Is solar worth it?

hebegebe said:

I have a 2004 hawk that is not wired for solar. After purchase of 2-100W renogy panels and trimetric my challenge is to add a 10ga. solar wire to the roof. I have been searching past threads to find info on adding a wire in the factory fashion without success. Is there a way to get an additional wire along side the fan wire? It would be ideal to hide it but if that is impossible I will run it exposed I guess.

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Mounted 2 x 100W Renogy panels on a Grandby early this summer. This is what I did:

2 panels paralleled to combiner box on roof.
AWG 4 wire from roof to Morningstar TR-45 controller dropped directly from roof to controller on the right front corner of camper (7 foot wire run, < 1% voltage drop).
AWG 4 wire from controller to battery bank (2 x 6V golf cart batteries, 207 amphours)

System runs 12V, 2.1 cu. ft. refrigerator, LED lights, laptop & cell phone charging without problems. Never went below 70% (via Trimetric 2030), even during 90° days. I really like seeing that the wires coming from the roof are not crimping when the top is lowered. I do not use the overhang as a bed, but I don't think the wires hanging on the side would effect using the bed.

In my system, I would have a 3% voltage drop if I had used AWG 10 wire. Used AWG 4 so I can add more solar later without rewiring.
http://circuitwizard.bluesea.com/#

Hope this helps,

jim

Oops, forgot the Maxxfan - used sporatically.

Thanks for the right direction Guys. I called 4wheel, solar pre-wiring is from oct.'05 forward. The ability to fish a solar wire in the same hollow roof joist seems like an impossibility according to their guru. I will figure out a clean way to route the wires and have come up with a clever way to tilt panels in any direction. I have used the calculators on a couple web sites including Renogy and it seems like at less than a 16' run a 10ga. wire is acceptable. What am I missing? Once things are cleaned up I will try and post some pics.

hebegebe said:

.... What am I missing?

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Find the Handy Bob Blog and read thru it. A word of warning, I found it a bit repetitive and slightly painful, but worth the trouble.Then you'll likely understand better what ever compromises that you need to make to be a reasonable install effort.

ntsqd said:

Find the Handy Bob Blog and read thru it. A word of warning, I found it a bit repetitive and slightly painful, but worth the trouble.Then you'll likely understand better what ever compromises that you need to make to be a reasonable install effort.

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Click for Handy Bob Blog.

As other have said slightly painful to read but lots of good stuff.

JaSAn said:

roof assembly.jpg

inside assembly.jpg

Mounted 2 x 100W Renogy panels on a Grandby early this summer. This is what I did:

2 panels paralleled to combiner box on roof.
AWG 4 wire from roof to Morningstar TR-45 controller dropped directly from roof to controller on the right front corner of camper (7 foot wire run, < 1% voltage drop).
AWG 4 wire from controller to battery bank (2 x 6V golf cart batteries, 207 amphours)

System runs 12V, 2.1 cu. ft. refrigerator, LED lights, laptop & cell phone charging without problems. Never went below 70% (via Trimetric 2030), even during 90° days. I really like seeing that the wires coming from the roof are not crimping when the top is lowered. I do not use the overhang as a bed, but I don't think the wires hanging on the side would effect using the bed.

In my system, I would have a 3% voltage drop if I had used AWG 10 wire. Used AWG 4 so I can add more solar later without rewiring.
http://circuitwizard.bluesea.com/#

Hope this helps,

jim

Oops, forgot the Maxxfan - used sporatically.

Click to expand...

Jim,

Your set up looks great and pretty much what I was thinking of except that I'm going with 1 100w panel and 1 battery. I'm only going to be running a Dometic cf-18 off the system so i think that's sufficient. I will be running thicker wire than I need also so that I can add a panel if needed. Thanks for the pics.

hebegebe said:

What am I missing?

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Hebe,

Read Handy Bob, the voice of experience (and electrical engineering) says that 10 gauge is not enough. Thicker wire is pretty cheap compared to everything else in the system and you might as well only do it once. Good luck with your install.

Well reading Handy Bob is like a thousand prayers for one moment of enlightenment. He did say that 5-6% loss from panel to controller is acceptable the sizing from controller to battery is critical to full charge. I adjusted my cable size there.

I agree reading HB is a slog to find those nuggets of wisdom but here is a major one:

"Big wire is cheap compared to the cost of panels, so err on the big side. You can either run big wire or install multiple smaller runs and split the panels up into several feeds. DO NOT tie the wires together at both ends. One wire will always have less resistance & carry more of the load. Find a voltage drop chart and limit your loss from the roof to the batteries to 3%. "

This just fits here. Hope everyone had a great Xmas.

billharr said:

This just fits here. Hope everyone had a great Xmas.

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Nice.