"Solar Ready" and upgrading battery etc

[Rueckert]

Hi...I am newbie and owner of a new 2018 Greyhawk 26Y

The pamphlet says "solar ready" but what does it mean besides a plug in on roof? where are the other ends of the wiring? I want to use my RV on a remote hunting trip and would like a power upgrade. I was thinking about upgrading battery to a quality AGM and hooking up a second one in the compartment next door in parallel, and maybe using a Zamp suitcase 100 0r 160 suitcase solar to top off....but if "solar ready" means a charger? wiring to top off? inverter? not sure...any help appreciated.

PS...house batter bought with unit doesn't hardly stay charged..maybe fluid low or exhausted in sitting and a bad charge? Anyway...dissapointed in amount of power before dying so thinking at minimum it has to go

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Rueckert

Hi...I am newbie and owner of a new 2018 Greyhawk 26Y

The pamphlet says "solar ready" but what does it mean besides a plug in on roof? where are the other ends of the wiring? I want to use my RV on a remote hunting trip and would like a power upgrade. I was thinking about upgrading battery to a quality AGM and hooking up a second one in the compartment next door in parallel, and maybe using a Zamp suitcase 100 0r 160 suitcase solar to top off....but if "solar ready" means a charger? wiring to top off? inverter? not sure...any help appreciated.


PS...house batter bought with unit doesn't hardly stay charged..maybe fluid low or exhausted in sitting and a bad charge? Anyway...dissapointed in amount of power before dying so thinking at minimum it has to go

A couple of 6v batteries and a 200w suitcase package from Renogy would be a massive upgrade from what you have. I like the new Renogy suitcases with the waterproof charge controller mounted to the back of the panels. Clamp or wire them onto your battery bank, set it in the sun, and tada you are charging. I think it’s hard to beat for a portable package that you can take with you anywhere even w/o the camper. Great company, great customer service.

P.S. the solar ready is a joke, little thin wires that go to your battery tray, no controller and usually thin wire barely up to the task with any serious solar power

[Rueckert]

Ok...why do 6 volt batteries and not 12? and you think the Renology isequal to or better than the Zamp? Why? I heard great things that Zamp is built so tough and waterproof

[GrumpyDad]

2x 6V golf cart style batteries is the cheapest way to get decent capacity, and good reliability.

That's why it's so common.

You really need to be careful with 12V batteries, if you aren't you can end up spending more and getting less amp-hour reserve capacity.

People report good results with Costco golf cart batteries. Trojan is the most well known brand name.

[Oklahoma Dan]

Zamp is made in the USA. Renogy solar panels are not made in the USA. I have two Zamps permanently installed on rv roof for 320. Suitcase is 160 for a total of 480. This charges my 3 AGM 12v house batteries. No need to make anymore campground reservations to plug into anything. I like the quality and performance of Zamp panels.

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Rueckert

Ok...why do 6 volt batteries and not 12? and you think the Renology isequal to or better than the Zamp? Why? I heard great things that Zamp is built so tough and waterproof

As said above, you’ll usually get more amp hours using 2 6v batteries and you have thicker and more plates inside. This makes them last longer and more durable. Aside from lithium batteries which cost a fortune you’ll almost always see a serious battery bank made from 6v batteries. There’s always other ways but when I researched and built my system this is what I found. Any suitcase solar with a built in controller that’s worth it’s weight will be waterproof. If it’s not then it’s useless in my book.
As far as Zamp being built in the USA as opposed to Renogy, meh, I take that with a grain of salt. I buy USA made items when it makes sense, with electronics from reputable businesses, not a priority. Where are all our phones made? How about everything else electronic in your camper, car, house, watch, tablet, laptop, etc, etc.....how about our awesome Honda generators?
I’ve had 400w of permanent mounted panels on my camper with a 4 6v bank on my camper for 2years now. I’m super happy with it.
6 one way, half a dozen the other, go with a good company with a good reputation and you’ll be happy. Renogy has a stellar rep, good prices, and great service so I went with them, to each his own

[Rueckert]

Sounds great thanks...I appreciate the input and also kinda choked on price for Zamp and seems Renology is an industry standard out there...plus as a consumer I take personal referrals with weight vs ads.

as far as tapping a big (or bigger) battery bank into RV....if I did 4 of the 6volts, and hooked with a 12 volt quality agm house battery...could I run a big enough inverter to just run a plug into the rvs 30 amp cable? then all my outlets go live and able to run coffee pot, microwave etc?

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Screwby

P.S. the solar ready is a joke, little thin wires that go to your battery tray, no controller and usually thin wire barely up to the task with any serious solar power

Depends on the model of RV and of solar prep. On my Seneca there was a plug on the roof and 8ga wire running down to the compartment next to the battery compartment with plenty of extra wire to reach a controller. (Red & White wires in the first picture) This saved me a LOT of work on install. I installed a Renogy 400 watt system with a Rover 40A charger. The nice thing with a permanent mounted system is I just turn it on when I bring it out for use and forget it, always on and doing it job. I am using 4 - 6volt Trojan 105's and dry camping the only time we use the genny is to make coffee or run the microwave or AC.

[Mustang65]

What Screwby said!!!
X2

The bottom line is sit down and put together your requirements, 100, 200... watts off SOLAR. Stick with what are the 3 major brands used for RVers: Renogy, Zamp, GoPower (I believe that is GoPower, yes GoPro is a camera).

They all have quality systems, but a wide array of prices/watt. When you are finished calculating your total amount for each of the systems, divide the total $$$ of each system by the total SOLAR panel watts to give you the cost per watt. Go with the best per watt price of the 3.

Batteries, that is a subject that will get a lot of opinions. Again, here you want the MAX Amp hours for your $$$ and a quality mfr. The most common in the RVs are the Trojan brand batteries, although there are a lot of other choices for you. I went with the Trojan T145 6 volt batteries (260Ah), they are on year 6.. hope to get another year or 2 out of them.

The main thing is battery monitoring and maintenance!!!! When those batteries hit 12.2Volts, you shut down your 12Volt side of the house.

Don


My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

Depends on the model of RV and of solar prep. On my Seneca there was a plug on the roof and 8ga wire running down to the compartment next to the battery compartment with plenty of extra wire to reach a controller. (Red & White wires in the first picture) This saved me a LOT of work on install. I installed a Renogy 400 watt system with a Rover 40A charger. The nice thing with a permanent mounted system is I just turn it on when I bring it out for use and forget it, always on and doing it job. I am using 4 - 6volt Trojan 105's and dry camping the only time we use the genny is to make coffee or run the microwave or AC.

Nice setup! My “Solar Prep” package consisted of a small Anderson plug on my front A-frame with puny little 14g wires ran to the battery tray lol

I wouldn’t hook your 6v bank to another 12v battery. A rule of thumb is not to mix and match batteries. Different batteries react differently to charge/discharge and one bad apple can ruin the bunch. Easier to stay simple and use 4 of the same model batteries and ditch the 12v somewhere else. You can definitely run almost anything in your camper aside from your AC with a big enough inverter (you can run AC off solar but that’s a whole different can of worms). You’ll have to sit down and do the math, figuring out anything you’ll want to run and how many amps it will consume. Then you’ll have to figure out how long you’ll use those items so you know how many amp hours you’ll be sucking out of the battery bank. Once you know the average amp hours then you will know how big your battery bank will need to be to survive. Then you’ll know how much solar you’ll need to replenish that battery bank on your worst/average day if you don’t want to use a generator to help. It’s a balance between taking juice and putting it back, it’s a rabbit hole that runs deep lol.

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Mustang65

What Screwby said!!!
X2

The bottom line is sit down and put together your requirements, 100, 200... watts off SOLAR. Stick with what are the 3 major brands used for RVers: Renogy, Zamp, GoPower (I believe that is GoPower, yes GoPro is a camera).

They all have quality systems, but a wide array of prices/watt. When you are finished calculating your total amount for each of the systems, divide the total $$$ of each system by the total SOLAR panel watts to give you the cost per watt. Go with the best per watt price of the 3.

Batteries, that is a subject that will get a lot of opinions. Again, here you want the MAX Amp hours for your $$$ and a quality mfr. The most common in the RVs are the Trojan brand batteries, although there are a lot of other choices for you. I went with the Trojan T145 6 volt batteries (260Ah), they are on year 6.. hope to get another year or 2 out of them.

The main thing is battery monitoring and maintenance!!!! When those batteries hit 12.2Volts, you shut down your 12Volt side of the house.

Don


My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

Dang it Mustang I was typing lol

[Rueckert]

ok...so if I am looking right...I could replace my single 12 volt "house battery" with 2 6 volt Trojan AGM 221 ah batteries (about $250 ea)...and add another 2 with both sets hooked parallel to make 12 volts...then series hook them together...as 1 big 12 volt with a total of 442 am hours? The 200 watt Renology solar charger being about $700 would top them off each day. Ok...now if i run a big inverter? ...can it be the same as my household 15 am extension cord that i just hook into my 30 amp exterior rv cable? and how do I monitor to watch when power drops to 12.2 volts? must need an inside RV voltage meter?

[Rueckert]

I would like to keep my costs to about $2000 max...and simple enough to install and do myself...like the idea of agm for not having to add water and also more weather resistant for cold weather hunting camp camping.

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Rueckert

I would like to keep my costs to about $2000 max...and simple enough to install and do myself...like the idea of agm for not having to add water and also more weather resistant for cold weather hunting camp camping.

The Renogy kit makes it nice because they send everything you’ll need to complete the setup minus some screws and Dicor and or Eternabond tape for waterproofing things (holes in roof from mounting). You’ll either be running an inverter somewhere inside your storage area close to your batteries or inside your rig close to your batteries. The closer the better so you don’t lose power over long distance (and wire gets expensive in long runs lol). I’ve seen inverters wired into the breaker box inside the camper so all your plugs work like normal, or be cheap/lazy like me and I just mounted mine in the front storage compartment and I run an extension cord to anything I need to run that’s 120v for the time needed. I don’t use the microwave boondocking, my inverter is too small and it’s not that important to me. I use the hard wired 600w inverter to run a blender, coffee grinder, toaster, or something else simple I need off a small extension cord. My TV runs off a small 150w inverter that had a 12v cigarette lighter hookup that conveniently powers itself off a 12v input that was factory wired behind the TV (lucky me). All the sound system, lights, awning, water pump, USB ports, and outside lighting is already 12v so it’s good to go and already runs off the battery. I run the fridge off propane as well as the water heater so they are minimal draw just to run the circuit boards. I installed a Micro-Air soft start microprocessor into my air conditioning so I can run my Ac off a small Honda 2200i generator just in case it’s really hot. The generator can also quickly top off the battery bank if it’s super cloudy/rainy/too shady for too long and I’m drawing power faster than I can replace it.
Solar is complicated and simple all at the same time for me. I’m dumb enough to just understand it but not an expert to explain it as good as Mustang. As far as battery monitors they come in all shapes and sizes. Renogy now has Bluetooth in their charge controller so you can download an app, and it tells you everything the solar system is doing and battery voltage (although it’s not near as accurate as a dedicated monitor). Heck I’ll even check mine with a multimeter just to be sure that all are ok. Usually I’ll check the water once a month if not more (it’s easy to do and easy to top them off with some distilled water I keep in a jug). You won’t have to worry about your batteries freezing. As long as you have the camper plugged in or your solar panels aren’t covered in snow and trickle charging the batteries your golden. Batteries being maintained by a converter/solar system won’t freeze from what I’ve researched and mine haven’t yet (it was -22 this winter).
Yes, you’ll have two of the 6v batteries wired together to make a big 12v, and the other two wired together to make another big 12v. Now you have two big 12v batteries to power your rig. Rule of thumb is to take your amp hours and divide by two so you never take your batteries below 50%. So your 442 amp hour bank is safely a 221 amp hour bank. Mine is right around 215 at 50% and it’s been plenty. I’ve gone months without plugging in, we only really do in the winter just to keep batteries topped off without brushing snow and ice off the panels.
Sorry if I’ve rambled, it’s a huge subject that takes lots of research and I’m still learning lol

Edit: if your going with a suitcase then it’s even easier, just lay it out in the sun and clamp it to the battery bank. Sorry forgot that was your plan

[Rueckert]

Yes Screwby...that was my thinking exactly! If I can have a decent size battery bank to keep my fridge (on propane), and run my furnace...lights, pum etc are on the 12 volt systems. Want to run an inverter and thought a single extension cord into unit like under dinette would work to plug in coffee maker etc. My TV I tried with an extension cord to my dashboard and one of those smame triangle inverters into cigarette lighter type plug. I just don't want my furnace not able to run thru the night etc. Right now I can't beleive how quickly my house battery is drained just running nothing but refridge on propane. I appreciate the input....thank you so very much

[Mustang65]

What Screwby said, again!!!

One additional point, you mentioned 200 watts of SOLAR and 442Ah's of batteries. The general rule of thumb is for each Ah of battery you will need 1watt of SOLAR power. Again, this is a rule of thumb.

Oh wait, one more additional... suggestion. I would install an Automatic Transfer Switch. This would automatically switch between Shore-Power and your inverter, should shore power not be available. You would still control the inverter's on/off state, like for storage. Amazon has them for $70 for a 30 amp, which is all you need, since your Shore-Power is 30Amp service. All your 110VAC outlets will be powered by the inverter


As for monitoring your batteries, you can buy monitors from$15 to $200 or more dollars... when you get down to the basics they just track voltage and amps in/out of the batteries. The inexpensive ones are surprisingly accurate.

You still need to address the battery cable size between the batteries and the inverter and the batteries. I went with 0/1 AWG, some would say over kill, I would say bring on the AMPS.

Then you can connect all the wires on a SOLAR control center like mine, see below.

Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Mustang65

What Screwby said, again!!!

One additional point, you mentioned 200 watts of SOLAR and 442Ah's of batteries. The general rule of thumb is for each Ah of battery you will need 1watt of SOLAR power. Again, this is a rule of thumb.

Oh wait, one more additional... suggestion. I would install an Automatic Transfer Switch. This would automatically switch between Shore-Power and your inverter, should shore power not be available. You would still control the inverter's on/off state, like for storage. Amazon has them for $70 for a 30 amp, which is all you need, since your Shore-Power is 30Amp service. All your 110VAC outlets will be powered by the inverter


As for monitoring your batteries, you can buy monitors from$15 to $200 or more dollars... when you get down to the basics they just track voltage and amps in/out of the batteries. The inexpensive ones are surprisingly accurate.

You still need to address the battery cable size between the batteries and the inverter and the batteries. I went with 0/1 AWG, some would say over kill, I would say bring on the AMPS.

Then you can connect all the wires on a SOLAR control center like mine, see below.

Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

Those pictures should be framed as artwork....I also ran heavy gauge wire from my batteries to the inverter. Check out welder power/lead wires, they are super flexible and easier to run than thick standard wire. A bit pricier, but don’t skimp on the important stuff

[Rueckert]

Geez Mustang...now you just scared me away from doing this...I wouldn't have a frickin clue how to wire all that! I was hoping to just hook up some batteries.....and then I guess the suitcase solar with alligator clips to battery terminals....hoped an inverter went from positive and negative battery terminals to a 110 style plug in damn....I want simple haha

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Rueckert

Geez Mustang...now you just scared me away from doing this...I wouldn't have a frickin clue how to wire all that! I was hoping to just hook up some batteries.....and then I guess the suitcase solar with alligator clips to battery terminals....hoped an inverter went from positive and negative battery terminals to a 110 style plug in damn....I want simple haha

It will be that easy, don’t let our resident expert scare you. Batteries wired together, suitcase clipped on to batteries keeping them charged, inverter wired or clipped on powering your big stuff and your golden. Use your app to keep an eye on system and check your battery water on a monthly schedule. Get complicated later after you dip your toes into the water.

[Rueckert]

Thanks again...means a lot!