Solar Show and Tell

[chris_kelly]

Finally fully joined the club!

Finished the install. Forgot to take pictures when I was on the roof and had access to the electrical area under the bed.

Posted a couple of pictures on the 23FB thread; linked below.

Used the AM Solar rocker mounts that came with the 3M tape and added the Silka-Flex on top of the mounts. Worked really well.

I don’t like the cable organization with just mc4 to parallel the two panels so I might replaced the zamp box with the AM Solar c-box and run custom wires to it then down to the charge controller.

Thoughts?

I think 330Wh in full Texas sun isn’t bad for 200W of panel’s one the roof. Granted we were also plugged into shore power for A/C.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/sho....php?p=2371150

[AirMiles]

Made five nights in nearly complete maple tree canopy without needing to boost charge the batteries. Last days continued to look like prior days except the daily peak wattage declined each day. I think debris was falling from the trees which blocked a little more solar wattage. I didn’t clean the panels at all. Now back to sunnier sites.

[HiHoAgRV]

This past weekend we peaked at 220W from 2x mounted (and slightly dirty) and 1x portable 100W panels. I did the temp de-rate because the panels were over 150 degrees and calculated they would max at 240W. The lithium full charged from 66% during the few hours I had full sun, even with fans running.

[GMFL]

Panels arrived today. 1Kw of Zamp Obsidian high voltage panels. 10 panels will soon be install on the roof of our 30’ GT.

[AirMiles]

GMFL, I can't wait to see the install pictures!

[Pimms]

I too, will be upgrading from the single factory 80 watt rooftop Zamp to not sure what. 4x 90’ or 4x 100’s or can the existing 80 be mixed in or is it best to remove it altogether. Our 23fb is not as wide as larger models so those with experience please comment. I’ll most likely go with the forums AM Solar recommdations; Victron MPPT etc, but won’t be doing a lithium upgrade in the near future. I have two 12 volt group 24 AGM’s in parallel and although would like the Victron batt monitor as well, am not sure the rewiring fuss is worth the trouble, but I did install two shunt driven, I think Blue Seas monitors on two of my past sailboats and found the data to be valuable.

As an aside, I am installing a dc based system in my small boathouse powered by a single 260 watt pv so I’m considering re-purposing the 2 year old Airstream AGM’s to that and then going 6volt golf carts for the additional amp hours. Any downside to this? I installed AGM’s on our last sailboat as we were making a trip offshore to Bermuda and knew they couldn’t leak if we turned-turtle. Hopefully don’t need to worry about that now!

I did open up under the FB today and removed the upper portion of the bed platform. I didn’t encounter the “rat’s nest” , but the inverter and lots of wiring leading to a 12 volt enclosed box, with neatly wired busses and the current pv charge controller. There is even a schematic pasted to the inside of the cover. The solar pair, green and yellow, is 8awg. Based on this, would I be best going with 4 parallel panels , or Airmiles, would you still go with series/ parallel per Victon’s recommendations?

I’m not trying to stir up the pot again, for sure. I do have the Zamp box with 3 inputs up top and a 8 awg wire to the controller. Really looking for the best panel config for the narrower trailer.

Wiring wise, MC4 vs Zamp also would be helpful. Did mc4 on the solar boathouse and seems much more robust than Zamp.

Thanks you all who have blazed the trail!

[AirMiles]

Pimms, congratulations on making through the entire thread. I was learning as I posted so you now know everything I know. Of course I'd still use series-parallel for the reasons discussed throughout the thread. But the 8 gauge prewire would also be very efficient with 400W in parallel. I just know how well the doubled voltage works with my Victrons (100/30 and 100/50). I think my recent posts of camping under nearly a complete canopy of maple trees and still producing 400Wh per day shows that series-parallel can work in the shade. Since you made it through the thread, you know we've beaten this horse to death. You can't go wrong either way. Your batteries will get charged if you use full parallel or series-parallel. I would toss the 80W panel and put four equal panels on the roof. I have mixed panels on my 600W installation and it works, but the panels are very equally spec'd. I'd use Renogy Compact panels as they are very narrow. I crimp connected all my connections instead of using MC4 and think that it looks much cleaner than having all those MC4 connections. Good luck with your install. 400W of solar matches up nicely with a pair of 6V golf cart batteries.

[DaveP]

Wow!! How much battery??

Originally Posted by GMFL

Panels arrived today. 1Kw of Zamp Obsidian high voltage panels. 10 panels will soon be install on the roof of our 30’ GT.

[AirMiles]

Attached is thirty days of solar production ending June 24, 2020 for my 600W solar array using the factory prewire and a pair 6V golf cart batteries. I will not be using my Airstream any more this month. Solar production was all over the place this past month. The DC refrigerator was used during daylight hours on days with greater than 1.5 kWh production. I was camped under a nearly complete canopy of maple trees on the five days where production was below 500Wh and the batteries did not float. Other days had low production because I just didn't need much power as the weather was delightful in Wisconsin which didn't require running fans during the day or the furnace at night. Some days you need a lot of solar charging and other days you need very little. I never had to use the generator to boost charge the batteries and the converter was turned off all month.

[AirMiles]

Got a new DC powered piece of equipment to add to my solar load. Its an Ecotric 48V 500W Foldable Ebike (www.ecotric.com). The charger draws 2A at 48V. Since that's only 100W, my 1000W inverter should have no problem charging the pair of these bikes we purchased. I just got the one Ebike yesterday and the other will arrive today. We are home right now so I won't be charging these from my 600W solar powered Airstream until we get on the road again. I've put 13 miles on this Ebike so far. Its a blast to ride on and I'm really impressed with the quality, comfort, and performance.

[Pimms]

Congrats on your new e-bikes. I have been looking at these as well. Mimm’s and I have folding (no-assist) bikes leftover from our sailing days that we take camping, but would love to retire these in favor of e-bikes. I’m somewhat reluctant as they all seem to weigh 15 lbs more than our pedal-only bikes. Will you haul them in your truck bed and do you find them difficult to load at 50+ lbs? Glad to know you can charge them from your solar set-up. I am currently installing solar to our boathouse/shed (the Airstream is next), powered from a single 260 watt panel, so I’m hoping, if we do go with e-bikes, I could charge them with a 750 watt inverter tied into the solar system.

[AirMiles]

I plan to store these bikes in the rear seat area of my 4 door truck. I put them in there this morning as a test. Yes, they are a little heavy (60+ pounds each). But a quick "deadlift" and their in. Then I just slide them into position. I think these would take up too much room in the truckbed unless you have a topper. I haven't tried putting them in the truck bed, but I think it would be more difficult and they would more likely get scratches and damage in there. Its best to have them vertical on their tires rather than horizontal on their frames, brakes, cables . . .

[AirMiles]

[QUOTE=AirMiles;2378688]Got a new DC powered piece of equipment to add to my solar load. Its an Ecotric 48V 500W Foldable Ebike (www.ecotric.com). The charger draws 2A at 48V. Since that's only 100W, my 1000W inverter should have no problem charging the pair of these bikes we purchased.[/]

I got my tester out and measured the amp draw while charging two Ebikes. My original estimate for the amp draw for charging from the inverter was wrong. It will draw about 16A from the 12V batteries plus a little for the inverter to charge two Ebikes while boondocking. It can be done! The refrigerator in my Globetroter draws 14A and I can run it all day while it’s sunny. So sunny days will now be used to charge the Ebikes. On less than sunny days, I will be able to charge one Ebike at a time with a draw of around 8A. I’m glad that my Airstream has 600W of solar installed on the roof.

[kb7our]

Thanks Lewster and Airmiles for your suggestions. Finished up solar install using factory wiring (for now):

6 Panels = 600W with room for 2 more (200W) on each side of the AC shroud. I initially avoided this location to minimize any shading.
In the pics 2 panels are raised more than the others to accommodate bathroom and shower vents. The vents can open fully.
The OEM buss panel was relocated from the front wall to the left side of the couch frame where there is already a large removable panel cut out for access to the inverter. Makes it easy to access the relocated buss panel and sub by lifting the couch cushion. Cleaned up the battery box a bit (2 Trojan T-125+ batteries) and made a new cover for the shunt which resides in the battery box for now. Since I have the polarity extensions where the panel wiring connects to the roof junction box, the wiring overlaps onto the front skylight frame just a bit - this frame area was a good place to secure the connections with dabs of sikaflex and you cannot see the wires from inside.

[AirMiles]

Very nice installation KB7our. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Let us know how it performs. I think you'll have all the power you need with six panels on the roof.

[GOUSC]

I recently upgraded my factory solar based on this and many other threads on the subject. I also had assistance from fellow Globetrotter owners Hans627, Lnk2dks, and Jeffmc306. My prior electrical experience was limited, to say the least, so I could never have completed this without their assistance.

My set up isn’t nearly as complex as others I’ve viewed but it will be a definite upgrade from the base factory set up and will suit my boondocking needs.

The main issue I had with the 2018 twin model is that access had be created to get to the DC distribution box where the old solar controller is located. There is only a small removable panel that allows you to view the inverter but you can’t access anything to remove it. The removable access panel was retained to allow access to the 40 Amp Breaker and Solar on/off switch. I had Jackson Center create access on a recent visit for warranty work. The 2019 models already have full access to this area for the twin beds.


2018 Globetrotter 27FB Twin – Factory Solar 80 Watt Panels (2)
Recently added Zamp 90 Watt Panel on Roof. 250 Watt Total

Solar Install Parts Recommended by AM Solar

Victron MPPT 300 / 30
40 Amp DC Breaker
Victron Temp/Volt Sensor for MPPT

Additional Part – Solar Panel Master Switch Cutoff

Attached are pictures of the install. My solar pre-wire was 8 gauge wire. 10 gauge wire was used to by Airstream for battery positive and negative bus bar connections so I used the same. I may upgrade that wiring at a later date as I just wanted to make sure it worked first. I followed the diagram that AM Solar has on their website for the MPPT/ 30. Based on their diagram and confirmed by communicating with them, the line input for the breaker came from the positive battery connection of the MPPT with the load going to the positive bus bar for the batteries. I thought I had seen some pictures in this thread that had the connection the opposite way (line from the batteries and load to the MPPT) so just wanted to confirm in case I was reading these pictures incorrectly.

Can’t wait to actually use it in live situation and see how it performs compared to the stock factory solar.

[T Mac]

Can anyone show me where you put the batteries, charge controller and inverter on a 2020 FC 30FB Bunk? I’ve seen one on YouTube. I plan to install 4 Battle Born batteries, Victron CC and inverter.

[chris_kelly]

X-post from another thread.

Wondering what the best place for a multiplus would be in here. Does anyone have any wiring tips for one based on the infamous rats nest pictured in my other post?

These are pictures from our dealer and we will be making our way to pick it up towards the end of the month.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/sho....php?p=2406893

[GMFL]

Here’s a few pics of some of my recent installs.

[DaveP]

Nice work, GMFL!! Your installations always look fantastic!