Imagine XLS 15FLE Solar Install Question.

[JustUsLeft]

Hello, my wife and I have just purchased a 2021 Imagine XLS 15FLE. I have ordered the Battle Born Energy Towable 30A 400Ah Kit which includes:

4 – Battle Born 100AH 12V Deep Cycle Batteries
1 – Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor
1 – Victron Multiplus Inverter Charger 3000W 12V
1 – Victron SmartSolar MPPT 150/70 TR VE Can Solar Charge Controller

Plus:
1 – Victron Color Control GX Display

I don't pickup the trailer until 6/8 but would like to order solar panels to complete my off grid system in advance. Does anyone on here have a 15FLE with solar installed? How many panels can fit on the roof of this unit? I think I probably need somewhere between 400-800 watts if possible but I am not sure if it will fit?

[bellis]

Welcome to the forum! I am not sure how many panels would fit...I went up on the roof and measured and recreated my roof in MS Excel. Shrank all the cells to 1x1 and then used lines and colors to "draw" the roof. If you do something like this, then you can look at panel dimensions and see what will fit. I wanted to put 300 watt residential panels on our rig, but they were just too wide.

Our Imagine 2400BH is a little bigger than yours, but you can see what I just finished installing on ours from continuous resources. Page 11 and 12 for what I ordered from them (2 orders because they messed my first one up). It's a long thread, but if you have an evening it may be a helpful read to see what I have had to do and the dumb questions I asked....moderators on this forum and others were great and helped me a ton.

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...estions/page12

I had trouble getting them to help me put my order together....I think they are just busy + they had a covid go through the office? Anyway...maybe you will have better luck working with them....I would talk to them and maybe AMSolar.

Your rig is about 10' overall shorter than ours...we were able to get (6) 210 watt panels on ours. Maybe you could get 4 panels up there without building a platform and putting them over everything?

Your current components are very close to ours...(jealous of that 4th battery though).

Specs on your solar controller will determine how many panels and how they will have to be wired. We have the 150/85 and we had to series parallel them. With 4 batteries = 4.8 kilowatt.....it will probably take you at least 6 hours to charge from zero to full with 800 watts of panels with a great sunny/clear day. Just some rough napkin math. At 6 hours, depending on where in the country you are...I would say you are running out of quality daylight. I just finished our solar, but I think with 3 batteries and 1260 watts (maybe 1008 after inefficiency of panel factored in?) it will take probably close to 4 hours for ours to charge from zero to full on a good day....but I need to monitor more. I would say 800 watts is the minimum you would want. The zero to full math above assumes zero usage while charging as well which is not realistic. I have seen some build a rack so they can mount panels over the entire square footage of the roof.

Hope all this helps. use the '@' to mention me or quote me if you have questions or something I can help with.

[bellis]

I almost forgot to mention....you may want to look into the Lynx distribution system from victron. I didn't do it because I thought it was too expensive....but if I look at what I spent in bus bars, lugs, fuse, etc. etc. I regret it now. It may actually be cheaper. If you can afford it...I wish I had bought it....at least look into it before buying bus bars elsewhere.

[howson]

Hello, my wife and I have just purchased a 2021 Imagine XLS 15FLE. I have ordered the Battle Born Energy Towable 30A 400Ah Kit which includes:

4 – Battle Born 100AH 12V Deep Cycle Batteries
1 – Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor
1 – Victron Multiplus Inverter Charger 3000W 12V
1 – Victron SmartSolar MPPT 150/70 TR VE Can Solar Charge Controller

Plus:
1 – Victron Color Control GX Display

I don't pickup the trailer until 6/8 but would like to order solar panels to complete my off grid system in advance. Does anyone on here have a 15FLE with solar installed? How many panels can fit on the roof of this unit? I think I probably need somewhere between 400-800 watts if possible but I am not sure if it will fit?

Welcome to the forum. There's quite a few related threads on this topic on the forum. I suspect you've already read it, but if not here's a link to the Welcome Letter: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/main-fo...to-new-members

For your question on how many panels will fit--I don't know. What I can do is link the thread where I documented the process of how I decided on Renogy 100W panels. There's quite a few considerators which are documented in the thread. (I tend to be verbose--sorry--so the thread is quite long. As I stumble my way through things I tend to write it all down.)

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/solar/1...n-2019-315rlts

Howard

[JustUsLeft]

Thanks for the feedback so far, I have attached the schematic showing my plan for layout/install. As discussed earlier in the thread I know that I probably need more solar, but until I can actually measure and plan the roof space I have ordered 420W.

A couple more questions. Do I also need to add a fuse between the +Bus and the OEM DC Trailer System? What about between the +Bus and the Inverter? Is there anything else I am missing?

Thanks for any help/feedback.

[howson]

Thanks for any help/feedback.

I'm not an expert or qualified in any way, shape or form to provide an input other than as a "random guy on the internet", so take these inputs accordingly.




1) The fuse here is unnecessary. If the wiring is sufficient to withstand the maximum possible output of the solar panel there's no chance of the wires failing in a worst-case scenario (the purpose for a fuse). If the fuse is rated under the maximum output of the panels, you'll have nuisance fuse blowing events when the panels are working normally and pumping out their PV. If the fuse is rated above the maximum possible output of the panels, what's the point?

2) A disconnect? Out of curiosity, will you please provide background on this approach versus the switch disconnect ("Blue Sea") typically used to disconnect the batteries? (Is the original disconnect in the "OEM DC Trailer System" blue box?)

3) Most setups are 400A using 4/0 wiring. I realize your trailer is "only" a 30A but if you're ever approaching maximum capacity (air conditioner running, microwave going and toss in a coffee pot) that's could be close to 300A from the batteries. (What are you using to interconnect the batteries? 2/0 is what AMSolar recommended to me.)

4) Highly recommend a hard-wired EMS in this location to protect your electrical system from rouge pedestals and low-voltage scenarios.

Hope this helps some...

Howard

[Yoda]

JustUsLeft

@howson
As Howard mentioned and if you read the Victron MultiPlus 3000 manual a 400 amp fuse is needed.I have the same inverter charger. Do some reading on the programing the multiplus (low voltage cut off) as you probably cont need the relay on the switch (note 2 from Howard) and a standard 400 amp ( I used a 600 amp one) Blue sea switch would work. Not sure what Battle Born's logic is.

BTW is Battle Born preprogramming the Multiplus and MPPT controller for you?
Keith

On edit - as mentioned in the other thread your missing frame ground on the negative bus bar and chassis grounds on the Multiplus and MPPT controller. They should be separate form the negative bus bar ground.