Eagle HT 26.5BHS solar question

[mtedelen]

Can anyone confirm if these positive/negative cables are for the rooftop solar hookup? When we bought the trailer they were hooked up to the battery if I remember correctly. I thought I read somewhere they were. They have been disconnected ever since I relocated my batteries, but getting close to adding a couple roof top panels so just want to clarify.

[Cdash]

Do you have "solar on the side"? It would be a plug that is under the overhang on the drivers side.

On mine, that is what those wires were for. Haven't confirmed the location of the roof top solar yet, but suspect that those end in the wall where they want you to mount the controller.

[mtedelen]

Originally Posted by Cdash

Do you have "solar on the side"? It would be a plug that is under the overhang on the drivers side.

On mine, that is what those wires were for. Haven't confirmed the location of the roof top solar yet, but suspect that those end in the wall where they want you to mount the controller.

I do have solar on the side. The wires in the photo are 8ga so I thought they might be for the roof. If you look at the photo just to the right and down there is a small hole cut out with what looks like maybe 12ga red/black. I thought those might be for solar on the side. When I bought the trailer they were connected to the battery, not sure why.

[mtedelen]

Originally Posted by Cdash

Do you have "solar on the side"? It would be a plug that is under the overhang on the drivers side.

On mine, that is what those wires were for. Haven't confirmed the location of the roof top solar yet, but suspect that those end in the wall where they want you to mount the controller.

I had also assumed that the roof top solar would terminate at the battery, but from your thoughts Im guessing the rooftop solar terminates at the breakers in the bottom photo, and charges the battery that way? And then that would make sense that the coiled up cables are for the solar on the side as you mention.

[Rusty_jigawahowski]

So in my battery compartment, I have a switch right next to where the battery box vent hose is. Any idea what that might be for?

[mtedelen]

Originally Posted by Rusty_jigawahowski

So in my battery compartment, I have a switch right next to where the battery box vent hose is. Any idea what that might be for?

That switch turns the back up camera on or off..... or at least it does in mine.


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[Rusty_jigawahowski]

mine isn't equipped with the camera. I'll have to see where the wires run I guess. I wondered if it was some sort of kill switch for the solar panels maybe?

[mtedelen]

Originally Posted by Rusty_jigawahowski

mine isn't equipped with the camera. I'll have to see where the wires run I guess. I wondered if it was some sort of kill switch for the solar panels maybe?

What model trailer do you have? Maybe it's pre-wired for a camera? Is there a decal on the inside of the battery door that indicates camera ready or anything?


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[Rusty_jigawahowski]

2016 eagle HT 26.5bhs. It is pre wired for the camera according to the paperwork, but I can't find any mention of the switch is the manuals.

[mtedelen]

Originally Posted by Rusty_jigawahowski

2016 eagle HT 26.5bhs. It is pre wired for the camera according to the paperwork, but I can't find any mention of the switch is the manuals.

Ours is a 16 as well and no mention of the camera in my manual. I'd bet that's what the switch is for.

Do you have those same wires going over the front wall?


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[Rusty_jigawahowski]

I believe so, but I will double check tomorrow and snap a few quick photos!

[mtedelen]

Originally Posted by Rusty_jigawahowski

I believe so, but I will double check tomorrow and snap a few quick photos!

Awesome thanks!!


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[Cdash]

I have the switch in mine too, it is the pre-wire for a backup camera. My understanding is that is sends power to the backup camera when installed. I believe in 15 it was a dealer installed thing as opposed to a factory option. You can install a backup camera and tie into the blank wire controlled by the switch.

Solar - here is what I have pretty much figured out on mine - no guarantee that yours is the same. I had the same two wires connected to my battery. I found that those two wires are the solar on the side wires. If you have them hooked up, you will have 12v power across the two terminals on the solar on the side connector. Easy to verify if you have a voltage meter. Those wires, from the battery, go up into the very front of the trailer. I suspect that is where they run over to the other side whet the solar connector is (and conveniently change colors on mine).

On a quest to find the roof top solar wires, I pulled my thermostat so I could look into the wall. This is right where I have the sticker on the inside that tells you where you are "supposed to" install the charge controller. Inside the thermostat hole I could see a really thick gauge red wire that was bent over on itself. I couldn't get it pulled out of the small hole to verify that it was an end, but I suspect that it was. I also pulled the basement wall out to look for a similar thick gauge wire coming into the basement under this area and found nothing. That lead me to suspect that the roof top wiring terminates inside the wall and the installer needs to supply the wiring from here to the battery area.

There is a chance that it is tied into the other wires, but I never went up in the roof to verify voltage across the roof terminals. I plan to do that this spring as I'm considering putting 2 panels up on the roof, in addition to my 2 portable panels. I expect however that it is not connected.

I will warn you, in case you don't already know, that if you intend to use the solar on the side, you need portable panels that have a built in "controller" for the way it comes wired. The other alternate, is to slightly modify the wiring to install a charge controller, which allows you to use regular, and much cheaper, panels.

I'm pretty sure that I've previously posted how I wired mine up to do this. If you look up my past posts, you should find it.

[mtedelen]

Originally Posted by Cdash

I have the switch in mine too, it is the pre-wire for a backup camera. My understanding is that is sends power to the backup camera when installed. I believe in 15 it was a dealer installed thing as opposed to a factory option. You can install a backup camera and tie into the blank wire controlled by the switch.

Solar - here is what I have pretty much figured out on mine - no guarantee that yours is the same. I had the same two wires connected to my battery. I found that those two wires are the solar on the side wires. If you have them hooked up, you will have 12v power across the two terminals on the solar on the side connector. Easy to verify if you have a voltage meter. Those wires, from the battery, go up into the very front of the trailer. I suspect that is where they run over to the other side whet the solar connector is (and conveniently change colors on mine).

On a quest to find the roof top solar wires, I pulled my thermostat so I could look into the wall. This is right where I have the sticker on the inside that tells you where you are "supposed to" install the charge controller. Inside the thermostat hole I could see a really thick gauge red wire that was bent over on itself. I couldn't get it pulled out of the small hole to verify that it was an end, but I suspect that it was. I also pulled the basement wall out to look for a similar thick gauge wire coming into the basement under this area and found nothing. That lead me to suspect that the roof top wiring terminates inside the wall and the installer needs to supply the wiring from here to the battery area.

There is a chance that it is tied into the other wires, but I never went up in the roof to verify voltage across the roof terminals. I plan to do that this spring as I'm considering putting 2 panels up on the roof, in addition to my 2 portable panels. I expect however that it is not connected.

I will warn you, in case you don't already know, that if you intend to use the solar on the side, you need portable panels that have a built in "controller" for the way it comes wired. The other alternate, is to slightly modify the wiring to install a charge controller, which allows you to use regular, and much cheaper, panels.

I'm pretty sure that I've previously posted how I wired mine up to do this. If you look up my past posts, you should find it.

Ok great thanks for the info. Im aware that if I use solar on the side whichever panel I choose will need to have a charge controller. I will most likely end up going with roof top first as Im looking for a way to keep my batteries charged so that I don't have to take them out of the trailer when not in use. I'll probably end up with a portable unit later however.

I do have a multimeter, but unfortunately I have not yet lengthened the cables to make it to my re-located battery compartment so would be tuff to check the voltage. I was thinking however I could use a wire tracer, something like this:

Sperry Lan WireTracker Tone and Probe Wire Tracer-ET64220 - The Home Depot

It will only work on continuous runs of cable not running through a breaker, but could be a useful tool.

My wired for solar is in the same spot as yours, right by the thermostat. Im guessing that the wires for solar that run behind the wall are already cut just as you suggest, but I could hook the toner up, remove the thermostat, and see if I an reach the cable ends behind the wall...or so I'm thinking, but probably a pretty small hole?

One of the reasons this forum is so great..... I hadn't even thought of removing the thermostat to be able to peek behind the wall. Thanks for the tip Cdash!!!

[Cdash]

I was suggesting that you could hook up the wires to the battery, then test across the two terminals on the solar on the side connector. If you have 12v power, then disconnect the wires from the battery and check again. If you have 0 volts, then you are confirmed. To check continuity along a wire, I have used a set of jumper cables from time to time to act as an extension. Kind of big, but accomplishes what I need. I've also spilled out 12ga write and had a helper hold that to the wire I'm checking.

That wire tracer looks pretty cool. If you get it, let me know how it works!

Thermostat hole is small, little bit bigger than my thumb. If you end up taking the wall apart without breaking anything, please share how you do it!