Community Forums

Tdansby · 12-31-2018, 10:13 AM

Caution! The wiring for cig will not support an inverter much larger that 200 watts. It will also deplete the start battery as it is part of the chassis system not house. And make sure it is pure sine wave . I would follow your original plan.

vito.a · 01-01-2019, 03:25 PM

Hi Moira,
Well I sure give you credit for tackling this project. I'm planning on upgrading our original Monaco solar charging also. I already have one new panel and plan on purchasing a few more. Here are some of my thoughts.

The original Monaco solar install was actually pretty good. A quote from the owners manual: NOTE: The solar panel will charge the batteries with the disconnect switches off.
Therefore, something has happened to change this.

Next, I would not relocate the solar charge controller. The basement location is better environmentally than the engine compartment yet still close enough to the batteries (the wire run is less than 10'). I'm not sure where the above 21' run measurement came from, but it is incorrect. This is a long run from the batteries to the inverter but Monaco used 4/0 cable to compensate and it works quite well.
It would be nice to upgrade the wiring from the roof to the solar charge controller to a heavier gauge (this is the long run in the system), but if we combine panels in parallel it will still function.
Another quote from the owners manual:
The solar power system consists of one solar panel with mounts, a Combiner box and a charge controller that can handle up to five 100 watt solar panels.

Therefore the factory install will handle your original 100 watt panel plus two additional 200 watt panels just fine.
My goal would be to get your system back to factory configuration. Then add the two new panels wired into the combiner box under the refrigerator vent. This should be fairly straight forward as well as effective.
You should get approximately 6 amps from the original panel and 9-12 amps each from the new panels during peak sunlight. (Remember not to confuse watts with amps). This is enough to keep the batteries charged as well as supplying some power for house use.

IF I decide to go more exotic, then I will replace the Heliotrope PWM charge controller with a newer MPPT charge controller. At this point I would also consider adding an additional set of wires from the roof down through the refrigerator vent to the charge controller. (This is the run that is actually quite long). I would then utilize both the original wires and the new ones in parallel.

I hope this helps.

Moira · 01-06-2019, 07:36 PM

Suppose I unhook my 100w panel from the others, get a cheapo controller and wire the panels to that and then use the old 8 gauge wire from the cheapo controller to the battery bank? It will only be a trickle charge but that might be enough to keep the batteries topped off with the disconnect sws off.
That might be the easiest and cheapest solution.
Whatcha think?

vito.a · 01-07-2019, 11:50 AM

I think I would connect all the panels to the original 8 gauge wire that runs to the battery side of the cutoff switch. Two 200w panels and one 100W panel are only going to produce 25-30 amps peak and most of the time will probably be less than 15 amps. During peak sun you will lose less than 3% and the rest of the time you are fine.

Moira · 01-07-2019, 01:24 PM

Well that sounds good. I believe I never saw more than a 15 amp charge with the inverter off.
I would like to add another 200w panel and maybe change out the 100w for a 200w. That would give me 800w. I would need a new controller and bigger wire at that time.
But being near Memphis, TN, I have not found any solar installers within 300 miles.
this is very frustrating.

Tdansby · 01-08-2019, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moira

Well that sounds good. I believe I never saw more than a 15 amp charge with the inverter off.
I would like to add another 200w panel and maybe change out the 100w for a 200w. That would give me 800w. I would need a new controller and bigger wire at that time.
But being near Memphis, TN, I have not found any solar installers within 300 miles.
this is very frustrating.

I will be in the Memphis area mid-March and will be happy to help any way I can.