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What is behind the solar ready sticker in wildcat maxx
This is not a question but rather an answer.
I finally got a chance to start installing my solar on my wildcat maxx 262RGX. The first step of this is to install a battery monitor and I wanted to put it where the solar ready sticker is. My charge controller will be going in the forward compartment right next to the batteries since I need to reduce the resistance on the lines that carry 40 amps (max) @ 14 volts (max). In contrast the lines that come from the roof will be only 5.2Amps (max) @ 18V (max) so the existing 10awg wires from the roof will handle that with less than 1% drop.
Anyway, I used a hole saw to cut a 53mm hole right in the center of that wall a little below eye height (about the height of the sticker). Cutting holes when I have no idea what I’ll find always makes me nervous (hence why I am posting this for others). What I found was that I was ~2” above a horizontal stud in a wall space ~3” deep. The solar wires are 10awg (one red, one white) and are inside this wall as they pass from the roof to the storage compartment in front. There was a round hole through the stud on the left hand side (near edge of wall) where the wires pass through the stud vertically. The wires also make a big loop across the width of the wall allowing one to get access to them no matter where they cut into the wall (side to side). For my install, I did not need access to these wires (more on that later) but I did need the ability to pass a new wire down the existing route for the battery monitor.
I had an abortive attempt of pushing a wire fish rod up from the storage compartment through the hole that you see about 30 wires go through at the back of the compartment. It turns out that is not the correct hole. That one sends wires up to the control panel in the living room. The hole I needed has a single pair of 10awg (the solar wires) coming out in the middle (front to back) of the compartment. Attempting to push a wire fish rod up that proved futile as the wires do not go straight up. So I ended up cutting one of the 10awg wires at the hole I cut into the wall next to the bathroom door. I then taped a utility wire on it and pulled it into the storage compartment. That left me with a method of pulling wires from the compartment back to the hole in the wall (using the utility wire). This worked without issue but since the wire for my battery monitor was Cat5E with a RJ45 plug on the end, I had to cut that off to fish the wire though. I went and bought the tools to crimp a new plug on the end but I did not have time to finish the job. If you like, I can supply finished pictures once I complete the job.
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2017 Wildcat Maxx 262RGX with 4x100w solar panels
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