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I'm not 100% sure on why the lines would not be energized. I would put a 12 volt battery and hook it up to your camper and then try your measurements again. I also wonder why you would not have an isolator from the factory. Did you request that? You can order just the wiring from the factory...

I have a front dinette grandby as well. Picked it up October 2015. I did not have a battery with it but added my own. My factory isolator is actually in the underseat area of the front dinette on the drivers side. Here is the link of how I put it together. Hopefully it is helpful to you...

The first picture does appear to be the solar wires. The second picture looks like the wires to hook to your batteries. I am not sure where your battery isolator is - it depends on the dinette choice you have - is this a front dinette model?

We camped with our 4 kids in a hawk for some time. It all worked out fine, despite what others say. That's certainly not the same as full timing it for sure. I imagine their family is having the time of their lives.

The charging of lead acid batteries is not a linear relationship when you are considering amps and volts. Early in the charging cycle, lots of amps can be pushed in at a lower voltage. My system would often show 12.8 volts and 15-18 amps when it is charging after previously being discharged...

Hopefully your solar can keep up with your batteries during the summer hours. If not as you drive your truck there will also be charging to the batteries as well. The third option is the generator. I would run it through your AC converter in the camper - just plug it in like you would at home...

Makes sense given the number of our members that had a hard time with those panels. Hopefully they can redesign these in a way to overcome the failures. It's a great idea just awaiting some better engineering.

I really liked Alaskan, Hallmark and XP. XP didn't have a camper for my truck yet (no V3 model). The cost of Alaskan and Hallmark were $10,000+ more than my new FWC. I do admit the quality of both of their products are hard to argue with and probably worth the extra money. But FWC makes a...

Great install and details. How many amps does your trimetric show when you are charging from your truck? Always curious to compare from my truck with FWC installed connections to truck battery

I would love to see how they could figure out an A/C with the front dinette. I'm not sure how that would work unless they added the unit in the back on the drivers side. It would not fit on the other side unless you removed cabinets.

Rusty, Nice work. Hope that gives you years of good power! Looks like you did a quality job - and at 160 watts it should give you plenty of power.

I know that you can order the entire window from FWC. They will ship the entire window to you and you could replace it that way. Or maybe consider a window business close to your home?

Drew, When I looked at Alaskans previously, I frequently ran into fit problems especially with my chevy. If I had to guess, I would think that it would not fit unless you modified it. A call to Brian at Alaskan will let you know for sure.

Florida, That is one good looking camper. You have a great camper setup. I love the flat bed Alaskan's that Brian does. My father has a 10 ft flatbed and it's a wonderful setup. Enjoy!

The best way to overcome some of your issues may be to have both a portable and a fixed panel. Large Hard Panel on the roof and a flexible panel for the portable one. Best of both worlds. You can deploy the portable panel and easily tilt it when you need extra power. I have found that my...

This website does contain lots of great resource on custom solar setups. I've done several of them and get a little better every time I do one. Just a couple of pointer on your setup. Figure out how much energy you need and plan for 2-3 days of battery coverage with no sun. Batteries don't...

Florida, Any pictures of the inside of your camper? Not too many flat bed alaskans out there.

Florida, When did you take delivery of your camper? At $80,000 was it a V1 model?

Used FWC that are only a few years old do hold their value exceptionally well. I would price out all of the options for a new one with the same configuration and then deduction $2000-$3000. With spring coming around, it would probably sell pretty quickly in the next few months. I've bought...

What a wonderful trip and blog. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I'd love to make many of those same stops one day.

That makes sense to me. Thanks for idea. I will have to try that next time and see if it makes a difference.

My 2013 Hawk and my 2015 Grandby both "pop" when I plug into 110 volt power at home. It always seems like there is a load on whenever I plug in. I have also had a hard time with GCI plug in's tripping as well. I eventually just removed it from my garage and put in a normal plug. Works just...

Don, What was your trimetric reading when you measured 14 + volts into and out of your separator? It appears your separator is working at least part of the time.

Don, There is a good chance that your battery separator has gone bad. If you have a voltmeter, First: confirm at your truck batteries (with truck running)with voltmeter that your alternator is working by testing voltage. It should be around 14-14.6 volts. Second: test the voltage before...

I have owned both the Renogy 100 watt folding panel and the Zamp 200 watt folding panel. Both setups included the solar controller and were very easy to use. I believe the Zamp panels were of a higher quality, but much more expensive. I paid $900-1000 for the Zamp set up and $250 for the...