Looking for advice for wiring solar on Rockwood A122SESP

[sonofergustofson]

As a proud owner of our first new-to-us Forest River product, I hope you'll excuse any beginner's mistakes in my post. I have a 2019 Rockwood A122SESP A-Liner with "Solar on the Side." After doing to research, I purchased a Renogy 100W panel and charge controller start up kit to install on the roof. I found what I think are the wires coming from the solar plug housing on the roof coming down at the hinge beneath the flap at the front of the unit and into the cabinet beneath the table bench seat that contains the water heater, furnace, and fuse panel. That wire (two thick gauge wires connected, white and white/black) is connected to similar wire by wire nuts that runs back under the trailer and back toward the inverter. Here are my questions:
1. Does that wire run to the battery?
2. If so, can I just disconnect the wire nuts and connect my charge controller to this wire with the wire that presumably runs to the battery connected to the battery terminals of the controller and the wire running from the roof into the PV terminals of the controller? (I tried this and it doesn't seem to work)
3. Do I need to run new wire out to the battery from the charge controller (and just ignore the wires that run back to toward the inverter)?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[bikendan]

Moved thread from the Tech and Repair section to the A-frame Campers sub-forum for better help from other A-frame owners.

OP, "A-Liner" is the brand name of a different A-frame trailer manufacturer, not Forest River.

 

[Colorado-A-Frame]

As a proud owner of our first new-to-us Forest River product, I hope you'll excuse any beginner's mistakes in my post. I have a 2019 Rockwood A122SESP A-Liner with "Solar on the Side." After doing to research, I purchased a Renogy 100W panel and charge controller start up kit to install on the roof. I found what I think are the wires coming from the solar plug housing on the roof coming down at the hinge beneath the flap at the front of the unit and into the cabinet beneath the table bench seat that contains the water heater, furnace, and fuse panel. That wire (two thick gauge wires connected, white and white/black) is connected to similar wire by wire nuts that runs back under the trailer and back toward the inverter. Here are my questions:
1. Does that wire run to the battery?
2. If so, can I just disconnect the wire nuts and connect my charge controller to this wire with the wire that presumably runs to the battery connected to the battery terminals of the controller and the wire running from the roof into the PV terminals of the controller? (I tried this and it doesn't seem to work)
3. Do I need to run new wire out to the battery from the charge controller (and just ignore the wires that run back to toward the inverter)?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Congratulations on your purchase! We fell in love with A Frame pop-ups years ago and just went down the path your headed down.

First…to clarify, do you currently have solar on the roof? Or just a roof top connection? Maybe a picture would help?

Or are you talking about the SAE plug labeled “solar ready” on the side of the unit?

Either way, ours is a 2018 with factory solar. The solar went from the roof top solar panel to a solar controller mounted by the door. From there went to the battery via the same type wires you are describing.

The SAE plug on the front went straight to the battery.

I’m happy to help you with this and answer any questions you might have. Couple things to note…sounds like you’ve already purchased a solar panel kit? Do you intend to mount it to the camper or use it separately?

Post some pictures to help…this forum is a wealth of information!