Southwest My Solar Boondocking Upgrade Journey - Part 1

[Gulliver72]

First of all, appropriate credit due to Troutboy, Uncle Bob, daleyocum, pdavitt, and the others who contributed to this important thread.
After months of research, planning, buying, installing, & testing, the solar, inverter, lithium upgrade was nearing completion. The thing that caused the most problem for me was the Charging system from the TV.
With the advice from those mentioned above, I purchased the Victron 9A Orion to charge from my Ford F-150 with factory HD tow package. After much testing, I realized I was getting no current from the TV 7 wire connector. The solution came to me as a 4AM inspiration. At dawn, I opened the hood to discover Ford did not include a fuse or relay for that circuit. No wonder my batteries were useless on my pre-upgrade 12,000 mile trip last summer!
All is done😃. MANY, MANY UPGRADES during the three months we’ve been home. We hit the road in a week for the rest of the year. So excited!
I will post a complete story of all the upgrades when I find some time on the road.

[Troutboy]

Awesome Gulliver, now I need to check my fuse in my F150 as well, lol!

[ghaynes755]

GMC/Chevrolet also typically does not install the fuse for that circuit. Sometimes, at least in the past, the connecting wire is also not attached to the fuse box.

[wachuko]

Troutboy, it has been two years now since you installed the panels... how are those holding up? Can you share a photo of what they look like now?


Reason I ask is that I have the Go Power flexible panels in my Airstream Interstate... and they look all hazed. These carry a 5 year warranty. They still work, but eventually I am going to have to replace them.



At half the cost, AM Solar panels look attractive... AR glass, aluminum frame, some work required to install, but they should last longer... I am on chat with AM Solar asking about the manufacture's warranty on their panels since they do not provide any warranty and are very clear on that on their website. Warranty comes from the manufacturer...



Humm... sorry, here on chat with AM Solar. They are telling me that they no longer sells the SP100... I guess this will have to be something else to consider... what good is a 25 year warranty if the panels are discontinued?? Aksing them that as well... The option now would be to use the Zamp 98 and modify them to use MC4 adapters.

"We would have to honor the terms of the warranty by supplying an equivalent wattage produced by whatever is available at the time. As technology moves forward, expect more wattage in a smaller footprint. "

So curious how yours are holding up...

[pdavitt]

Originally Posted by wachuko

Humm... sorry, here on chat with AM Solar. They are telling me that they no longer sells the SP100... I guess this will have to be something else to consider... what good is a 25 year warranty if the panels are discontinued?? Aksing them that as well... The option now would be to use the Zamp 98 and modify them to use MC4 adapters.

"We would have to honor the terms of the warranty by supplying an equivalent wattage produced by whatever is available at the time. As technology moves forward, expect more wattage in a smaller footprint. "

So curious how yours are holding up...

Am Solar does not make their own panels and the warranty comes from the manufacturer. I am not 100% sure, but AM's SP100 looks a lot like the Renogy panel in the link noted below. If so, Renogy is still very much in business.

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-100-wa...ompact-design/

Pat

[RosenBob]

I just bought a 2019 Flying Cloud 30 RB and want to do something similar. Am fascinated by this thread and the many comments. Thanks to all of you for contributing.

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by pdavitt

Am Solar does not make their own panels and the warranty comes from the manufacturer. I am not 100% sure, but AM's SP100 looks a lot like the Renogy panel in the link noted below. If so, Renogy is still very much in business.

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-100-wa...ompact-design/

Pat

I bought 3 of the Renogy panels that are the same as the AM Solar that you referenced. Totally happy so I just got the suitcase model to add the 4th panel.

[wachuko]

Will stop here and start a separate thread to not derail Troutboy's... but looks like Renogy also has a new version of their panel and that one is not getting great reviews in Amazon...

Very happy with the Old Edition panels (RNG-100D) Up to 8 panels now...
Bought 4 New Edition recently ( RNG-100D-R) and not so happy, thanks to Amazon I returned for Old Edition.

[pdavitt]

Originally Posted by wachuko

Will stop here and start a separate thread to not derail Troutboy's... but looks like Renogy also has a new version of their panel and that one is not getting great reviews in Amazon...

One thing I have learned is to never trust the reviews on any website. There are companies that make their living selling positive and negative reviews.

Do your own homework and make your own decisions.

Pat

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by pdavitt

One thing I have learned is to never trust the reviews on any website. There are companies that make their living selling positive and negative reviews.

Do your own homework and make your own decisions.

Pat

Pat, agreed. But all that I have heard from the forum here about AM Solar is positive. I will most likely go with what they are selling. I have time... I think that I will be fine for a year (maybe pushing it for two) with the panels that I have.

Will continue to research... 1/2 the price on the Renogy panels over AM Solar is also very attractive... Amazing that I could possibly buy all four Renogy panels with just a bit more of what I paid for the one extra panel I installed in my AI

Back to normal programming.

[pdavitt]

Originally Posted by wachuko

Pat, agreed. But all that I have heard from the forum here about AM Solar is positive. I will most likely go with what they are selling. I have time... I think that I will be fine for a year (maybe pushing it for two) with the panels that I have.

Will continue to research... 1/2 the price on the Renogy panels over AM Solar is also very attractive... Amazing that I could possibly buy all four Renogy panels with just a bit more of what I paid for the one extra panel I installed in my AI

Back to normal programming.

I have nothing negative to say about AM Solar. They made a business decision to change their panel supplier, that's all.

Pat

[Troutboy]

Originally Posted by wachuko

Troutboy, it has been two years now since you installed the panels... how are those holding up? Can you share a photo of what they look like now?


Reason I ask is that I have the Go Power flexible panels in my Airstream Interstate... and they look all hazed. These carry a 5 year warranty. They still work, but eventually I am going to have to replace them.



At half the cost, AM Solar panels look attractive... AR glass, aluminum frame, some work required to install, but they should last longer... I am on chat with AM Solar asking about the manufacture's warranty on their panels since they do not provide any warranty and are very clear on that on their website. Warranty comes from the manufacturer...



Humm... sorry, here on chat with AM Solar. They are telling me that they no longer sells the SP100... I guess this will have to be something else to consider... what good is a 25 year warranty if the panels are discontinued?? Aksing them that as well... The option now would be to use the Zamp 98 and modify them to use MC4 adapters.

"We would have to honor the terms of the warranty by supplying an equivalent wattage produced by whatever is available at the time. As technology moves forward, expect more wattage in a smaller footprint. "

So curious how yours are holding up...

Wachuko,

Over two years in and I am really satisfied with the equipment. Also the service from amsolar. They are still answering my questions and helping, after all,of this time.

I boondock quite a bit and run through heavy brush etc, and no problems at all with the panels. They are holding up great and still providing output in the same range as when new.

Thx

[wachuko]

That is great to know. Thank you for the update!!


I will start planning panel replacement and inverter/charger upgrade for next year.

[SMAirstream]

I’m just starting an upgrade similar to yours. I have all the parts, batteries, etc and I’m just in the planning stages. I’ve been debating putting the batteries under the front bed or under the kitchen table (over the axel). Did you notice any issues with having the weight all on one side of the trailer vs centered? Like you, I’m thrilled to lose some weight right on the hitch but I don’t want to create any other issues. Thank you.

[Troutboy]

The unit has been towing fine, I haven’t noticed any issues from how i distributed the weight. I recently did a counter top upgrade and used Corian, so the weight on the other side likely matches the batteries now, lol…