I installed solar panels on my 2002 Newmar Mountain Aire.
I decided to go with two 100 watt Renogy Monocrystalline panels to start so
this gives me a potential of 200 watts, but I can add panels up to 8 with the
40 Amp Renogy MPPT Solar Charge Controller I went with.
I am still using two 6 volt Liquid Acid Deep Cycle batteries in series for a 12 volt system. These two solar panels do keep the batteries charged and can run ceiling fans, lights and fridge electronics and I can run my CPAP at night.
I am not running an inverter, but I have the original 6600 Watt Generac if I were ever to really drain the batteries after several cloudy days. I have been using this while boondocking across the US and it has been keeping my batteries charged.
Let me start by showing you the design drawing I made.
I purchased tiltable solar mounts, a water proof utility box to mount on the RV roof to bring power cables from roof into the RV.
I decided to bring the cables into the RV from the roof over the back bedroom closet.
I would mount a fused solar panel disconnect box on the back wall of the closet
and the Renogy Solar Charge Controller is mounted on the back wall in the bedroom outside the closet where it is easy to read the display and access controls.
I assembled the Solar Panels and mounts on the ground, I used 3M VHB Tape on the bottom of the mounts to make it easy to fasten the panel mounts to the roof. I cleaned the roof where the tape would stick with alcohol. I still used the mounting hardware screws to attach the mounts to the roof. Renogy says these panels and mounts should be good to winds of 140 MPH.
*** IMPORTANT TIP *****************************
Do not hook solar panels up to the MPPT Charge Controller before you have your batteries hooked to the Charge Controller or you will destroy your expensive charge controller. Any anytime you disconnect your house batteries, make sure you disconnect the solar panels from the Charge controller first.
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I ran 8 gage wire to the batteries through the back wall of the closet, into the space behind the drivers side tail light, fished the wires to the passenger side and drilled a whole to feed wires under the RV back to the batteries where again I have a fuse at the positive terminal of the battery. I will have to take some more photos and will add these to this posting later.
The solar panels do a nice job for me and if I have the RV parked in storage, the system will maintain the house batteries nicely.
I sealed all drill wholes with Dicor sealant. So far, no leaks, the panels have held on nicely at 70 MPH and insane winds driving across Wyoming and Nebraska. The have been on the RV so far from Southern California up to Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and across Pennsylvania. The RV has been sitting for a couple days and the house batteries are still at 100% with the RV in use mode and fridge running. I am very pleased and this project really only took a couple days once I had all the parts. Everything you need can be ordered off the internet, we used AMAZON. I did pick up a few items at Home Depot.
The Renogy 40 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller comes with the Bluetooth module and does not have to be ordered separately. There is a free Renogy App you can install on your smart phone or tablet and you can monitor your panel performance and battery charge and configure your system.
Just passing the info along if anyone want to do this project yourself.
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