My first few mods

[kayco53]

Originally Posted by mharrison

I felt safer buying at Home Depot just in case it was damaged it would be easy to return. I hope to get my controller mounted inside like yours and add a second battery sometime. I'm still nervous about drilling holes on a new camper, especially roof. I hate to do anything that could void the warranty but waiting 2 years for upgrades too long.

Thought you might be interested. Quite a few people run the wires up through the fridge roof top vent to avoid drilling some of the holes

[BanjoBob]

Originally Posted by WNC_Camper

Purchased our 2019 224BH about a month ago and since then I have been making small changes to the camper.

The campground we visit the most has no hook ups so I purchased a 100w solar panel and charge controller (Renogy). I plan on eventually placing the panel on the roof and possibly adding a second one. I wasn't sure how the "solar ready" port was wired into the camper but I wanted to use it for its convenience, so here's what I did......

Mounted the charge controller under the queen bed right inside the passengers side access, ran one pair of 10ga marine grade wire from controller to the battery and another to the back side of the "solar ready" port.

I made an extension cable for the panel and can plug it into the port on the camper. This year the solar panel will probably just be set out on a stand till I have time to mount and wire it onto the roof (newborn child occupies a lot of free time).

The other small mod I did was add two USB charging ports in the cabinet next to the factory radio.

Question about the wiring, you did not use the wire from the "solar Ready" port, you just used the bracket?

I bought a solar trickle charger for mine but the solar ready wiring is tied into the trailer wiring, which will keep a draw on the battery, If I disconnect the wires from the battery, it also disconnects the solar ready wiring so I have to use jumpers to connect the solar charger direct to the battery. Not very useful for trickle charging the battery during storage.

[WNC_Camper]

Originally Posted by BanjoBob

Question about the wiring, you did not use the wire from the "solar Ready" port, you just used the bracket?

I bought a solar trickle charger for mine but the solar ready wiring is tied into the trailer wiring, which will keep a draw on the battery, If I disconnect the wires from the battery, it also disconnects the solar ready wiring so I have to use jumpers to connect the solar charger direct to the battery. Not very useful for trickle charging the battery during storage.

I cut the wires on the back of the "solar ready" port, ran new wires from it to the charge controller, and another new set of wires from the charge controller to the battery. (in other words none of the factory wiring is used)

I wasn't really sure how they have the solar ready wired into the camper so I decided to just do it my way.

Hope this helps, if not I can take some pictures tomorrow.

[BanjoBob]

Thanks, no pics necessary. I was confused because the battery would be dead after a day on my little trickle solar panel, the dealer says disconnect the wires from the battery because the Co2 and radio pull from it. I then said, well, the way you have the solar "ready" wired, if I do that, then my panel won't charge. He said to just connect it direct. It just confused me why they wired it that way, maybe to make it fusible or something. I'm installing a disconnect this weekend and I will wire the panel plug direct. Thanks again for the info!