2015 Roo 23IKSS Solar Panel Question

[Tom48]

I will tell the world, change your bulbs out to LED (you can get them if you search like I did m 10 for $19 bucks and free shipping THEN have a minimum of 2 batteries ( we have three) and then either buy 100 watt solar panel and put legs on it so you can aim it at the sun all day, and wire it as a portable OR buy two like I did and put 200 watts flat on the roof, run the 10 or 12 gauge wire down the refrig vent and wire it to the charge controller and then to the batteries AND NEVER AGAIN worry about battery level while dry camping so long as you do not just go crazy with electrical waste. Solar at WindyNation.com and my CHEAP LEDs at any number of sites that you can find with GOOGLE SEARCH CHEAP RV LED BULBS w FREE SHIPPING. Be Well, Tom

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Summer2Go

Bikendan, what 2 batteries get you through 3 days? Just lights and 2 showers a day?


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Lights, water pump, fridge/water heater electronics and some furnace.
For setting up 2 batteries, go to The 12v Side of Life website.

[Tom48]

The slower the discharge rate, the more actual energy you will get out of your battery before it reaches tolerable discharge level. Thus Two Batteries to share the load will discharge at half the rate EACH and thus will yield more total ampere hour of power. (one incandescent bulb--bad Should be LEDS - but anyway uses about 1.2 amps per hour) several of those pull the battery/ies down relatively rapidly. spread over two batteries you get more than twice the life total because if you discharge the batteries more slowly, they yield more overall output

[Summer2Go]

Should I get a second battery like the one that came with the camper? Or doesn't it matter if they discharge together. I'm not very knowledgable about wiring. I will probably go with a Zamp set of portables, and more battery power. I want "easy" and "simple". I am a little concerned about walking away from the camper with Zamps set up. The cost makes me concerned about theft.


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[Tom48]

Batteries are best if matched pairs matched as to battery and age. Solar is best screwed to the roof Really hard to steal from there. Not sure the Zamp hook ups but put a volt meter on the connectors to be sure you do not reverse the polarity of new battery or of Solar Last weekend, three nights and three and a half days Direct tv going a large numbers of hours on small inverter, the wife's hairdryer for 15 or 20 minutes and the wifes hair curler daily, and charging the laptop every day, all on the big inverter and we came home with full batteries. The solar pulled us Three batteries and 200 watts of solar

[Summer2Go]

Can I get a plug to use the Zamp outlet with different panels than Zamp? The flexible ones look easier to manage, and maybe go on the roof. I just don't want to wire anything, except maybe 2 batteries together.


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[Summer2Go]

And I thought my new Roo had all LED bulbs to begin with. They all look like that with little yellow squares inside. But I think another panel needs a charge controller. Zamp panels come with a controller. So it's plug' play. So then I would have to wire the different panels, if I went there, right?


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[Hicks43]

Originally Posted by Summer2Go

And I thought my new Roo had all LED bulbs to begin with. They all look like that with little yellow squares inside. But I think another panel needs a charge controller. Zamp panels come with a controller. So it's plug' play. So then I would have to wire the different panels, if I went there, right?


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We where told any self supporting panel. Would work just change the plug to match. The panel the Zamp solar isn't cheap

[Tom48]

Just use a volt meter to check polarity. Some said zamp connections are reversed from some other connectors. 10 gauge wire should be plenty if you are mounting upon the roof, up to probably four panels. For 1 100 watt panel, portable, a good qualityr 14 ga. Or even just 16 ga orange extension cord can be cut up and used. 14 if your run is over oh say 50 foot and twelve ga over 100 ft. There are tables for that if you want to be precise. Great to have some freedom from hookups and the gen set.

[Tom48]

The reason to match you batteries is the weaker one can pull the other down, but age very important as one bad cell in an older batt will put the charge controller voltage high all the time and boil the good batt til it goes bad.too. . If your one is fairly new and you match it with a comparable new one, just service them often and if one cell seems to be using more water than the others pull it off and test if you know how or charge it and take to your dealer to have it tested. Interstate battery store or even Autozone will test it for free