Electric Mods & Solar Panel

[bobg333]

After two months of research, design telephone conversations with the makers of all the major components and countless return trips to the hardware store, I just finished some revisions to the wiring on my 04 Grandby and added a solar panel. Here's what I did:

AC Stuff
~ Removed the metal electrical outlet under the sink and replaced it with a multi-outlet surge suppressor.
~ Added a 30 amp "Main" breaker for incoming "shore" power.
~ Rewired the original two 15 amp breakers to serve the refrig and 110 outlet.
[FYI - As a result of several telephone consultations with the factory and the Riverside plant, I concluded that my AC system had originally been mis-wired at the factory. Not in an unsafe way but with breakers daisy-chained instead of acting separately on parallel circuits.]

DC Stuff
~ Removed the red push/pull switch and replaced it with a marine-type selector switch which allows me to choose the source of my DC power, Converter or Battery.
~ Added a 105AH "house" battery. My Grandby didn't come with a house battery.
~ Added another selector switch which allows me to choose which battery I am using and/or charging, house or truck. This switch is in lieu of a battery isolator.

Solar stuff
~ Added a 130 watt panel to the front part of the roof. I have a phobia about drilling holes in the roof. So I mounted the panel on a $38 rack and replaced the hold-downs with turnbuckles connected to fabricated brackets screwed to the side of the roof.
~ Added a 15 amp charge controller that gives me current panel amps, a voltage read-out for whichever battery is selected and load amps.
~ Added an 800 watt inverter which is the only monitored load for the charge controller.

Five pix are attached. Five more in following post.

 

[bobg333]

Additional Pix

Here are the rest of the pix

 

[pvstoy]

Wow... Great write up and pictures. You really did alot of design work and a clean install. Let us know how it works with a follow up report.

 

[chnlisle]

Beautiful work Bob.

 

[lqhikers]

Nice report and Great install!
Waiting for your next install now that you have all that extra power.Maybe a sat dish,engle frig,computer?Curious as to why you are against mounting to roof?
Drive slow and enjoy "its the journey"
Les Lqhikers

 

[bobg333]

Thanks for the complement. My next project is to deal with the raising-the-roof-with-a-load-on-it problem that many have addressed here before. I'll let you know what I come up with.

I sold my last motorhome for 50 cents on the dollar because of structural rot that was caused by undetected roof leakage and I've lived in a house with a similar defect. So when I get a good roof over my head I'm not messin with it. Your mileage may differ.

 

[davinski]

Nice write up. Love that clean install.

Some questions:

1. how did you mount the wires up to the solar panels? Don't really see where it exits the camper and gets to the outside.

2. how much does the rack and solar weigh? Difficult to push up the top?

3. How do you plan to use the solar.....trickle charge all the time or serious boondocking?

Thanks

Dave

 

[lqhikers]

roof lifter

bobg333 Thought i would direct you to a couple of ways to lift roof,(i have been using my lifter for a while now and i to have solar,3 bar rack,large metal basket,5 gal solar shower bag,fire pan etc,the only change i made was to go to a 3 wheel pully,only because i found one at a swap meet for one dollar!.My wife is also happy as she can now lift roof!
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8911#post8911
Drive slow and enjoy "its the journey"
Les Lqhikers

 

[bobg333]

Some answers

Some questions:

1. how did you mount the wires up to the solar panels? Don't really see where it exits the camper and gets to the outside.

+++ The wire exits in the upper front corner of the right front pop-up window. I sewed in a little reinforcement. My Grandby has the outside, roll-up window covers and this cover protects to hole from the weather.

2. how much does the rack and solar weigh? Difficult to push up the top?

+++ The combo weighs about 35#. I have only had this camper for about four months and have yet to master raising the roof in a way that doesn't endanger my lower back. So this definitely adds to the problem. My current strategy is to beef up the settee (sp?) so that I can stand on it while putting up the top.

3. How do you plan to use the solar.....trickle charge all the time or serious boondocking?

+++ Semi-serious. We are leaving in a week or so for two months in Baja.

 

[DLN]

Bob,

Great work and write up, thanks sharing.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Baja????

+++ Semi-serious. We are leaving in a week or so for two months in Baja.


Trip report??? Pic's???

I need a fix Bob!!

 

[erod]

wow, another awesome mod...i would love to set up some solar and auxillary power in the camper myself but don't have the experience or knowledge to do something like that myself...great report though and thanks for the detailed pics...maybe some day...like tt said let us know how it worked out there! cheers

 

[mtn-high]

Trip report??? Pic's???

I need a fix Bob!!

Tomas,

Bob updated in another thread (Wanna Go Solar) about the Baja trip being postponed. Here's his response....


>>>Unfortunately, due to some medical problems my wife is having, we had to postpone the Baja trip. We have been out on a couple of long weekends and the solar set-up worked just fine. With the 130-watt panel and a 105 Ah battery, in So CA, in the summer; we can leave everything on all night and still have a full battery by mid afternoon the next day.

 

[Yukon]

Hey, very nice job. I am currently in process of doing something very similar. Just bought Eagle shell and am now putting in electrical. I bought a really cool converter, 3-stage charger, breaker box unit (all one box) from a company called WFCO. I also appreciate your sharing your schematic. Biggest difference for me is that I am using a battery isolator. No solar panels yet. Keep up the good work!
Chris

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Thanx Mt. H