Eagle HTX 28RSX Solar

[Cenvalleysteel]

Has anyone installed solar utilizing the factory roof wiring on this model? I see lots of posts refering to a sticker indicating where the wiring to the controller should be. I don't see any such sticker on ours. After reading another post I found a solar wiring diagram behind the 12 volt power disconnect panel. There is a wire that says it runs to the roof. It is hot when the disconnect is on. When I metered the wiring on the roof it had no power. This would seem to indicate the wires are probable cut and capped in a wall somewhere. Anybody else got a clue?

[Nathan S.]

Mine was in the wall to the right of the power panel next to the stairs about halfway up the wall, That’s where the sticker was. I’m in an HT and yours is an HTX so there may be a difference. The other thing I can tell you is the wiring was from the roof down the wall to this location, then back up the wall, over the bedroom and then down to the battery box.

[Cenvalleysteel]

Thanks. Can you tell me which HT you have? I can look at the floor plan and see if it is similar. I combed througb dealers photos and found one licture with a sticker on the wall adjacent to the bathroom door. I might be able to pull out the gfi outlet in the bathroom and have a look inside the wall.

[Cenvalleysteel]

Also was the wiring capped off in the wall? This might explain why there is no 12volt power reading at the roof mc4 connectors.

[Nathan S.]

Model is in signature. And yes the wires were capped off, not connected to anything, even at the battery. They were all dead.

[Shokyle1]

I added a panel to my 2018 29.5 bhds. The wires were in the wall above the touch screen control panel by the bathroom door. The wires were not cut or capped in the wall but they were not attached but capped at the roof connector. Had to remove the connector and hook it up. Quite a pain. There are pictures in my album if it helps

[Cenvalleysteel]

Thanks. I just ordered a cheap cable tracer on ebay. Did you have factory Mc4 connectors installed at the roof jack but with Short cables that were capped from the connectors and capped coming up from below? Also is Dymeric sealant compatible with the roof material?

[Cenvalleysteel]

Thanks again. Your floor plan is identical to mine from the pantry cabinet forward. I ordered a cheap cable tracer from eBay just to check.

[Cenvalleysteel]

I apologize. I meant Dicor sealant not dymeric.

[Nathan S.]

I decided to go with Zamp solar equipment for a few reasons. 170w panels that put out 9.4 amps each. Which maximized the 30a wiring installed in the trailer. That was a total of only 3 panels for 510w. So that saved roof space and I could get around up there. That meant I had to pull off the factory solar connection and put in the zamp panel box. All my panels are in parallel. If your going to boondock and not just a battery tender you need to think about this. What’s up there is just a connection to wire in series.

And yes the Dicor is perfect for sealing

You seem to be doing your research, depending on what you want to accomplish with solar depends on what you put in and the battery bank you have. It’s a lot of numbers crunching, but through the first season with it installed, understanding what I can do with the inverter installed, I have yet to carry a generator and gas. It can get expensive, so be forewarned.

[Shokyle1]

I think most people I have seen on here had the wires capped in the wall. I think they may have just messed mine up both wires were not capped or cut in the wall. So I think they just did not hook the wires to the roof connector. Both were capped sitting on top of the insulation .Had to remove it hook up the wires and reinstall it. I used dicor when I resealed it.

[Nathan S.]

One more comment I will make. When doing my research I had pretty much decided on Renogy solar for panels and controller. I didn’t even discover Zamp in my research. I looked at Go Power cause their stickers are all over my Jayco. When I went to the dealership on one of my “investigation” trips I started talking to my salesman. He told me “don’t buy solar from us” do it yourself or find someone who deals in Renogy or Zamp. When a salesman lowers his commission on a sale I listen. Looked into Zamp. They are both excellent products. And Go Power could be just as well and the salesman was just trying to steer me away from his install team because it wasn’t a factory install.

Good luck, I spent months deciding on what I needed, and still made a tweak after initial install. But love not having to plug in, I only loose AC and Microwave when I’m dry camping.

[Cenvalleysteel]

Thanks again. I was considering Renogy equipment myself. We just purchased a Champion 3400 watt dual fuel generator. It will serve two purposes as we got caught up in NorCals "new normal" power shutdowns this year. The generator handles the 15k btu a.c. fine and it is reasonably quiet. I was probably going to put 200 watts on the roof and 200 watts portable for the most options. I also am building a small portable solar generator that should power the tv for a few hours at night.

[Nathan S.]

We have seen some rolling blackouts down here, but nothing like what you guys are experiencing. At some point I know I will need to get a generator and the one you picked is the one on my wish list.

Focus on your battery bank. You want as many amp hours as you can get for the amount you want to spend and the space you can allocate. I ended up with 4 Trojan 6V 225ah in series/parallel. At 50% that gives me 225ah to get through the night. It’s been more than adequate to run the tv, lights and coffee pot in the morning.

[Cenvalleysteel]

I had the same battery setup in our old diesel pusher. I scored four t-105's from a company that manufacturers and sells electric service vehicles kind of like the old Cushmans. One of their purchasing guys had ordered two pallets of them and they didn't fit in the battery compartments. They were only in the warehouse for a month. I bought four of them for $50 each. I have two 115 ah @12 volts now. I will set up the portable solar generator with a third that I can couple to the Jayco. I really only need 250 watts to run the tv so I think a 500 watt msw inverter on the solar gen. should be plenty. Bestek seems to have the best reviews. Although a paw inverter should be used for microwaves and sensitive electronics a maw inverter should work fine for the tv and dvd players as they convert power back to dc internally.

[Cenvalleysteel]

I spent a couple hours tracing wires today. They were similar to Shoykle1's and not terminated at the roof. I have it figured out now. Thanks for the help everyone!

[Cenvalleysteel]

I found this fairly comprehensive resource if you are trying to figure out a solar system. There are links to a bunch of informative free downloads also.

Website = https://solarpanelsvenue.com

[daveobieone]

We have two 300 watt panels in parallel on the roof of our Eagle HT, for 600 watts total.

We have a Renogy 40 amp MPPT charge controller, feeding a pair of Trojan T-105 batteries in series. In direct sun, I get about 37 amps off the panels, so the match is good between them and the charge controller.

We are never wanting for power when we are camping off-grid. Even with fans, lights and the LED TV running all evening, and the Cpap and an air filter running all night the lowest battery voltage we've seen in the morning is about 12.3.

The panels charge us back to 100% by 10am on sunny mornings, and by noon even on cloudy mornings. After that, we have power to burn.

On our 2017 Eagle HT, the wires were all in-place, and all connected. We did NOT need to cut the hole in the wall to connect them. Same for the roof connector. All that was ready to plug and play. I found the wires in the battery compartment ready to hook up to the charge controller, which I mounted right next to the battery compartment, in the front storage compartment.

This was likely a factory mistake, but a happy one for me.

Dave O.

[Cenvalleysteel]

Thanks daveobione. I can see why it is pretty difficult to get info from Jayco and the dealers. Yours is the third different wiring scenario I have heard. With everyones input I pretty much figured it out.

[Xboaters]

Hey neighbor! We live in pioneer just up the hill from you and have a 2019 28RSOK. Our solar wiring was the same as yours with the wires cut in the hallway wall. I had to cut a hole in the wall to reconnect them. We installed the controller in the pass through next to the battery cutoff switch. We too love our solar system as well dry camp a lot.