How to Hook up Go Power Solar

[mattf301]

On my 2019 SL 209 there is a connection on the outside for a solar panel connection. Also, on the inside wall near the bathroom there is a sticker that seems to hint that I would hook something up at that spot like a control panel. Dealer isn't sure about this. Should I contact Jayco?

[Justlkn]

The sticker marks the spot where the solar panel wires and battery wires are ran and where you could install your solar controller if you were to get one. You will most likely have an MP4 connection on the roof for panels as well as the plug on the side of the RV. I chose to use the roof and install a 100w panel. Some chose to use the connection on the side and use portable panels.

[Gizmopilot]

Originally Posted by Justlkn

The sticker marks the spot where the solar panel wires and battery wires are ran and where you could install your solar controller if you were to get one. You will most likely have an MP4 connection on the roof for panels as well as the plug on the side of the RV. I chose to use the roof and install a 100w panel. Some chose to use the connection on the side and use portable panels.

Would you be able to add any detail to what you did?

I’m about to hook up panels on my jayco and I noticed that the wiring for the solar at the battery disconnect will need some attention as well.

[Justlkn]

Gizmopilot,

Mine came with the Go Power Solar option. I used a Renogy 100W solar panel and mounted it to the roof. I mounted a Renogy Wanderer -- 30A Advanced PWM Negative-Ground Solar Charge Controller in the spot where the sticker was inside my basement. Because it was on one of the removable panels, I just removed it and located the wires coming from the MC4 connection on the roof and the wires going to the battery. I just ran those to the controller and screwed the controller to the panel. Pretty easy to do. The hardest part was finding the wires as they were rolled up and tucked up high against the floor in the basement. I only use it to keep the battery charged when we had it in storage.

[Gizmopilot]

Originally Posted by Justlkn

Gizmopilot,

Mine came with the Go Power Solar option. I used a Renogy 100W solar panel and mounted it to the roof. I mounted a Renogy Wanderer -- 30A Advanced PWM Negative-Ground Solar Charge Controller in the spot where the sticker was inside my basement. Because it was on one of the removable panels, I just removed it and located the wires coming from the MC4 connection on the roof and the wires going to the battery. I just ran those to the controller and screwed the controller to the panel. Pretty easy to do. The hardest part was finding the wires as they were rolled up and tucked up high against the floor in the basement. I only use it to keep the battery charged when we had it in storage.

Thanks for adding more details!

My 2018 eagle 322rlok came with the same feature, the panel in my hall way with the go power sticker has 2 8awg capped red wires and 1 non cut black 8awg wire. (Photo attached)

I want to put a little more power into my 2 Battle Born batteries (200ah total) I have the whirlpool residential frig and the xantrex 1200/2400 inverter.

I want to mount my victron energy 100/50 in my front storage compartment very close to the battery cut off switch, plus it isn’t made to be mounted in a hall way.

This way I can run 6awg out from the controller to my batteries.

It would look like I will need to connect the 2 red 8awg wires in the hallway and then use the wires that are connected to the 30amp auto/resetting circuit breaker on the back side of my battery disconnect as the inputs to the solar controller and run the positive output (after installing a 60 amp circuit breaker inline) back to the battery disconnect wiring and run a negative wire from the controller back to the negative of the battery monitor (bmv-712)

I’ve attached a picture of my battery disconnect as I received it (I have since corrected the converter wiring to match the wiring diagram, and tightened to sanicon relay nuts, and moved the connections on the circuit breakers so that they aren’t shorted out bypassing the circuit breakers)

What is important for this discussion is how it appears the positive and negative are crimped together and connected to respective 30amp (roof) and 20amp (front) solar panel connections. The wiring sticker says the wires should be tow line charging line and breakway switch power - it doesn’t seem to be that way and the negative wire needs to be connected to the charge controller.

I have called Jayco and they had no answers on the solar wiring at all.

Any thoughts on why the positive and negative wires are crimped together and wired like this from Jayco and if not were the negative wires actually are?

[Jc85]

Apologies in advance for this completely useless post but..

It seems like the Jayco installed solar pre-wiring is absolutely horrendous. I can't imagine a way to make it more difficult to add a feature than to run loads of extra wires, completely unlabeled and have no record or information available to the consumer about them. I mean really guys it's two wires from the roof to the controller and two from the controller to the battery.

Even if you have multiple panels most charge controllers will support up to 50vdc input so you can put 2 in series and still only use 2 wires. Or parallel them on the roof and use 2 wires coming down!

You guys should check out some of the Chinese panels on eBay. Lots of 160+ watt panels for less than $1 per watt and same foot print as the renogy 100w.

[putz]

I just exchanged my ac/furnace control for a wireless unit.
Just above the control is a sticker for the solar control.

BE very careful if you want to cut out the panel. The wires are
pushed up against the wall inside the cutout.

My solar dealer stated the wire is ok for one panel but anymore
and you need larger gauge wires.

[Gizmopilot]

Originally Posted by putz

I just exchanged my ac/furnace control for a wireless unit.
Just above the control is a sticker for the solar control.

BE very careful if you want to cut out the panel. The wires are
pushed up against the wall inside the cutout.

My solar dealer stated the wire is ok for one panel but anymore
and you need larger gauge wires.

Thanks for sharing!

Be careful about the advice from your solar dealer.

The thickness or awg of the wire is more important for the amperage/length of wire vs how many panels.

It seems that most of the Jayco roof prep runs are using 8awg wire and Jayco is rating it at 30amps.

So you just need to make sure not to exceed 30amps when wiring your panels together and use a good mppt solar controller that is rated at the voltage and amperage your panels can put out at open voltage/open current.

My example is 6 renogy 160 watt panels or 960 watts combined.

I will be combining 3 panels in series or 69 volts at 8.88 amps open circuit and wire the other 3 panels the same way and then wire the 2 groups of panels in parallel that will double the amps but keep the voltage the same so less than 18 amps max down to the mppt charge controller located near my batteries and then I am using 6awg wire to the batteries for a short distance.

I’m using a victron energy 100/50 controller and am installing more solar than the controller can put out - 720 watts at 14.4 volts (I have lithium BB).

I am mounting the panels on both sides of my camper roof so neither array of 3 will ever be at a perfect collecting angle simultaneously, but it will be low maintenance which is my larger goal.

[Gizmopilot]

I gave it a shot and reached out to Jayco CS again and I got much more info this time.

I found several black 8awg wires screwed into the a-frame next to my propane tanks - I suspect one of these is the wire from the roof solar prep.

I’ve attached two PDF’s of the email and the included wiring diagram for my camper.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Justlkn

Gizmopilot,

Mine came with the Go Power Solar option. I used a Renogy 100W solar panel and mounted it to the roof. I mounted a Renogy Wanderer -- 30A Advanced PWM Negative-Ground Solar Charge Controller in the spot where the sticker was inside my basement. Because it was on one of the removable panels, I just removed it and located the wires coming from the MC4 connection on the roof and the wires going to the battery. I just ran those to the controller and screwed the controller to the panel. Pretty easy to do. The hardest part was finding the wires as they were rolled up and tucked up high against the floor in the basement. I only use it to keep the battery charged when we had it in storage.

I've got this exact setup, as well-- dealer installed. I wish I had asked more questions about it regarding how they wired it (dealership is 2000 miles away now, installed in Oct), but here are my questions:

1) Further research suggests I'll need 2 more 100 watt panels *at least* to have any real chance to keep batteries charged without a generator. I know the Wanderer is 30 AMP, so it should be able to handle it. Can I just connect the 2 extra panels in series on the roof?

2) The "solar ready" plug-in on the trailer tongue is made for portable panels. What are the chances I can plug in there and have it feed into the system without issue? I would hope the dealership didn't disconnect that feed somewhere...

[BOISEST8]

Thank you for this post! I have a 284BHOK with the controller cutout sticker in the bedroom. Until I saw your post, I hadn't thought about placing the controller anywhere but the manufacturer-selected location. But it makes sense that I could simply trace the wires from there to the battery cutoff switch panel in the front storage compartment. This opens up so many possibilities now--especially since I won't be limited to a flush-mount GoPower or Renogy PWM controller for my lithium batteries. What I think I'll do now is install a Victron battery monitor and inverter remote panel where the controller cutout sticker is, and a MPPT controller and inverter in the front storage.

[Gizmopilot]

With the Wanderer PWM controler you CAN NOT connect the solar panels in series it isn’t meant to handle the higher voltage.

You can replace the controller with a MPPT controller that can handle the higher voltage, and then wire the panels in series - I am installing 6 160 Watt renogy panels with 2 groups of 3 in series and then those 2 groups wired in parallel.

You can connect up to 5 100 watt renogy panels in parallel (based on the specs I found on amazon 5.75 open circuit amps)

Most of the portable solar kits include a pwm solar controller with the panels and on my camper as long as you don’t go over 20amps and 14.4 volts it would be fine - but since I use Battleborn Lithiums I wouldn’t want to use a PWM controller that isn’t configurable for Lithium (not all of the PWM controllers support Lithium including the wanderer)-

What do you have for batteries?

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Gizmopilot

With the Wanderer PWM controler you CAN NOT connect the solar panels in series it isn’t meant to handle the higher voltage.

You can replace the controller with a MPPT controller that can handle the higher voltage, and then wire the panels in series - I am installing 6 160 Watt renogy panels with 2 groups of 3 in series and then those 2 groups wired in parallel.

You can connect up to 5 100 watt renogy panels in parallel (based on the specs I found on amazon 5.75 open circuit amps)

Most of the portable solar kits include a pwm solar controller with the panels and on my camper as long as you don’t go over 20amps and 14.4 volts it would be fine - but since I use Battleborn Lithiums I wouldn’t want to use a PWM controller that isn’t configurable for Lithium (not all of the PWM controllers support Lithium including the wanderer)-

What do you have for batteries?

I've got 1 x100wt panel and 2 x6-volt lead acid batteries. It's enough to run my LED lighting, 12-volt TV for an evening and light the fridge/furnace on propane... but, I would like a little more input without having to charge batts with a generator. I just don't have the room for more than 2 batteries as they're on my trailer tongue rack. This 161 doesn't have any exterior storage boxes to cram batteries inside. I figured more solar input would be better than upgrading to lithium or other batteries first.

It's disappointing to hear I can't add a couple more panels on the Wanderer, figured it could handle it.

[Gizmopilot]

You can add more panels to the wanderer - just not wired in series, wired in parallel - it looks like upto 5 100 watt panels total in parallel.

2 Battleborns would be about equal to 4 6 volt 200ah batteries - but you should switch out the wanderer to one that supports lithium.

How many ah of battery are you using in the evening - you would need enough sunlight / solar capacity to replace what you used up and 5 panels probably would do it.

If you are using more than %50 or about 100ah in the evening you are hurting your batteries and they won’t last very long with that type of demand.

Also when or if you want to go lithium they can and you probably want to install them inside - You probably don’t want them sitting out on your tongue - they may walk ; )

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Gizmopilot

You can add more panels to the wanderer - just not wired in series, wired in parallel - it looks like upto 5 100 watt panels total in parallel.

2 Battleborns would be about equal to 4 6 volt 200ah batteries - but you should switch out the wanderer to one that supports lithium.

How many ah of battery are you using in the evening - you would need enough sunlight / solar capacity to replace what you used up and 5 panels probably would do it.

If you are using more than %50 or about 100ah in the evening you are hurting your batteries and they won’t last very long with that type of demand.

Also when or if you want to go lithium they can and you probably want to install them inside - You probably don’t want them sitting out on your tongue - they may walk ; )

I was getting excited until the outside walking batteries lol. Lots to think about, thanks for the info!

[Gizmopilot]

Originally Posted by BOISEST8

Thank you for this post! I have a 284BHOK with the controller cutout sticker in the bedroom. Until I saw your post, I hadn't thought about placing the controller anywhere but the manufacturer-selected location. But it makes sense that I could simply trace the wires from there to the battery cutoff switch panel in the front storage compartment. This opens up so many possibilities now--especially since I won't be limited to a flush-mount GoPower or Renogy PWM controller for my lithium batteries. What I think I'll do now is install a Victron battery monitor and inverter remote panel where the controller cutout sticker is, and a MPPT controller and inverter in the front storage.

Great choices! - Good luck with your project!

[ccsest]

My 377RLBH came pre-wired, so I went with the recommended brand, Go Power. It was easy to install one 160w roof panel and plug it into the receptacle on the roof. I will be purchasing a 2nd panel, which comes with a Y adapter to add it to the first panel's wiring.

The only trouble I had was that the factory wires were not exactly where the sticker had me install the control panel in my pass thru storage. I removed the entire wall panel, and found the wires a little to the right.

I actually should have removed the wall panel first. It would have been easier to cut the hole for the controller.

[Leedillion]

Gizmo pilot - thanks so much for these. I have been going round and round with Jayco customer service trying to get this information and schematics. Not sure why they are so uncooperative.

[Gizmopilot]

Originally Posted by Leedillion

Gizmo pilot - thanks so much for these. I have been going round and round with Jayco customer service trying to get this information and schematics. Not sure why they are so uncooperative.

Happy to help -

I suspect not everyone who handles the calls understand what is being asked for and how to find it.

It took me a few tries with different people and they all were cooperative but most couldn’t find what I was looking for.

[jnpj6279]

I have a similar setup, I don’t have any way to monitor output for solar. Is there a way to add something.