Solar Odyssey Begins - Day 1

[Slimjc]

I have been researching all things solar for about 9 months now - man o man, too much info!

Despite the massive brain overload, I am going to begin installing the parts tomorrow - I will begin with the the Tri-metric 2030 - A battery monitor as it is a great companion to the Bogart sc2030 which goes in next week.

After the monitor goes in, I will be prepping the roof and location for all of the parts and goodies to go along with a killer system (I hope). I will share trials and tribulations for all who are interested. Working on a 2014 3120DS.

[Teamfour]

I look forward to this missive.

[ScottBrownstein]

I look forward to your experience as well. Right now your research totally agrees with mine. The Trimetric and SC-2030 are the perfect RV solution...

[Slimjc]

Agree - I think the biggest mistake I have discovered is undersizing the downwire from the combiner box to the controller - go big and it can be expanded with ease, too small and you are stuck with marginal capacity.

[ScottBrownstein]

Absolutely. You need to put multiple 36 cell panels in parallel with the 2030 and each 150 watt panel is about 6 amps. You can put in two and use #10, but #8 from the combiner to the controller is best and it will still fit in a plastic conduit and go on the 2030's lugs.

[Slimjc]

I will be running 6/2 down from the Combiner - extra 6/2 left over from controller to 40 amp bus switch- that way if I decide to take this up a notch I will have no issues with voltage drop - ran the calculations at 200 watts, 18V and 14.2 amps and I am at .6 in drop - all parts coming from AM solar and as installed I will post up some pics.

[Slimjc]

Am solar has complete kits and are very good about subbing out parts and upgrades - here is the core with the Blue sea swapped out for the 2030 and upgrade to the 6/2 wire from 8/2. I also added another panel and kept the price under 1000

[/URL][/IMG]

[bfrtech]

I installed the Trimetric gauge a few years ago and it doesn't seem to work correctly, could you share some pics how you connected the switch to the batteries, shunt, etc? Good luck on the remainder of the install, I am considering solar on mine. I have a 2011 3010 Sunseeker.

[PSU Turf]

Slimjc - I've had that exact setup since last September. So far, so good. We have two 100 watt panels that are on the ground. When we get a warm day I am going to add a third 100W panel on the roof. I look forward to seeing how your's turns out.

[jkoenig24]

Another RVer looking to learn about solar. Thanks for posting!

[mdstudey]

I will be waiting for you posts. I will be starting off with the Renogy 200 Watt 12 Volt System. While at Big Bend, I saw a fiver with a solar set up. It looked like he had the solar (on ground) to his battery and then he must of had an inverter in the basement as well because there was a 30 or 50 amp power cord running out of the basement to his plug in. What I would like to do is connect the inverter so that I can use any wall socket instead of having to plug in like that guy did. It would be nice for charging things will on the go.

[ScottBrownstein]

What is your plan for bringing the #6 down from the roof? I am running a conduit through the wardrobe and down to the drivers side basement compartment. That is where the converter is anyway (and one of my inverters.) I checked with FR and got the location of the roof trusses so I will miss them.

[richp]

Hi Scott,

Could you provide FR contact info so I can get roof layout data about my unit?

Thanks.

Rich Phillips
2014 Silverback 33RL

[RailwayRog]

Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein

I checked with FR and got the location of the roof trusses so I will miss them.

You might want to screw into them when you find out how thick the roof material is.
I started a thread about "installing solar panels on paper thin roof"

[Slimjc]

So really, this was a pretty easy task. I took alot of care however to plan the routing of signal wires to prepare for the downwire from the combiner box next week. Here is where it mounted up in the cabinets next to the door. I removed the thin panel backer on the inside of the cabinet to reveal a perfect 3 inch cavity to run the wires.



From Inside:

[Slimjc]

And Power!

[Slimjc]

Here are the photos of the shunt install -





There is a bit of clean up to do, but I figured I would hold off til after the charge controller is hooked in"

[brucemc]

Cool! It'll be good to see how you mounted your panels to the roof, and how you routed your wires through the roof to your cabinets.

Here's mine on our Four Winds; I'll be tackling this very task on our new '16 2250 Sunseeker in the next year or two: Solar Panel installation on Motorhome (2010) Photo Gallery by B-N-Mac at pbase.com

way back in 2010, I used a pair of Sharp 80W panels, a Morningstar 45 PWM controller (with remote meter, temp & voltage sensors), 10 gauge wire from each panel to the controller, and 6 gauge wire to the batteries less than 3' feet away. At the time, I spent better than $1200 for the setup. It performed very well for our needs. Today I could put the same setup on for probably $400-500.

[Slimjc]

Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein

What is your plan for bringing the #6 down from the roof? I am running a conduit through the wardrobe and down to the drivers side basement compartment. That is where the converter is anyway (and one of my inverters.) I checked with FR and got the location of the roof trusses so I will miss them.

I am using the existing hole cut for the TV Antenna - of course there will be a bit of modification - I will show pics as I am prepping this weekend for panels to arrive Monday.

[CraigBean7672]

Also interested in following your progress, so thanks for sharing info and posting your picts. The dealer installed a Samlex 150 panel when we purchased the trailer last year and now I plan to install the TM 2030 RV and the SC-2030 within the next month.