Adding Solar to a 2017 31DS

[COClassyRV]

After seeing how well solar works on a new Rockwood travel trailer we have, we would like to add solar to our 2017 31DS.

It's "pre-wired for solar" but there is no information in the manuals I have (we purchased the coach used in 2018). There are solar panel connectors on the roof and I assume the wiring runs to under the master bed where my fuse panels and inverter are mounted. Am I on the right track so far?

I only have one house battery on a slide drawer with no room for additional batteries. I do however, have a cargo door that leads to no where and thinking I would weld a rack for additional batteries in this location.

Any information, experience or advice for adding solar to a 2017 31DS is greatly appreciated!

[Joey55]

There are so many options for solar that you might be better off to google search it and include install in the search. The prewired solar wires don't allow for much solar as the wiring can't handle a large load. So you have so many choices starting at just charging the house batteries to adding a bank of batteries that will power the entire coach including AC.

[Hbrand]

The wires from the roof are routed to where the house batteries are.
I will install 2 100AH Renogy heated batteries instead of the acid ones, install LI converter - charger, 4 100W Renogy solar panels on the roof, one solar charge controller with Bluetooth module, connected to the solar panels and to the batteries.
This will do the refrigerator when on gas, all the TV's, USB charging, lights, fans.
Greetings, Harold

[COClassyRV]

Originally Posted by Hbrand

The wires from the roof are routed to where the house batteries are.
I will install 2 100AH Renogy heated batteries instead of the acid ones, install LI converter - charger, 4 100W Renogy solar panels on the roof, one solar charge controller with Bluetooth module, connected to the solar panels and to the batteries.
This will do the refrigerator when on gas, all the TV's, USB charging, lights, fans.
Greetings, Harold

Thank you for the helpful information!

[ARoamer]

Originally Posted by Joey55

The prewired solar wires don't allow for much solar as the wiring can't handle a large load.

The Solar on the side SAE plug is only good for 20A, the roof wiring is 10 gauge which is good for 30A.
BUT, if you have a decent charge controller and hook panels in series you can run higher voltages to the controller which will output well over 30 amps to your batteries. Example-
I have 2- 320watt roof mounted watt solar panels, each at 33.5v, 9.5A wired in series, so output is 67V @ 9.5 amps which is well below the factory 10 gauge wire capacity. My controller, a victron MPPT 100/50 can handle 100 volts of solar and output up to 50A to my batteries. The controller needs to be mounted close as possible to your batteries as a heavier gauge wire is needed to handle the higher amp output. (see actual screen shot of output of my controller below)

SO, if you do install and mount your controller as Jayco recommends it will limit your solar power available to 30 amps.

Set up properly you could easily get 70 amps to your batteries using the factory 10 gauge solar wires.

Voltage travels more efficiently in wiring over distances than amps do, example is utility company pushing thousands of volts over transmission lines.

[mini4mw]

First, solar is not too complicated, but you do have some learning if you don't know much about electricity. Really need to do some research, have an idea how much power you need and then find the solution. lifep04 is the way to go if you are planning for the power to sustain you on a trip, but lots of things to know there, like possibly changing out the converter.

I'd go with Victron over Renogy. Most expensive, but they have shunts, chargers, battery temp sensors (if batteries are not heated - can't charge lifep04 when below 32F) that all work together with a single app that easy to read. The Renogy app is horrible. I also had some hardware issues with Renogy.

First thing is to figure out how much power you need. Then when planning, remember you won't have sun all the time (perhaps not for a full day if raining) and perhaps much shorter times if you are around trees.