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06-09-2021, 11:26 AM
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#1
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Added 1140 more watts of Solar to our 34KD
We picked up our new rig a few weeks ago and we had the dealer add some more solar panels to it. Its a 2021 DX3 34KD.
6x Go Power 190w panels and 2 60amp regulators.
They changed the two factory panels and controller to only charge the chassis batteries, that way I can Jam out with the JBL speaker upgrade without worry of killing the chassis batteries.
So far we absolutely love the rig and the DD8 is a beast of an engine.
This solar set up has no problem so far running the fridge all night and coffee maker in the morning and has the house batteries back up to full charge in no time.
So far I really like the new seats, on our first outing, I was driving for 9 hours each day and felt very comfortable.
A few little things I had to fix that broke during our trip but no big deal, all apart of a new RV.
Flat towing a Jeep Wrangler with a blue ox and air force one set up.
In July we will be doing a 21 day road trip from CA to KY and will be towing my 22' car hauler back with us. I can't wait to see how well the rig does in the mountains loaded down!
Very excited for the Western Gathering and can't wait to meet some of yall!
-Jetguy in California
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06-09-2021, 11:59 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 998
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Very nice, what size battery bank do you have?
__________________
2019 FR3 33DS Motorhome
650 Watts Solar, 400Ah LIFEPO4, 2000 Watt Inverter, 40A DC/DC Charger, SumoSprings, Roadmaster Steering Stabilizer, BlueOx Trac Bar, Truma AquaGo WH, NVIDIA Shield TV
Days Camping
2019 57:2020 20:2021 30:2022 46:2023 47:2024 7
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06-09-2021, 12:04 PM
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#3
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robo44
Very nice, what size battery bank do you have?
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Right now just the factory 2x 4D AGM's, so 400ah. We want to use the rig more to see if more additional batteries will be needed for our set up.
As of now, no plans for lithium's.
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06-09-2021, 12:17 PM
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#4
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 88
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I still see some real estate left open on the roof, needs more Solar panels! Lol
Looks great, enjoy. Nice color.
__________________
2019 Forester 2861DS E-450 sold
Camper less for now.
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06-09-2021, 12:22 PM
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#5
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Kanadian Kamper
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Southern Ontario
Posts: 8,168
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I’ll bet ConEd is missing your customer bill being paid when you go camping.
__________________
Ken and Terry
2018 Sunseeker 2430S-CD, nicely modified and carried by a 2017 Ford E450 Sport
Former Georgetown 330TS owner for 10 years with more mods than I can count, pushed by our 2017 GMC Terrain
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06-09-2021, 12:31 PM
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#6
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicken Corners
I still see some real estate left open on the roof, needs more Solar panels! Lol
Looks great, enjoy. Nice color.
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lol I was originally only going to add 4 panels but then last minute changed it to 6. I have enough solar controller power to add two more, but not sure if I will ever need to.
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06-09-2021, 12:34 PM
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#7
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenandterry
I’ll bet ConEd is missing your customer bill being paid when you go camping.
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lol more solar on this rig than my house
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06-09-2021, 12:34 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 907
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetguy
We picked up our new rig a few weeks ago and we had the dealer add some more solar panels to it. Its a 2021 DX3 34KD.
6x Go Power 190w panels and 2 60amp regulators.
They changed the two factory panels and controller to only charge the chassis batteries, that way I can Jam out with the JBL speaker upgrade without worry of killing the chassis batteries.
So far we absolutely love the rig and the DD8 is a beast of an engine.
This solar set up has no problem so far running the fridge all night and coffee maker in the morning and has the house batteries back up to full charge in no time.
So far I really like the new seats, on our first outing, I was driving for 9 hours each day and felt very comfortable.
A few little things I had to fix that broke during our trip but no big deal, all apart of a new RV.
Flat towing a Jeep Wrangler with a blue ox and air force one set up.
In July we will be doing a 21 day road trip from CA to KY and will be towing my 22' car hauler back with us. I can't wait to see how well the rig does in the mountains loaded down!
Very excited for the Western Gathering and can't wait to meet some of yall!
-Jetguy in California
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So how much total wattage do you have? I see the six 190 volt panels. What are the other two? How much amperage are seeing at peak sun being fed to your battery bank? Beautiful setup!
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06-09-2021, 12:41 PM
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#9
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GravelRider
So how much total wattage do you have? I see the six 190 volt panels. What are the other two? How much amperage are seeing at peak sun being fed to your battery bank? Beautiful setup!
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Total wattage is 1340w.
6 added panels and 2 factory 100w panels.
I haven't had a chance to really put the solar through its paces yet. By the time I checked the Bluetooth controller stats in morning on our first trip everything seemed to be fully charged and on a float charge. At the end of the month we are taking the rig out for a week, we will be in cool weather in San Diego and won't need to run the generator or ac, so that will be the real world 5 day test.
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06-09-2021, 12:52 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 907
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetguy
Total wattage is 1340w.
6 added panels and 2 factory 100w panels.
I haven't had a chance to really put the solar through its paces yet. By the time I checked the Bluetooth controller stats in morning on our first trip everything seemed to be fully charged and on a float charge. At the end of the month we are taking the rig out for a week, we will be in cool weather in San Diego and won't need to run the generator or ac, so that will be the real world 5 day test.
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That's some serious solar! What battery monitor are you using?
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06-09-2021, 01:21 PM
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#11
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GravelRider
That's some serious solar! What battery monitor are you using?
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We have two of these for the added solar panels. Its the controller and regulator system, and transmits via Bluetooth all of the info to my phone or ipad.
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06-09-2021, 03:25 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 379
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetguy
We picked up our new rig a few weeks ago and we had the dealer add some more solar panels to it. Its a 2021 DX3 34KD.
6x Go Power 190w panels and 2 60amp regulators.
They changed the two factory panels and controller to only charge the chassis batteries, that way I can Jam out with the JBL speaker upgrade without worry of killing the chassis batteries.
So far we absolutely love the rig and the DD8 is a beast of an engine.
This solar set up has no problem so far running the fridge all night and coffee maker in the morning and has the house batteries back up to full charge in no time.
So far I really like the new seats, on our first outing, I was driving for 9 hours each day and felt very comfortable.
A few little things I had to fix that broke during our trip but no big deal, all apart of a new RV.
Flat towing a Jeep Wrangler with a blue ox and air force one set up.
In July we will be doing a 21 day road trip from CA to KY and will be towing my 22' car hauler back with us. I can't wait to see how well the rig does in the mountains loaded down!
Very excited for the Western Gathering and can't wait to meet some of yall!
-Jetguy in California
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With that solar setup you should be able to backfeed power into any RV campsite and pay for the stay
I would highly recommend to go with Lithium battery's and at least 800AMP.
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06-09-2021, 03:55 PM
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#13
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msusslin
With that solar setup you should be able to backfeed power into any RV campsite and pay for the stay
I would highly recommend to go with Lithium battery's and at least 800AMP.
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If I was trying to add another inverter or two to run the AC's off battery power I would absolutely consider lithium's. Right now my old school experience says just add two more AGM's if I needed more battery capacity. These next few months of trialing out the system will give me a great baseline.
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06-09-2021, 04:09 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 907
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msusslin
With that solar setup you should be able to backfeed power into any RV campsite and pay for the stay
I would highly recommend to go with Lithium battery's and at least 800AMP.
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At least 800 amps!? There's quite a good chance he doesn't need that much. I'd suggest he do a usage audit before committing to a battery bank that large.
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06-09-2021, 08:11 PM
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#15
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Trailer Park Supervisor
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,564
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You should have gone full nuclear.
__________________
2019 Rockwood Geo Pro G19FD w/off road package
2015 Ford F150 XLT Super Cab 4x4 V8
Yes, I drink the water!
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06-10-2021, 03:41 PM
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#16
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJKris
You should have gone full nuclear.
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lol my DW may not approve going that route
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06-10-2021, 03:46 PM
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#17
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Trailer Park Supervisor
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,564
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Just a few more bucks. Go for it! You're not supposed to include wives in these decisions anyhow!
__________________
2019 Rockwood Geo Pro G19FD w/off road package
2015 Ford F150 XLT Super Cab 4x4 V8
Yes, I drink the water!
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06-10-2021, 04:06 PM
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#18
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: North of Seattle, WA
Posts: 17,330
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicken Corners
I still see some real estate left open on the roof, needs more Solar panels! Lol
Looks great, enjoy. Nice color.
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If he covers the entire roof first, the factory roof will never deteriorate from sun damage and also, he could add an electric motor to the drive train and make the rig a Diesel/Electric Hybrid.
__________________
"A wise man can change his mind. A fool never will." (Japanese Proverb)
"You only grow old when you run out of new things to do"
2018 Flagstaff Micro Lite 25BDS
2023 f-150 SCREW XLT 3.5 Ecoboost (The result of a $68,000 oil change )
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06-10-2021, 04:50 PM
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#19
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 94
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJKris
Just a few more bucks. Go for it! You're not supposed to include wives in these decisions anyhow!
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She doesn't know that I added more solar to rig, figured add it before we took delivery so she wouldn't notice the RV missing lol. Lucky for me I doubt she will be doing any maintenance on the roof. As she says boys and their toys.
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06-10-2021, 05:42 PM
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#20
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: North of Seattle, WA
Posts: 17,330
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJKris
You should have gone full nuclear.
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Flux Capacitor!
__________________
"A wise man can change his mind. A fool never will." (Japanese Proverb)
"You only grow old when you run out of new things to do"
2018 Flagstaff Micro Lite 25BDS
2023 f-150 SCREW XLT 3.5 Ecoboost (The result of a $68,000 oil change )
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