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Old 05-16-2018, 03:27 PM   #1
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Solar

New guy here.. Just bought a 2004 Rexhall Rexair 3955 Pusher. It has a Cummins 8.3L ISC 330 HP with Spartan chassis and a 7.5 Generac QuietPact generator.

I am in need of advice on solar panels.. The main purpose is to keep a charge on the four 6Volt house batteries and the two starting batteries while in storage. Any advice on the correct solar panel or panels, cabling, and a trickle charger (or would I hook into the current Xantrex charger / inverter)? Any advice would be much appreciated.. Thank you in advance...



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Old 05-16-2018, 03:46 PM   #2
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Many rigs come with a small 4-6 watt panel on the roof for storage. Shade is your biggest solar enemy. If you need more a 50 watt panel and a solar controller should be fine.
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Old 05-17-2018, 09:04 AM   #3
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As long as you have good sun where you store a 50 or 100 watt panel will be fine. A small controller would not hurt but you could go with out one.
The trick will be to wire both sets of batteries together. Maybe simpler to have a separate panel for each battery bank. $150 for 2 plus some wire.
If you are in a secure place, place panels on roof, drop cable over the side to batteries and you are done. The solar is your trickle charge, not for charging dead or low batteries.
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Old 05-17-2018, 10:58 AM   #4
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A 100 watt panel would be my choice along with a mmpt solar controller that has a provision for charging the second set of batteries or an isolator for the second set.
Your convertor/charger is not for controlling solar power. It uses 110 or 220 volt ac power to power your 12v lights/appliances and charge the coach batteries. A solar controller regulates the power from the solar panels, usually around 20 volts dc to around 14 volts dc to charge the batteries.
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Old 05-19-2018, 05:22 AM   #5
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Get a Mod to bump this down to the "Going Green" sub forum and you will get more answers.

Here is my opinion, if you are going to go through all the trouble adding wiring and controllers, why not up-size it enough so you have more available charging power while on the road? 4-600 Watts of panels would keep the bank of 6v's topped off & you can have them set up to charge the engine battery's too.

I just put in 435 watts of panels with new wiring, charge controller and monitor....right around $1,000 in parts.
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Old 05-19-2018, 05:29 AM   #6
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The only time we had our rig in storage was when we purchased it and were selling the house. The storage unit had 110v outlets between each stall so we just plugged in. It was a true RV storage lot, not a parking lot though. Any place for you to plug in?
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Old 05-19-2018, 05:40 AM   #7
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a simple 100w panel 'package' is all you need... it comes with a charge controller and wiring. You can easily just hook up the wiring to the panel, place the panel on the roof near the rear ladder, and hook up the wiring to the charge controller, then out to the House batteries. If you mount the charge controller in the battery bay, it's a easy short run then to the batteries.

I don't think that you have to solar charge the chassis batteries, as they don't typically have any type of draw. If your coach has an 'Aux' or 'Emergency start' switch on the dash, it ties in the Chassis batteries with the House batteries to help start the engine IF the chassis batteries are low anyway, and vice versa.

Don't overcomplicate it. Also, none of this solar has anything to do with your Inverter or Charger... it just goes straight to your batteries. Solar is for charging batteries only, not for providing power to any other sources directly.

$169 at Walmart online, and many other sources...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Renogy-10...&wl13=&veh=sem
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Old 05-19-2018, 05:41 AM   #8
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100 watts will do the trick, along with a reasonable PWM converter. You might wire it so that you can add more panels later if you choose to use it to augment your power when on the road. If you connect it directly to your house batteries, I believe that your BCC will charge the chassis as well. You may have to leave your disconnect turned on for this to work, but I doubt it. It all depends on your specific BCC and wiring. If that is the case, I would leave it off. The chassis will be fine for months anyway and you can boost it if necessary.

PWM? Why not MPPT? Because MPPT needs at least 2 panels in series to make a difference and below 400 to 600 watts it offers no advantage over PWM.
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Old 05-19-2018, 05:41 AM   #9
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X2 Motor1 many other things run on 12 volt. If you run an inverter your battery bank can be discharged quickly. I run 800 watts of solar and and a mppt controller. I boondock a lot and rarely use the generator.
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Old 05-20-2018, 08:21 AM   #10
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I have a MMPT controller with 400 watts of solar wired parallel and it works great. Have more than enough power for the coach batteries and can also charge up the boat trolling motor batteries at the same time.

Flexible panels are more money but with them there is no need to drill holes in the roof for mounting them, use Etherbond tape and run the wires down the refrigerator vent.
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Old 05-20-2018, 08:42 AM   #11
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Two to four 100w panels from Renogy. Panel mounts from Renogy. Morningstar Sunsaver Duo controller (handles two battery banks) or a single bank Morningstar controller and install a Trik L Start. Standard #10 PV wire assemblies if two panels - upsize if more than two. Inline circuit breakers / disconnects before and after the controller.

IMHO. YMMV.
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Old 05-21-2018, 04:28 PM   #12
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Wow, everyone thank you for all of the good advice. I will post an update in the next few weeks after I get this project done.
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Old 05-21-2018, 05:15 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vsheetz View Post
Two to four 100w panels from Renogy. Panel mounts from Renogy. Morningstar Sunsaver Duo controller (handles two battery banks) or a single bank Morningstar controller and install a Trik L Start. Standard #10 PV wire assemblies if two panels - upsize if more than two. Inline circuit breakers / disconnects before and after the controller.

IMHO. YMMV.
100% X2..!! I have the Morningstar Sunsaver Duo (PWM) and it works flawlessly to keep both chassis and house batteries full. This is a very, very slick little unit!

What you need depends on planned use and geographic location. In AZ, I know a 50 watt panel would suffice, but in other areas where sunshine is limited, 100w might be on the low side.

Also, if you intend to do any dry camping, plan accordingly. I started out with 135w (which was gross overkill while in storage) and now have 295w which is all I need to keep my chassis and 2 6v house batteries up by noon when the sun shines while dry camping.
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