Solar Prewire

[JMB11]

There are a pair of what appear to be #8 green and yellow wires inside the refrigerator compartment door of my 2004 Safari SS. First, please confirm these are in fact for solar pre-wire and if so, where does the other end of these wires terminate ? I realize if they are pre-wire they're undersized and will need to be upsized to at least #6 or larger.

Thanks

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The other end *should* terminate on the roof in a box if it's like the more recent trailers.

Unless you are going crazy with panels, the stock number 10 wire will do fine. You are coming down from the roof at 16 to 18 volts. With 160W of panels, that's at or below 10A. Number 10 is one miliohm per foot. If you have a 40' round trip, that's 0.04 ohms. At 10A you will have a drop of 0.4V. Out of your 16V, that's 2.5% at full load. At lower loads, the loss will be less. Maximum rating wise, number 10 is generally considered to be good for 30A.

Since you don't have a controller yet, if you *are* going crazy with panels, run them in series / parallel. ( or get panels that put out 32 to 36V). Then your current is halved for the same power output. Something like a Victron MPPT 75 or 100 unit will be perfectly happy with the higher voltage input.

Bob

[laferic]

Hi .. I have a Safari 23 2006 .. any idea where i can find the end of the solar pre-wire?I do see cables behind fridge .. Thank you,

Eric

[laferic]

Did you find the cable ends?

Thx ..Eric

[overlander63]

An '06? Try removing the interior garnish from around the roof vents, you should see a yellow and a green wire set tucked up inside one of them.

[JMB11]

Originally Posted by laferic

Did you find the cable ends?

Thx ..Eric

Eric,
I apologize. For some reason, I never saw your question. I only found prewire in refrigerator compartment but not the other end. I did remove front fan trim but couldn't find the prewire there. Did you ever find it ?

[Wayne&Sam]

This is an old thread, but here's my question:

In my 2014 25' FC RBT, I located the soar pre-wire under the vent bezel. It leaves the vent through a grommet in the metal framing for the vent. I've pulled each of the four ceiling lights around the vent but can't locate the wires (the exit the vent framing a foot or so from the nearest lights). So how do you find the wires so you know where to put the combiner box? There should be an easier way than dropping the inner skin (I hope).

Thanks for any help.