Jayco's Pre-wired for solar

[jbsiii]

Hi,
As the title suggests, I have a question regarding my Jayco trailer's wiring and solar capacity. It came pre-wired for solar from the factory, and they used 8AWG wiring from the roof down to the battery compartment.

Of course, they don't give any real instructions on actually adding panels, etc. I currently have 400 watts of panels on the roof, but that's insufficient for my needs. When I called Jayco, they said their wiring can only handle 400 watts (2x200), which seems a bit low for 8awg wiring. I'm wondering if they were thinking about the solar port for plugging in a portable panel?

In any event, I'd like to increase to 1200 watts, and would be looking at a new MPPT controller, so the voltage isn't yet an issue with existing equipment. Would I need to run an additional set of cables to handle a total of 1200 (6x200) watts, or could I do them as a 3S2P configuration and use the existing 8awg wires?

Thanks!
John

 

[pvgirl]

What solar charge controller do you have?
What are the specs(voltage and current ratings) of the existing and new panels?

 

[k490]

Generally, you want to run panels in series, so the current is lower, and voltage goes up that way wire doesn't have to be larger. 8AWG is more than enough. Just make sure you fuse the panel up on the roof with appropriate current inline fuse. You can buy MC-4 inline fuses for panels when you increase to 1200 watts. Most RV's use PWM inverters that run off 12V they may have been referring as 400-watt max limit of your inverter. If you plan on replacing everything only reusing the wires going up to the roof should be okay. Draw up a diagram and post it here make sure you include all the fusing and circuit breakers also.

 

[scrubjaysnest]

we have 500 watts, the 2 on the roof use 10 awg and the 3 portables feed 8 awg because of distance losses. That's plenty for us. Don't have any high wattage devices.