solar panels

[Ron_Kat]

Hey want to pick some brains, any out there? I want to put solar panels on the roof of our XC , looking to install at the rear of the unit over the bedroom. The 12 volt system main kill switch is located in the engine compartment, I think tying in would work well there. How has anyone done a roof penetration on their coach that has been good for running wires and keeping out the moisture. The pretty much useless 10 watt panel is up front, in front of the refer vent , the factory used the refer vent as a chase to run wires down to the battery compartment, looking at that seems much harder route than in the back. plus the roof in the back is wide open for an install without any obstructions in place, unlike the front of the coach. Thoughts? Ron

[israndy]

I have two RVs, the first one has Solar, two flex panels. I went thru the roof and covered it with a combiner box: http://amsolar.com/rv-combiner-box/20-roof



Then I got the Airstream. I am working on putting solar on the roof here too. I found just an entry cover and then plan to use cables to combine the power around the roof. The cover is like: https://www.amazon.com/POWER-GPCEP-C.../dp/B0136USGHY



I was going to mount above the rear bedroom closet and run the cable down to the battery bay to keep the engine battery charged.

-Randy

[bobmiller1]

That looks like the way to go, Regards, Bob

[Ron_Kat]

Thanks Randy I like the second one and will order one. Ron

[Ron_Kat]

We just got back from 2 months on the road, the two solar panels (200 WATTS) made a big difference in gen set usage. Our batteries were kept fully charged, when we used the gen set to run the microwave or watch tv movies the inverter remote showed the batteries in float charge and the solar panel controller showed float also which was nice I could verify the state of charge. I put a VOM on the batteries a few times to confirm what the controllers were showing and every thing matched up. We boon-dock a lot so it was really nice to have fully charged batteries without having to run gen set. Next step to change out the 12 volt batteries for 6 volts . Ron