What Brand is the 160 watt Solar Panel FWC Provides?

I am installing a 100 W panel on Saturday, I was told 100 W was enough to keep up with the compressor fridge (80 liter), if not I’ll add a second panel
 
ottorogers said:
I am installing a 100 W panel on Saturday, I was told 100 W was enough to keep up with the compressor fridge (80 liter), if not I’ll add a second panel
Click to expand...
I ran the 100 watt Renogy panel with my 65qt ARB and it kept up so good I didn’t shut my fridge off for over a year; and my truck isn’t my daily driver
 
So Cal Adventurer said:
I ran the 100 watt Renogy panel with my 65qt ARB and it kept up so good I didn’t shut my fridge off for over a year; and my truck isn’t my daily driver
Click to expand...
my understanding is that if you don’t use the furnace a lot, 100 W should be more than enough to run the compressor fridge and never run out of battery, if not, like I said, I can add another hundred watt solar panel
 
ottorogers said:
my understanding is that if you don’t use the furnace a lot, 100 W should be more than enough to run the compressor fridge and never run out of battery, if not, like I said, I can add another hundred watt solar panel
Click to expand...
I have no experience at all with a Furnace and how much it consumes but I guess I’m about to learn! Hahaha!

I am currently planning my solar setup and due to (2) panels not fitting easily with dual fans, I am going to start with the 175w NewPowa panel as it seems to get amazing reviews. I sold my (2) Renogy panels with my camper shell I just sold.

I am thinking I’m going to have my camper 100% separated from the truck, electrically anyway and want it to be self sufficient.

It’s personal preference but I’m a firm believer in the rigid panels. I know the weight difference, but I’ve had nothing but great experiences with them.

Are you running single bats or dual batts otto?

My .02
 
So Cal Adventurer said:
I have no experience at all with a Furnace and how much it consumes but I guess I’m about to learn! Hahaha!

I am currently planning my solar setup and due to (2) panels not fitting easily with dual fans, I am going to start with the 175w NewPowa panel as it seems to get amazing reviews. I sold my (2) Renogy panels with my camper shell I just sold.

I am thinking I’m going to have my camper 100% separated from the truck, electrically anyway and want it to be self sufficient.

It’s personal preference but I’m a firm believer in the rigid panels. I know the weight difference, but I’ve had nothing but great experiences with them.

Are you running single bats or dual batts otto?

My .02
Click to expand...
dual batteries, We normally don’t Boondock for more than three or four days, I can almost get four days now out of two batteries fully charged without solar, so I’m relatively sure 100 W of solar will extend my time dry camping to 5 to 7 days or so, which is more than enough
 
So Cal Adventurer said:
I have no experience at all with a Furnace and how much it consumes but I guess I’m about to learn! Hahaha!

I am currently planning my solar setup and due to (2) panels not fitting easily with dual fans, I am going to start with the 175w NewPowa panel as it seems to get amazing reviews. I sold my (2) Renogy panels with my camper shell I just sold.

I am thinking I’m going to have my camper 100% separated from the truck, electrically anyway and want it to be self sufficient.

It’s personal preference but I’m a firm believer in the rigid panels. I know the weight difference, but I’ve had nothing but great experiences with them.

Are you running single bats or dual batts otto?

My .02
Click to expand...
I also agree with you on the rigid panels versus flexible panels, but I’m so overweight now that I don’t wanna add any more unnecessary weight, so I’m going to try the flexible panel to see how long it lasts, I just talked to a guy today who had his flexible solar panels on his roof for over two years, and he said they are working perfectly
 
Solar panel installed, I had a little bit of trouble with the polarity on the plug sticking up from the roof, it was what I considered backwards, it was the opposite of the rear one at the back of the camper, I was able to pull the back one out by the back door, and look at the red and white wires, I assumed (wrongly) the roof one was the same, but it wasn’t, it was the opposite, luckily my solar controller could handle reversed polarity, I spliced the wires in the reverse order and everything works perfectly
 
IMG_5718.JPG
 
Otto, how did you fasten those panels to the roof? I was considering a couple of 100W-160W flexible panels, would love to have them semi-permanently mounted on the roof.
 
Hello,

Brand new to the site. Just ordered a new Grandby for our Ram. Was wondering if anyone knows the following:

  • What type of connectors come with the new shells for Solar? I am hoping they might be the MC4 connectors but I have not seen anything that states what they use.
  • The user that tried to install two Renogy 100 watt panels on his roof, what model shell do you have?
  • What seems to be the preference for installing panels on the roof?
Yes, I will scour the site and will see what I can find, but really wanted to say hello.
 
Foxen Tec,
My 2017 Fleet Shell has an SAE plug on the roof and back wall. I am installing 2 100 watt Renogy panels and splicing the provided plug from FWC to an adapter from Renogy. You can find a factory made SAE to MC4 on Amazon or just make your own.
I am running 2, 1.5 aluminum angles across the Yakima tracks and bolting the panels to that.
I'll post images in a few days when I'm done.
 
Josh41 said:
Foxen Tec,
My 2017 Fleet Shell has an SAE plug on the roof and back wall. I am installing 2 100 watt Renogy panels and splicing the provided plug from FWC to an adapter from Renogy. You can find a factory made SAE to MC4 on Amazon or just make your own.
I am running 2, 1.5 aluminum angles across the Yakima tracks and bolting the panels to that.
I'll post images in a few days when I'm done.
Click to expand...
Here is the adapter:

RENOGY MC4 to SAE Adaptor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1TALFY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ThBHAbPXW4J9E
 
Wired and installed. Two Renogy 100 watts rigid panels on our Fleet Shell. Pulled out of the garage to see what it can do tomorrow. 20180215_163301.jpg20180215_164705.jpg
 
Thank you Josh and So Cal for your excellent help!

So it looks like the adapter on Amazon would do one panel converting it from MC4 to the SAE. I love SAE connectors and have used them for many years with my motorcycles.

In Josh's picture, I see where you spliced in the SAE connector but I couldn't tell from the picture how you wired the two panels together prior to ending up with the one SAE connector? Did you just do your own splice to bring the two panels together?

Thank you again,
Jon

Josh41 said:
Wired and installed. Two Renogy 100 watts rigid panels on our Fleet Shell. Pulled out of the garage to see what it can do tomorrow.
attachicon.gif
20180215_163301.jpg
attachicon.gif
20180215_164705.jpg
Click to expand...
 
FoxenTec said:
Thank you Josh and So Cal for your excellent help!

So it looks like the adapter on Amazon would do one panel converting it from MC4 to the SAE. I love SAE connectors and have used them for many years with my motorcycles.

In Josh's picture, I see where you spliced in the SAE connector but I couldn't tell from the picture how you wired the two panels together prior to ending up with the one SAE connector? Did you just do your own splice to bring the two panels together?

Thank you again,
Jon
Click to expand...
It's an MC4 branch connector, about $13, and connects the 2 panels.CNCT-MC4Y-2__94355.1454451608.500.750.jpg
 
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