377RLBH and Solar Ready

[Dustin.Ford]

Hey guys, new owner of the 377RLBH. I will be fulltiming and boondocking 2x2 weeks at a time. Looking to use the prewired solar system. I am wondering if the Renogy 400 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Starter Kit with Wanderer will work as simple as plug and play.? I have read all prior posts about solar in our Jayco facebook page and didn't find what I was looking for, so I am here to see what info y'all got. I am trying to keep it simple and order all necessities from Amazon. ANY AND ALL advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Mustang65]

Some of the members have Renogy systems and I am sure that they will be more than happy to answer your questions.

We have a RVing with SOLAR social group and JMOONEY one of the members has a few posts and pictures there

Don

[Cdash]

3 questions for you:

What do you have for batteries now (or plan to have)?

Are you doing the install yourself?

Have you looked at the roof to see where you would put them?

Battery capacity will help determine if your you're solar plans are "right sized" and roof install location helps determine if the panels you are looking at will fit where you want to put them.

[Dustin.Ford]

Thanks I'll look for that

[Dustin.Ford]

Thanks for the response.
-I was going to ask around about what batteries where the best for dry camping.
-I will not install myself. (I want it done correctly)
- yes I have looked at the location for them on the roof.
I have read. A few hours of the ideology of solar and I'm at the point of asking now. I do not have access to look in depth at the solar on the rig to know what connections are necessary.

[Jmooney]

Renogy has some great priced entry level solar systems that will help maintain good charge on your battery arrays.

The size ( wattage ) is dependant on the amount of DC amps you use.

I have a small 600w inverter that I use to run my TV for example,; have converted all my lights to LED bulbs, and am careful to not consume DC power when it's not needed.

If you do the math, a 19volt 200w solar array can likely charge your battery at 14.4 volts @ around 12 amps per hour ( peak sunlight of 6 hours ) or close to 72 amps .

If you have a typical, single 12v battery, rated at 80 amp hours, you should never really drain more than 50% of that, or 40 amps to minimize damage to the battery.

So you could add a second 80 amp battery in parrellel and have a pretty robust, off grid type of system capable of producing 72 amp hours per day, recharging from 200w of solar



Your power consumption habits are the real key, along with location of the solar panels and ability to take on peak sunlight.

Pic of my system under my profile

[Dustin.Ford]

Thanks.

[Subaru297]

I think the pre-wired units are limited to around 20 amps. If you use the 400 watt 12 volt panels you refer to you will exceed that limit.
Using "12 volt" panels you would max out around 250 watts.
If you need more solar power than that you will need to up the voltage by wiring those panels in series or by getting high voltage panels. But then you will need an MPPT charge controller.
Also the pre-wired units is just a wire run from the roof to a, hopefully, accessible location near the batteries. The end user will still need to add breakers or fuses, disconnects, and a charge controller.

If you go high voltage to your charge controller you will need to upgrade the wiring to the batteries as your amps will be increased out of the controller.

Cheers

[Dustin.Ford]

I will have to see what cable Jayco threw into those Northpoints to call it "pre wired" but with a cable already in place it will be smile to install an upgraded cable to provide for more amps and reduced loss. Thanks.

[klassic]

They put in an 8ga for the roof solar and a 30 amp breaker