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Ljwt330 · 08-13-2021, 03:56 PM

I'm almost positive my 2004 Alpine came with a solar panel or at least it was pre-wired for one. My question is, where would the wiring be located, and where would it have exited/entered from the roof?

I have not looked closely for evidence, but I did notice some screw holes that had been filled with Dicor that may have been where the OG panel was mounted. I have never tried to hunt down the wiring, if it's there, but would like to see if it does exist.

Any help is appreciated.

3x5 · 08-13-2021, 05:36 PM

On our 2005 it went through the roof just a few inches forward of the batwing tv antenna wires. That is directly above the cabinet with the electronics monitoring. It came down behind the wood front piece where the tank senors and inverter remote panel were mounted. If you go in from the cabinet just forward of that cabinet and pull the side off, you can get in there and see a lot of wires. The old solar panel wires are probably still there.

They go out the aft side of the cabinet to the back of the refrigerator. From there I dont remember which way the go (either over the fridge or down through bins) but they end up next to the breakers at a small controller mounted there. There were two red and two white wires.

They are going to be too small to use for anything serious.

Ljwt330 · 08-13-2021, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3x5

On our 2005 it went through the roof just a few inches forward of the batwing tv antenna wires. That is directly above the cabinet with the electronics monitoring. It came down behind the wood front piece where the tank senors and inverter remote panel were mounted. If you go in from the cabinet just forward of that cabinet and pull the side off, you can get in there and see a lot of wires. The old solar panel wires are probably still there.

They go out the aft side of the cabinet to the back of the refrigerator. From there I dont remember which way the go (either over the fridge or down through bins) but they end up next to the breakers at a small controller mounted there. There were two red and two white wires.

They are going to be too small to use for anything serious.

Thanks, that gives me places to start looking. Don’t know if I’m even going to use them, but am curious about their location.

paul65k · 08-13-2021, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ljwt330

Thanks, that gives me places to start looking. Don’t know if I’m even going to use them, but am curious about their location.

It all depends on what type of system you are planning? If you are thinking of more than 200W of solar the factory wiring.....wherever it goes will be undersized to do a good job.

If you are thinking of a 600W or larger system you will absolutely need to run new wires. The 2 best ways to get to the battery bay would be down the refrigerator vent and then over across the black/grey tanks to the battery bay or a new hole directly above the bedroom cabinet that houses your inverter (Our choice) and then down through the cabinet into the electrical bay below.

DrDaveMA · 08-14-2021, 06:15 AM

Location of the wiring depends upon the floor plan. On our ‘05 FDTS the wiring goes up through the cabinet behind the bathroom. The controller is located under the sink as are the AC and DC breaker boxes and 12 volt fuse block.

Ljwt330 · 08-14-2021, 10:20 AM

Thanks for all the feedback.

Paul, I have no intention of installing anything of consequence, if I install anything at all. I did pick up a 100 watt panel with controller at Costco for $99 because it was too good to pass up and I was seduced by my impulses.

I really am just curious as to where and how the OEM panels were wired, and where to start looking, so thanks to DrDaveMA and 3x5, I have some places to start.

Kid Gloves · 08-14-2021, 12:08 PM

A few years ago I added this panel to keep the chassis batteries charged while stored without power. The wires for the OEM 10W potato chip penetrated the roof where the new J-box is located. The original adhesive blobs are still visible. I ran a set of small wires (12ga?) for the new panel, as well as a set of heavier wires (6 or 8ga) for a future solar install. Coming soon.

The route was behind the refrigerator, over the holding tanks, to the chassis rails over the rear axle to the battery bay. After recently pulling battery monitor and surge guard wires over the tanks for a second time, I left a length of hard wire in place, which should ensure that it will never be necessary to pull wires over the tanks again. Yes, I need a new refrigerator vent cover.

Having just pulled 15, 190W panels off the house, which will be replaced with 12, 380W panels, the current plan is to repurpose 6 panels on the coach for a 1140W array. That should be a nice compliment to the 420Ah lithium battery and should work well if I add 2 more for 630Ah’s.

Cinequip · 08-14-2021, 08:44 PM

As 3x5 noted, there are two pairs of 10ga wire from the roof factory installed. Each pair is red/white, with yellow or blue electrical tape wrapped at each end to help identify which pair is which. One pair goes through the ACS controller, and then on to the House battery, through a 30 amp fuse in the battery bay. The other pair goes direct to the Chassis battery (no fuse). These cables are certainly sufficient for a 'small' system.
I engineered my system to utilize the factory wires from the roof down to my charge controller, which is in the bathroom cabinet near the circuit breaker panels. I wired two 175w panels in series, per pair of 10ga wires. The resulting 9 amps is well within the 30a capacity of each 10ga pair. Both pairs of wires are combined at the controller. I then ran four gauge battery cable from the controller to the battery bay, which runs as high as 42 amps in full sun.