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diy solar

Jayco camper "solar ready", should I use the wiring?

bkvanbek

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Nov 18, 2020
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I want to do something like 400 watts solar, on the roof, 2000 watt inverter (maybe an all in one) and 200ah LiPo batteries. The camper has "pre-wired cables" in a wall rated for 30 amps. I would have to cut a hole to see what is there. The electric panel and converter are in another wall, but also near the back. The shore power is in the back. The battery in on a tray on the tongue, and I would like to put the new ones there. What if anything, should I use of the prewire? other advice?IMG_20201027_160330.jpgIMG_20201027_155925.jpgIMG_20201027_160026.jpgIMG_20201116_170340.jpg
 
30A should cover about 400-500W of typical 100W 12V panels if you parallel them. If you go with an MPPT controller, you could go hog wild with panels in series. You could easily do 1200W of 4S3P and keep it under 20A.
 
The plug on the side is just a 10AWG wire that goes directly to the battery. It's intended for a suitcase solar panel that has its own solar controller, most likely PWM.

As for the interior location, there is no such thing as a flush mount MPPT SCC with concealed wires, to my knowledge. Anything else mounted on a wall next to your refrigerator or TV would be really ugly. The only controllers available that would be cosmetically acceptable in the intended interior location are flush mount PWM controllers, limited to 30A.

Flush-mount SCCs on Amazon:


The specifications GP gives to the trailer manufacturer are to use 10AWG from the MC4 roof gland to the SCC location and 8AWG from the SCC location to the battery. 10AWG probably is okay from panel to roof but 8AWG is probably inadequate from SCC to the battery. It definitely was inadequate for mine where the wire run was about 20'.

I had a similar solar option preinstalled on my Rockwood. It was a waste of money, for my plans. I salvaged the wire and roof gland and am repurposing them in a much more capable system I'm installing myself. In my case it's easy to run the wires directly down behind the door frame of a closet to an outdoor storage compartment directly below it. They're tucked behind the door frame and are completely concealed. LFP batteries will be located in the compartment next to the SCC and inverter, so wire lengths will be short.
 
Jayco ran 8AWG from the roof MC4s in my Jayco North Point to the basement. There was 10+ feet of spare cable tied up next to my transfer switch. Wasn't long enough but a useful start. As mentioned, this is great for lots of solar in series.

Also confirming that solar on the side is irrelevant to panels on the roof.
 
I have the same "wired for solar" setup on my Jayco Northpoint, which has a 2000w inverter and a residential fridge. It's good for about 18 hours before the batteries cry uncle. Right now, I have 2 Battle Born Lithium batteries, with room for easily 1 more, 2 more if I get creative.
I'd like to add enough solar to make it through an entire day or maybe even 2 before needing to use my generator or hook up to shore power.

I'm considering about 6x100 watt panels, run in series/parallel to get 24 volts, which should keep the amperage down below the 30amp rating of the wiring. I'm thinking about this MPPT controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...tionId=&linkCode=as2&tag=bestprodtagl40563-20.

If I read it correctly, it'll easily handle 24 volts input, and will safely charge my 12 volt lithium batteries without any additional devices needed. Am I right? Is there anything else I should add to the mix?

Thanks in advance!
John
 
I have the same "wired for solar" setup on my Jayco Northpoint, which has a 2000w inverter and a residential fridge. It's good for about 18 hours before the batteries cry uncle. Right now, I have 2 Battle Born Lithium batteries, with room for easily 1 more, 2 more if I get creative.
I'd like to add enough solar to make it through an entire day or maybe even 2 before needing to use my generator or hook up to shore power.

I'm considering about 6x100 watt panels, run in series/parallel to get 24 volts, which should keep the amperage down below the 30amp rating of the wiring. I'm thinking about this MPPT controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...tionId=&linkCode=as2&tag=bestprodtagl40563-20.

If I read it correctly, it'll easily handle 24 volts input, and will safely charge my 12 volt lithium batteries without any additional devices needed. Am I right? Is there anything else I should add to the mix?

Thanks in advance!
John
The 12/24V is referring to the battery side. It can handle up to 92V on the input (pv) side - you should never exceed this so important to check your panels max (open circuit) voltage. I would likely set up to have the voltage high and the current low so 3S2P for example (3 series in 2 parallel loops, perhaps 3 panels on each side of the RV roof). But the MPPT looks fine for that size overall.

Also, make sure to check the actual gauge of the wire coming from the roof panel to ensure they did use 8awg as you never know what they might install by accident/intentionally at any point.
 
The 12/24V is referring to the battery side. It can handle up to 92V on the input (pv) side - you should never exceed this so important to check your panels max (open circuit) voltage. I would likely set up to have the voltage high and the current low so 3S2P for example (3 series in 2 parallel loops, perhaps 3 panels on each side of the RV roof). But the MPPT looks fine for that size overall.

Also, make sure to check the actual gauge of the wire coming from the roof panel to ensure they did use 8awg as you never know what they might install by accident/intentionally at any point.
Thanks for the response! This is good to know. So other than a fuse between the controller output and the batteries/loads, is there anything else that would be needed?
 
Thanks for the response! This is good to know. So other than a fuse between the controller output and the batteries/loads, is there anything else that would be needed?
A "perfect" install would be a double breaker on the pv input side on both positive and negative. This is required by code in some countries, USA seems to only require a breaker on the positive wire. Make sure the current on the breaker is rated for the incoming wire size. This is very useful for maintenance so you can disconnect the solar before disconnecting the MPPT-battery connection. I also add a switch to every power input/output going to my positive bus bar to make maintenance easier.
 
have the same "wired for solar" setup on my Jayco Northpoint, which has a 2000w inverter
Confirm that it is a “true sine wave” aka “pure sine” inverter. Model/brand?
and a residential fridge. It's good for about 18 hours before the batteries cry uncle. Right now, I have 2 Battle Born Lithium batteries,
18 hours - that’s without solar I surmise. Still seems like it’s more than the fridge pulling that down so soon.
with room for easily 1 more, 2 more if I get creative.
400Ah of lithium with 600W of panels is a little light on solar watts to assure full recharge from ‘empty’ in s day but it should work. Consider one battery as “headroom” for this:
I'd like to add enough solar to make it through an entire day or maybe even 2 before needing to use my generator or hook up to shore power.

I'm considering about 6x100 watt panels, run in series/parallel to get 24 volts, which should keep the amperage down below the 30amp rating of the wiring. I'm thinking about this MPPT controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...tionId=&linkCode=as2&tag=bestprodtagl40563-20.
I have that controller. Used all last year.
2S3P would be ~15A - you could go 3S2P for 10A and roughly 66V of input safely to that controller. You’d probably see 30A of charge often. I ran 8ga to the batteries from the controller.
If I read it correctly, it'll easily handle 24 volts input, and will safely charge my 12 volt lithium batteries without any additional devices needed. Am I right? Is there anything else I should add to the mix?
Just fuses and heavy battery cables to inverter. I used 2/0 gage. I’d try to keep inverter under 5’ to the batteries.
You’ll want to disable the oem converter while on batteries.
 
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