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Old 04-09-2022, 07:07 AM   #1
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Just picked up our 24rks from Thompsons RV

24rks mountain series trailer. 4 6v amg batteries, 2 solar panels on the roof and planning on a portable panel for the side zamp port. New equalizer hitch installed. Towes great. Very smooth. 16" wheels with off road suspension.

This trailer weighs about 2000lbs more than the last trailer we had. I can tell on the hills but it's fine. Thompsons was great to deal with. The trailer seems to be fitted very well. Hope to take it out for a few days camping at a local lake in a couple weeks to give it a good shake down. Wife loves all the storage this unite has. I like the full size queen in this compared to the short queen we had before. The cushions in the dinette are much firmer, better, also. The 12v USB ports are nice to have. Very happy so far.

Can anyone recommend a good portable solar panel/controller for the side port? What are you using if anything?

John
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Old 04-09-2022, 07:11 AM   #2
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Congrats! Would love to see some pics. Sorry I can’t provide any insight in regards to the solar controller
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Old 04-09-2022, 08:03 AM   #3
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Bought our 24 RLS from Thomson’ in 2019 easy to deal with. Stopped by the other day to look at a GP28RKS only one on lot. Everything they had there was pre-sold and they had a lot of trailers. Had them check out my coax and found I had a bad antenna and did a roof inspection while they were up there all at no cost. Good people
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Old 04-09-2022, 09:39 AM   #4
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I very happy with my 200W Renogy Watt Eclipse Monocrystalline Solar Suitcase w/ Controller. Non Zamp panels may need an adaptor to reverse the polarity.
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Old 04-09-2022, 09:42 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeepster360 View Post
24rks mountain series trailer. 4 6v amg batteries, 2 solar panels on the roof and planning on a portable panel for the side zamp port. New equalizer hitch installed. Towes great. Very smooth. 16" wheels with off road suspension.

This trailer weighs about 2000lbs more than the last trailer we had. I can tell on the hills but it's fine. Thompsons was great to deal with. The trailer seems to be fitted very well. Hope to take it out for a few days camping at a local lake in a couple weeks to give it a good shake down. Wife loves all the storage this unite has. I like the full size queen in this compared to the short queen we had before. The cushions in the dinette are much firmer, better, also. The 12v USB ports are nice to have. Very happy so far.

Can anyone recommend a good portable solar panel/controller for the side port? What are you using if anything?

John
I have a home-built 200 watt portable solar using 2 x 100 Renogy panels and a Victron Energy 100/20 MPPT Smart Solar Controller. For cabling I'm using pair of 20' Renogy 10AWG cables w/MC-4 connectors. After the first season I picked up an additional 10' 10AWG of the same cables to allow for sufficient length when the sun is at the back of the trailer. The panels are configured in series and I connect the controller in right at the side port to reduce the distance between it and the batteries. So far I'm pleased with the performance of set up.
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Old 04-09-2022, 04:51 PM   #6
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Thanks for the info on the solar guys. Thompsons did have a boatload of trailers on the lot........all pre-sold as was said. Almost hard to believe so many people have ordered that many trailers and more are still waiting for their model run to be built!

Renogy panels seem to get used alot by people here. I will look more into that. The zamp panels are alot of money. I almost bought a 180-190 portable setup but it was around a $1000 I think. I like to camp in spots with the most SHADE to keep the trailer cool in the summer. I may need to change that way of thinking somewhat now. Nothing is a free lunch it seems, lol.

John
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Old 04-09-2022, 05:01 PM   #7
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This is in Canadian dollars but may be worth looking at. Good company to deal with. I know they ship all over Canada but not sure about U.S.

180W Folding Solar Panel Kit - We Go Solar Canada




Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeepster360 View Post
Thanks for the info on the solar guys. Thompsons did have a boatload of trailers on the lot........all pre-sold as was said. Almost hard to believe so many people have ordered that many trailers and more are still waiting for their model run to be built!

Renogy panels seem to get used alot by people here. I will look more into that. The zamp panels are alot of money. I almost bought a 180-190 portable setup but it was around a $1000 I think. I like to camp in spots with the most SHADE to keep the trailer cool in the summer. I may need to change that way of thinking somewhat now. Nothing is a free lunch it seems, lol.

John
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Old 04-09-2022, 05:40 PM   #8
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<snip> I like to camp in spots with the most SHADE to keep the trailer cool in the summer. I may need to change that way of thinking somewhat now. Nothing is a free lunch it seems, lol.
John
Right now, because we are very busy at work in the summer, we mostly camp in the shoulder seasons. But I don't think I would change where I choose to camp because of the power issue, I think I would adapt around that.

My first choice would be like was said, extension cables, and move panels into the sun. I think you could build a relatively affordable portable array.

We just did 2 weeks in Arizona and Nevada, including a couple of 94 degree days in a row, no shade at all, and got by without the AC. Before I go out again, I will have enough quiet genset power to tun the AC, but that would only require a couple of hours in the evening. For me, I don't see enough storage or a big enough invertor to run the AC as reasonable, so it's just a matter of being good neighbors and shutting down at a reasonable time.
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Old 04-09-2022, 05:51 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeepster360 View Post
Thanks for the info on the solar guys. Thompsons did have a boatload of trailers on the lot........all pre-sold as was said. Almost hard to believe so many people have ordered that many trailers and more are still waiting for their model run to be built!

Renogy panels seem to get used alot by people here. I will look more into that. The zamp panels are alot of money. I almost bought a 180-190 portable setup but it was around a $1000 I think. I like to camp in spots with the most SHADE to keep the trailer cool in the summer. I may need to change that way of thinking somewhat now. Nothing is a free lunch it seems, lol.

John
If you are a bit handy then you can build your own for about 1/2 that. Here is the blog post from Adventurous Way for the DIY build of a 200 watt portable solar unit that I followed. I used the same Renogy panels that they did but went my own direction for the cabling and Victron Energy MPPT controller. It is a pretty simple and straightforward build worth considering. Added bonus is those Renogy panels do fit perfectly in the front pass-through of our 23DBS as shown by the picture below.

As we live in the PNW a lot of our camping is done in more heavily forested areas. This is why we started with a portable unit instead of roof-top panels. So far this has worked out well and the majority of the time we just leave the generator in the back of the truck. I also installed a VE Orion-TR Smart 30 amp DC-DC charger along with a dedicated heavy gauge wire run on the truck side so we have multi-stage higher-capacity charging available on travel days regardless of the weather.

The other thing I'll mention is as you are considering which components to buy make sure that they have support for lithium batteries. That way if (or more likely when) you want to make that upgrade your charging infrastructure will already support it.
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Old 04-10-2022, 04:24 PM   #10
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Thank you for that link for the diy panels. I'm sure I could build that I think. Always great people and ideas here. Thanks all.

John
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Old 04-10-2022, 10:36 PM   #11
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I used two 100 watt Renogy panels, hinged together face to face to protect the glass--a 400 watt Renogy MPPT controller (mounted in the storage area) and a 30 foot Renogy cable to allow movement around the rig.
I used the Zamp connector on the side of the tailer (it wasn't connected right from factory) to connect the cable. I drilled a hole through the floor of the storage just above the Zamp connector and ran large wireing from the connector to the controller (mounted on the wall of the storage compartment) and back to the Zamp wireing going to the batteries.
Total cost ( a couple years ago, was under $500.00) and the set up does work. I have a place in the back of the truck for the panels, but I have to admit that the under storage pacement looks pretty sweet.
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Old 04-13-2022, 09:35 AM   #12
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Congratulations John, great trailer and great dealership. We also picked out 24RKS up at ThompsonRV last month. We’re currently on our first actual outing with it. Besides the faulty refrigerator gas train assembly that was replaced the only other thing that happened was the entire valence/window shade fell from the wall. Unfortunately the manufacturer only used 2 little screws to secure this 5ft valance with roll shade that probably weighs 12lbs.
So I plan on remounting the valance when we get home by cleating the cabinet and screwing the valance into the cleating material. That should permanently fix that problem.
Have fun and enjoy your new trailer!
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Old 04-14-2022, 09:28 AM   #13
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...snip... the entire valence/window shade fell from the wall. Unfortunately the manufacturer only used 2 little screws to secure this 5ft valance with roll shade that probably weighs 12lbs.
So I plan on remounting the valance when we get home by cleating the cabinet and screwing the valance into the cleating material. That should permanently fix that problem.
Have fun and enjoy your new trailer!
Same thing happened to one of the valences in my slide. 4 screw setup, but the screws were only into the interior luan. Seems to me they should have used some anchors. Errr.
Even that should have worked, but I would guess one or more of the screws probably stripped out in installation.
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Old 04-14-2022, 04:23 PM   #14
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Same thing happened to one of the valences in my slide. 4 screw setup, but the screws were only into the interior luan. Seems to me they should have used some anchors. Errr.
Even that should have worked, but I would guess one or more of the screws probably stripped out in installation.
Yes I do agree completely. The two screws were literally in the foam insulation. I don’t know how they think this hold for any length of time.
Once we get home 🏡 it’ll get fixed the right way. When I’m done the only way it’ll fall again is if the entire cabinet falls 😂😂
Bill S.
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