which includes Yozamp’s business partner, Steve Nelson, is gearing up a new assembly line inside its 23,000-square-foot home on NE Jamison Street. The new line will produce 5 megawatts worth of new Zamp Solar units every year. At 160 watts per unit, that’s more than 31,000 units. “That line is already dedicated to some major business this year, and we’ve got it pretty much maxed out,” Yozamp said.

The company is planning on building a 20,000-square-foot addition to make room for another 40-60 MW worth of production, he said, and robotic machinery to help with the work. He said construction should start within the next two years.

Even farther down the line, he said, is a project to power affordable, modular homes for people living in poverty in the developing world, starting in Pakistan, China and India. The system, which Yozamp expects to see in as many as 2 million homes over time, would come with three or four rooftop solar panels, a DC distribution panel, batteries and outlets designed by Zamp Power. That project will require another 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space, he said.

“What Zamp Solar does well is design the right product for the right market, period,” Yozamp said. “That’s what we do well. Then we go after that market with talented salespeople to make that happen.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com

Q: Are you hiring?

A: John Yozamp: We are hiring a new round of people in January. We’re looking for basic skills: good with your hands, little bit of knowledge about 12-volt (systems), can handle a wrench, can understand how things operate. So if you have those skills and are detail-oriented, that’s what we look for. We do start everybody at least 20-25 percent above minimum wage.

Q: What are some of the more unusual uses for your products?

A: We have one account … (that’s) located here in Central Oregon. They manufacture predatory bird-calling equipment. Simply what they do is, if you have doves in your orchard (for example), you send out the call (of a predatory bird), and it scares off that particular bird. This company manufactures bird-calling equipment that’s shipped all over the world, so our solar panels are actually in companies in Russia, at airports, (to prevent) bird strikes.