Damp solar

[Jeepster360]

Ok, so the new ORV trailers have zamp solar plug on the side of the wall. My 15 creek side does not. It does have led lighting which is good. We dry camp for a week or so up the st Joe river in the summer. My old back country only had one battery so i bought a honda 2000 gen. It worked out fine. I would like to add some solar to the new creek side. I'm thinking 160-200 watt portable solar. Is it better to go straight to the batteries? If I run the gen for the microwave or ac do you need to unhook the solar? Or turn off the disconnet switch?

I hope I don't wear you guys out with questions. I have been using the search and reading similar posts.

John

[Jeepster360]

Title should read zamp solar.......sorry

John

[vsheetz]

Not straight to the batteries. Needs to go through a quality solar controller (battery charger). No need to disconnect the solar. Multple chargers will coexist.

[frankdamp]

Briefly, I thought that there was a solar system with some connection to my family.

Guess not!

[Jeepster360]

Originally Posted by vsheetz

Not straight to the batteries. Needs to go through a quality solar controller (battery charger). No need to disconnect the solar. Multple chargers will coexist.

I guess I was thinking the zamp portable panels had a built in controller that you could hook straight to the batteries vs installing a plug to the side of the trailer.

So it would be ok to run the generator so shore power would also be ok with the panel hooked up I would assume.

John

[Randy the sly old fox]

Yes Zamp makes portable panels - up to 200W that have a charge controller built into them. They have a kit that has clips that attach the panel directly to the panel - you don't need a plug in the sidewall.

I know that you can have two solar controllers in the system - one for the panel on the roof and the other one on the portable panel. I am not sure how well the system would work when the charger in the converter is activated when using the generator. That said I suspect that when the generator is running, the solar system will sense that the batteries are charged and turn off or go into float mode. However with the portable system you can also disconnect them manually.

[vsheetz]

Originally Posted by Jeepster360

I guess I was thinking the zamp portable panels had a built in controller that you could hook straight to the batteries vs installing a plug to the side of the trailer.

So it would be ok to run the generator so shore power would also be ok with the panel hooked up I would assume.

John

Yes, portable setup would have integrated controller. Yes, the converter in the RV and the portable solar can be connected at the same time.

[Blackbelle]

I have the portable 200 Zamp, and I don't unplug when using my Yamaha generators

[SCVJeff]

Lowes had a blowout sale on all Zamp products several months ago. I bought a pile of misc. PSW inverters from them, but they had panels and controllers as well. Lowes clientele simply weren't Zamp customers so they cleared them out. There may be things left because so few even payed attention to what it was, so keep an eye out

[egwilly]

I bought a HF 100 watt portable unit, it charges about 8 amps on a sunny day.
I don't disconnect anything when I am connected to it.
Had to rewire the side plug on the trailer for the proper SAE connection (Zamp is polarity reversed).

Eventually going to roof solar when $ permits.

[Jeepster360]

Thank you for all the great info. I will ck out lowels to see what they have left if anything. Thanks again.

John

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by Jeepster360

Thank you for all the great info. I will ck out lowels to see what they have left if anything. Thanks again.

John

Good luck.. it's a store thing and apparently one doesn't have track of the others invintory, nor will they ship. It's a treasure hunt