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Old 09-17-2019, 01:03 PM   #1
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Solar ready outside port

I just purchased a e-pro 19FD. It has a go power solar controller inside with a roof mounted solar panel. It also has an outside port for an additional portable solar panel. My question is/are: Can I add any solar panel to the system? Does the additional panel need its own controller? I see the connection on the side, Do I need to worry about positive/negative? They want to sell me a $600 Zamp setup, but this seems like overkill.

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Old 09-17-2019, 03:48 PM   #2
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I don't think Zamp will work with Go power. I believe that the wiring is different. I installed Go power on my unit.
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Old 09-17-2019, 04:36 PM   #3
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Strange....this same question is asked by another user name in the Rockwood section -

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...rt-194428.html

If the side port is like the SAE plug on our past two trailers, it's simply a plug that's had its wires extended with too small of a gauge to the battery in a long round-a-bout way. So you would need to use a portable solar panel that has its own controller. And be sure to check the polarity on the plugs.

The other option is to remove the factory wiring from the SAE wall plug and install a stand-alone controller closer to the battery(ies), like I opted to do.

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Old 09-18-2019, 09:25 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bertola View Post
I just purchased a e-pro 19FD. It has a go power solar controller inside with a roof mounted solar panel. It also has an outside port for an additional portable solar panel. My question is/are: Can I add any solar panel to the system? Does the additional panel need its own controller? I see the connection on the side, Do I need to worry about positive/negative? They want to sell me a $600 Zamp setup, but this seems like overkill.

Thanks,
Craig
I just purchased a geo pro 19FD, same unit as your e-pro, with solar panel on top and the solar on side plug. I had some other questions about the solar controller and the dealer, who admitted she wasn’t very familiar with solar, gave me this contact name at Go Power for assistance: Mark Spillsbury 866-247-6527. He is a very nice guy and very helpful with very detailed explanation for my question. I also asked about using an additional solar panel i had with my previous pop-up camper. It is only a 6.5W panel and since it is mainly for a trickle charge it wouldn’t be of much help. He did mentiion purchasing one of their suitcase type panels for the solar on the side, since it can be helpful to catch the sun if your site is too shady for the roof top panel, but never said anything about needing an additional controller.
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Old 09-18-2019, 09:36 AM   #5
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I would purchase a good panel and make a simple lightweight PVC pipe stand for it so it can be moved when you are in a shaded site. How much you can add to the system will depend on the controller installed. It should list the max current capacity. If you need a new controller due to capacity, I would get one with about 30-40% more capacity than you think you need as it will allow you to expand the system without another controller. There are several types and standards for the connection on the side of your TT. To be safe, I would measure polarity with a volt meter when there is sun on the panel. Also be aware that many installations do not provide heavy enough wire for significant capacity upgrades and you may have to increase the wire size. Before you spend any money on additional capacity, I always suggest you do an actual demand test at a campground with shore power if you need it. This will determine how much capacity you need. You may also need to add additional batteries or upgrade the type. Don't forget to plan for the real possibility of 3-4 cloudy days in a row.
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Old 09-18-2019, 09:37 AM   #6
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I just purchased a geo pro 19FD, same unit as your e-pro, with solar panel on top and the solar on side plug. I had some other questions about the solar controller and the dealer, who admitted she wasn’t very familiar with solar, gave me this contact name at Go Power for assistance: Mark Spillsbury 866-247-6527. He is a very nice guy and very helpful with very detailed explanation for my question. I also asked about using an additional solar panel i had with my previous pop-up camper. It is only a 6.5W panel and since it is mainly for a trickle charge it wouldn’t be of much help. He did mentiion purchasing one of their suitcase type panels for the solar on the side, since it can be helpful to catch the sun if your site is too shady for the roof top panel, but never said anything about needing an additional controller.
01Tundra - has the correct way of installing with a great picture. You need a controller between battery and exterior panel either as a temporary set up on outside or permeant on inside. A 10-20 Amp Controller is sufficient for a 100-150 watt panel.
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Old 09-18-2019, 09:52 AM   #7
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Many of the new e-pro and geo-pro units have a full solar install ( panel, cable and controller) standard. This is a departure from the solar ready ports on many of the TT and 5ers. The external port may or may not be connected to the existing controller and that controller may or may not have additional capacity.
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Old 09-18-2019, 10:01 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Flybob View Post
Many of the new e-pro and geo-pro units have a full solar install ( panel, cable and controller) standard. This is a departure from the solar ready ports on many of the TT and 5ers. The external port may or may not be connected to the existing controller and that controller may or may not have additional capacity.
Correct they have full 100watt solar installed on roof with a controller for that unit only. There maybe ways to add to system that I am not aware of, but for the plug on the side front of trailer, you need to have a controller as wires go directly to battery. If not, you can overcharge battery as a panel can produce 20 volts.
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Old 09-18-2019, 03:19 PM   #9
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You will probably need a 100 watt minimum panel and I would like to ditto on a system that can be moved around so you can follow the sun. I am not sure how effective a 6.5 watt panel is except for maybe charging phones. A suitcase panel is probably more expensive than one panel because of its stow ability and ease of carrying. We do have a Zamp and it is "plug and play" with controller built in. Other companies make them as well but you will need to rewire as they are only adapted to Zamp. Several people on here have done this. They may have already come out with an adaptor for this. 100 plus watt panels can maintain your battery to allow lights, fan for fridge, pump for water and music and charge cell phones provided you have enough sun. If you are thinking about anything more, ie ac, tv or fridge on electric, forget about it. I am not technically up on this but I am speaking from experience. There are many people on this forum that can answer technical questions for you should you need it.
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Old 09-19-2019, 09:26 AM   #10
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some solar ideas

I see Renogy is getting close to $2/watt on their panels.

If you shop you should be able to get close to $1/watt or even lower. Since this is portable and your likely going to be just setting on the ground with a rear leg support, consider a 'scratch and dent' panel; they are usually still guaranteed electrically. If you want serious power and you have the storage, you could go to a 250 or 400W panel, but now you're talking 4-6ft long and about 50#...but you can get close to $0.50/watt on many of those.

A company (or brand) called Zamp tried to capture the RV market with a complete suite of Zamp panels and Zamp accessories that were all turnkey compatible. But they were also prorprietary (sp?). My understanding is that Zamp took the regular MC4 connector which is the standard for the solar industry and reversed the polarity so nothing off the shelf worked with it.

Your outside port on your RV is usually an MC4 but the Polarity could be goofy. Whatever panel you buy, check the polarity on it's plug and on your RV and then use it OR if they're not compatible, transpose the wires on either the panel or the RV. You can get a bag of MC4's for a few bucks, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE DISCONNECT TOOL if you're ever going to cascade panels or add more panels. You could also build a cheap 1 foot "crossover" (neg to pos) MC4 jumper as an adapter and then your panel is still standard.

As stated by others, either upgrade your RV controller (if the total wattage and amperage dictates) or put a separate controller on the outdoor panel. 90% of the off the shelf controllers have a timer and a light output so you now have another connection where you could wire a set of LED outdoor lights or similar. The drain will likely be a fraction of the charge you pulled during a sunny day, but it is a drain (don't use it if you don't want to).

This just basic DC wiring, but note that the panels can wire their cells in series or parallel for bigger systems. So most the small ones, eg. 100W are 18V short circuit current but bigger ones can be 30+ volts for 24V systems. The controllers will be designed for the solar output (12-18V) to 12V conversion via MPT . If you get a deal on, say, a 24V panel or similar, you can get controllers that do the 24V to 12V conversion for you.

Do be careful. Keep a sheet of craft paper or a plastic garbage bag or aluminum foil masking taped to your panel when it's disconnected or you are working on the leads. If you just get it out of the box and start mucking about with connections you can get zapped real good! As long as the MC4's are installed, you can handle it sunlight safely as long as the terminals on the back are insulated.

Good luck, wire strippers, some solar cable, some MC4 cables and a crimping tool (or you can solder) and you can customize a nice system for yourself. Note that if you want to upgrade or cascade later, they make these really nifty "Y" connection MC4's so you can just piggyback panels. Easy to do, but if you do, recalc your currents and voltages and rate your controller accordingly. Be safe.

Pay some attention to the battery bank this is charging. On a sunny day, you really don't want to overcharge your batteries all day and the controllers don't know what to with excess power. A really good controller will have a port for a "dump load" usually a heater or bank of lights to prevent battery damage. At those levels things get a little interesting and expensive. But if you battery bank is really large, it will dissipate the heat with minimal damage.

your mileage may vary...
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Old 10-08-2021, 08:48 PM   #11
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Know this is an older thread but best I could find looking around. Have an Epro 19FBS built late 2019. The outside connector for adding solar shows able to handle 20 watts. Makes one think it is hooked to the controller. When tracing wire can see where it crosses to the other side and over into where the water filter area is and drops underneath going to the back.
I pulled the controller out of the wall and there is just a single cable for solar panel going into it - same type wire. I can see a wire behind bathroom sink going up that way that comes from the rear. Pulled the electrical panel and behind it is a world class rat nest of wires but find same type wire coming from above so assume roof panel. Wondering if they joined those two together somewhere to work off same controller as tag implies. Or ran a wire back that way and never joined them. Hooked portable panel up today and saw no change in amps. I have the gadget to ping the line when get back home to see. Just wondering if anyone else has seen this. Some sound like they didn’t hook them up, did them wrong, wires reversed and such. May just do like others and add another controller and carry feed to battery. Just seems like a waste if done right to start with, but we are talking about RV builders.
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