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Old 11-04-2016, 02:19 PM   #1
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2016 Interstate- No solar charging

Discovered that our 2016 Interstate doesn't have any solar charging.

Our dealer is a good 2.5 hours away.

Any suggestions for sleuthing the cause and what is needed to repair.

I did double-check the panels and they were a little dirty so I cleaned them. Nothing showing on the upper left panel.

Haasman
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Old 11-04-2016, 04:25 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Haasman View Post
Discovered that our 2016 Interstate doesn't have any solar charging.

Our dealer is a good 2.5 hours away.

Any suggestions for sleuthing the cause and what is needed to repair.

I did double-check the panels and they were a little dirty so I cleaned them. Nothing showing on the upper left panel.

Haasman
Don’t know for sure, but suspect Airstream is still using the Atkinson Solar Controller on the 2016 models. However, I don’t know where it is now located.

I’m attaching the manual on the Atkinson controller, it has a few troubleshooting tips.
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Old 11-04-2016, 06:45 PM   #3
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I had a bad panel on my 2015 GT, One sure fire check is to unplug the mc4 connector on the panel and check for voltage at the panel when in sun. You should see north of 20 volts dc.
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Old 11-04-2016, 08:55 PM   #4
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On mine, the controller is buried behind the fuse panel. Lots of work to disassemble it to get to it.

What does the LCD show?
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Old 11-05-2016, 06:01 AM   #5
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I had the same problem. There should be no solar charging if your house battery voltage is above 12.4 volts (assuming blue jumper wire on the controller is cut). If blue wire is not cut, then you should have solar charging when the battery drops below 12.7 volts. See page 13 of the manual posted above by Boxter1971. If your house batteries are below 12.4 volts and the sun is shining, then you probably have a bad controller. The controllers have a five year warranty. I had to replace mine and it was quick and easy--just three wires, two screws, and unplug a network cable. Worst part of the job is removing the bottom lounge cushion to get to the controller. If it's defective, Airstream should replace it, but if you're handy with basic tools and are comfortable with working with electrical wires, then this is an easy job for you. Be sure to cover your solar panel so it is not producing voltage during the installation. Just call Atkinson and they'll help you diagnose if there's a problem and will send you a new one if needed. It may be easier than a five hour trip plus the long wait time for the service to be completed at the dealer.
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Old 11-05-2016, 11:00 AM   #6
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I had the same problem. There should be no solar charging if your house battery voltage is above 12.4 volts (assuming blue jumper wire on the controller is cut). If blue wire is not cut, then you should have solar charging when the battery drops below 12.7 volts. See page 13 of the manual posted above by Boxter1971. If your house batteries are below 12.4 volts and the sun is shining, then you probably have a bad controller. The controllers have a five year warranty. I had to replace mine and it was quick and easy--just three wires, two screws, and unplug a network cable. Worst part of the job is removing the bottom lounge cushion to get to the controller. If it's defective, Airstream should replace it, but if you're handy with basic tools and are comfortable with working with electrical wires, then this is an easy job for you. Be sure to cover your solar panel so it is not producing voltage during the installation. Just call Atkinson and they'll help you diagnose if there's a problem and will send you a new one if needed. It may be easier than a five hour trip plus the long wait time for the service to be completed at the dealer.


Actually, looking at the Atkinson specs, if the battery compartment temp is nominal, the trip point is 12.6v. This is the same as most charge controllers.

If it were me and the Atkinson was bad, I'd replace it with a 3 phase controller vs putting another Atkinson in. You can get some good ones for less than $200 (this includes the remote display) and they will all do a significantly better job of maintaining your batteries. I'll likely make this change regardless of whether my Atkinson goes bad or not.
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Old 11-05-2016, 11:11 AM   #7
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We had one go bad on our 2015, while out west. I called Atkinson, talked to them directly. They took a credit card number and explained they would send me a new one and in the postage paid box I would need to send the "bad" one back. Change out was simple. Three days later I got a call from Atkinson telling me the controller was bad and charge never came up on our credit card.
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Old 11-13-2016, 03:27 PM   #8
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I purchased from owner a 2010 Interstate about this time last year. The solar did not seem to work and the previous owner indicated that it never did much for him. After reading another thread, I tested and found voltage coming in from the solar but none coming out of the controller. I called Atkinson and purchased a new controller, installed it and had the same problem. Another AI owner convinced me to check the Cat-5 cable, which was showing 'chr' on the solar amps. I removed the display and plugged it into the controller using a different cable. Sure enough, bad cable so I replaced a connector and the tester that came with my tool kit showed all connections good. Since the house current had to be on for the display to work, the display showed 2.7 amps and my multi-tester showed voltage out of the controller. When I turned the house current off, the output voltage went off. Looking at the buss where the controller was connected to the battery showed that the controller was not even connected to the battery when the house current is off. In spite of other postings, I was convinced that the house current had to be on before the solar could charge the batteries. I tried leaving it on but my solar could not keep up with the drain. I rewired, inserting a fuse, so that the connection by passed the house switch. Now the solar will fully charge my batteries on a sunny day. The display also stays on to monitor things.
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Old 11-13-2016, 04:02 PM   #9
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I believe there is a fuse in the small electrical box on the bottom of the solar panel.
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Old 11-14-2016, 05:48 AM   #10
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This fuse is between the controller and the battery.
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:38 AM   #11
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This fuse is between the controller and the battery.
Maybe the 2010 was wired differently from the '16-'17 models, but on the newer ones the solar is directly wired (through a fuse) to the power bus. Once the voltage in the house batts goes below 12.6v (temp dependent, but that's nominal), assuming there's sun, the solar controller turns on and starts charging the house batts. Once those get to 13v, the BIM/BS connects the house and chassis batts together, so the solar is charging all 3. Unfortunately with only 100W of solar on the roof, the chassis doesn't get much charge time, so on my coach the house batts seem to stay around 12.8v and the chassis stays around 12.5v. With another 100W of solar, I think both would stay around 12.8v even in the winter, but then I live in northern California where it's sunny most days, so where you live will have a dramatic impact on that result.
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Old 11-14-2016, 04:09 PM   #12
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I believe there is a fuse in the small electrical box on the bottom of the solar panel.
+1

Lewster confirmed this to me for my 2011 50W system. Also said it wasn't easy to get to.
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Old 11-24-2016, 08:43 AM   #13
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Fly fishin is correct. I have a '16 with 2 of the factory 100w flex panels on the roof connected to the stock controller, also in Northern California. While using the coach, I can run my fridge and regular coach light usage and my batteries stay fully charged. If I'm storage mode with batteries off, I always come back to 100pct batteries.
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Old 11-25-2016, 11:42 AM   #14
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MDF- do you run both the refrigerator and freezer?
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Old 07-02-2022, 01:13 PM   #15
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Solar module location in a 2016 grand tour twin

Quote:
Originally Posted by amirm View Post
On mine, the controller is buried behind the fuse panel. Lots of work to disassemble it to get to it.

What does the LCD show?
I have access in the GT twin, breaker and fuse panel due to the bed configuration and top access panel. I cannot locate the module in this area and Atkinson electronics says Airstream puts the modules in all sorts of different places. So I’m looking for someone else with a 2016 GT twin specifically that knows where this elusive device is located. I am replacing it with Atkinson’s new model as I’ve added 2 more 100 watt panels and the new model is versatile for multiple battery types. LOCATION PLEASE😁
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Old 07-02-2022, 08:41 PM   #16
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I have access in the GT twin, breaker and fuse panel due to the bed configuration and top access panel. I cannot locate the module in this area and Atkinson electronics says Airstream puts the modules in all sorts of different places. So I’m looking for someone else with a 2016 GT twin specifically that knows where this elusive device is located. I am replacing it with Atkinson’s new model as I’ve added 2 more 100 watt panels and the new model is versatile for multiple battery types. LOCATION PLEASE��
Take a look around your Magnum inverter area as it should be pretty close to it. I have a AIGT and it was under the drivers side and it looks like this.

On another note, before you spend your money on another Atkinson product, look else where as there are a bunch of better solar chargers out there. I have a Victron 100/30 one and a pretty easy to install and works flawlessly.
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Old 07-02-2022, 08:51 PM   #17
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Let me add that if you still have that flex solar panel up there, consider removing it and replacing it with a better one as those are junk too.

Now I wish that we had gone with the twin model also for convenience. Don’t know why they stop making those. I’m still trying to convince my wife to covert it.
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Old 07-02-2022, 11:32 PM   #18
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Thank you StogieMan, it’s not there and the gentleman from Atkinson tells me airstream puts them in a multitude of mysterious places and good luck finding it. Mine is working fine, I’m just upgrading it to their new one. But 1st I have to find it and airstream doesn’t know where it is either. Thanks again.
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Old 07-03-2022, 07:49 AM   #19
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Thank you StogieMan, it’s not there and the gentleman from Atkinson tells me airstream puts them in a multitude of mysterious places and good luck finding it. Mine is working fine, I’m just upgrading it to their new one. But 1st I have to find it and airstream doesn’t know where it is either. Thanks again.

Wow, Airstream doesn’t know where they put it at - that’s a classic!

Ok, try chasing down some wires instead. There is a yellow and green wire that comes down from the solar panel into the Atkinson controller. There is also a Cat 5 wire that also goes into it. Lastly, if you can locate your thermal fuse buss bar (small square looking breakers) there is a red wire going into at a 15 amp breaker there and you can probably chase that back to the controller as well. I know it might be a PITA but worth it.

Attached is the wiring diagram for your model and a picture of the thermal fuse box.

Hope this helps.
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Old 08-22-2022, 11:36 AM   #20
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solar panel not working

Hello all,

I have a 2017 Interstate GT EXT with the original flexible 100W solar panel
with the Sunexplorer charge controller display unit. We bought our RV used in May of 2020 and the solar panel stopped working shortly after that. It has not been a big issue since we usually park where we can plug into shore power.

However, I would like to fix this, either fix the original unit or upgrade. I went on top of the RV and where the panel plugs into the coach body there is a big depression that collects water and, naturally, everything was corroded. I cleaned up the connections and reattached everything but its still not working. Someone suggested a fuse is likely blown and I wrote to Airstream and a tech wrote back and said there are two fuses, one up by the solar panel and one inline inside.

Anyone have any experience, luck, repairing the original unit? Was it just the fuses? Or is it better to just upgrade to a rigid solar panel (maybe 200W) and how did you accomplish this, if that is what you did? Did you also replace the
Atkinson Sunexplorer Charge Controller Display with something else?

Thanks for any help, clues, you can give to assist in solving and repairing this problem.
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