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A little background for those who don't know us. We've had 8 RVs of which the last 3 have been Grand Design RVs. We first bought our Reflection 337RLS in January 2015 (actually December 30th 2014). We owned that trailer for 6 1/2 years and loved every minute of it. I did a crap load of mods including disc brakes, onboard Onan generator, solar (400 watts), inverter (1000 watts for a limited number of outlets), 2 - 6 volt Trojan batteries, etc. It was fun and worked well for us for 6 1/2 years.
This past June we sold that trailer (recovered the total original purchase price but not the upgrades) to "downsize" and bought a 2021 17MKE. I spent the first month doing solar (400 watts of rooftop), 2000 watt inverter (that we just plugged the trailer into so very simple), and 200 ah of lithium batteries. After 3 camping trips we decided it was just too small for us so we sold it in 1 day. We recovered every penny we spent on it and the mods! What a lucky break for us!
We immediately purchased our 2022 22MLE. We re so excited because it seems to be just the perfect trailer for us. Which leads me to the purpose of this post. Before I even got it home, we purchased it out of state 750 miles away, I started planning and purchasing the components for our latest solar/power system upgrades. As a brief note, this is a recent 2022 build and came with the Furrion 12 volt fridge (so far we love it!), a single Furrion 165 watt solar panel and 25 amp solar charger.
This time out I am "going all in". We are installing 800 watts of rooftop solar composed of 4 200 watt RICH Solar monocrystalline panels, 2 - 206 ah SOK lithium batteries, a VE (Victron Energy) Multiplus 3000 inverter/charger, a VE SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 solar charger, a VE Lynx Distributor, VE 500 amp Shunt (battery monitor) and other goodies. I am removing the existing solar panel and solar charger and will either sell it or maybe convert it to a portable panel and run it through it's own solar charger. I am essentially following an install documented by Nate of Explorist Life.
So far I have procured everything with exception of my fuses which are arriving in the next week or so. I am going to list the items I have completed as of today in a list format, add some pictures and will return with a new list until I finish the project.
1.) Remove the existing 12 volt batteries from the front tongue. NOTE: I will install a diamond plate storage box here which is what I did on the 17MKE and it was very handy.
2.) Remove the original battery wires and replace with 6 awg wire from the original location over the coroplast to the street side of the trailer and up into the pas through behind the water panel.
3.) Pull 2 - 25 feet 10-3 Romex wires from an existing hole in the floor behind the power center (fuse panel) in the kitchen area above the coroplast across the trailer, forward and then up through the floor behind the water panel and into the pass through.
4.) Disconnect to OEM 10-3 from the power center and connect those 3 wires to one of the new 10-3 cables which results in a single run of 10-3 from the power port at the rear of the trailer all the way into the pass through compartment where it will connect to the Multiplus..
5.) Connect the other new 10-3 to the same positions in the power center the OEM wires previously occupied this will then connect to the Multiplus providing 110v back to the power center.
6.) Disconnect the WFCO factory converter as it will no longer be needed.
7.) Run 4/0 black wire down the existing hole behind the water panel into the space between the floor and the coroplast.
8.) Drill a hole in the frame and using a Dremel tool removed the surface paint from the contact area and fastened the wire lug to the frame for my ground.
9.) Remove the existing paneling on the forward wall of the pas through compartment and replace with painted 1/2" plywood to provide a mounting surface for all the components.
10.) Before mounting the plywood I placed all the components on the board laying flat to locate everything and predrill all my mounting holes.
11.) Mounted solar disconnect breaker box, solar charger, Multiplus hanger and the Lynx Distributor and test fitted the new wall in the pass through.
I should have everything done in the next day or 2 except the solar panels.
A few random pictures that may or may not be in the same order as my above list.
This past June we sold that trailer (recovered the total original purchase price but not the upgrades) to "downsize" and bought a 2021 17MKE. I spent the first month doing solar (400 watts of rooftop), 2000 watt inverter (that we just plugged the trailer into so very simple), and 200 ah of lithium batteries. After 3 camping trips we decided it was just too small for us so we sold it in 1 day. We recovered every penny we spent on it and the mods! What a lucky break for us!
We immediately purchased our 2022 22MLE. We re so excited because it seems to be just the perfect trailer for us. Which leads me to the purpose of this post. Before I even got it home, we purchased it out of state 750 miles away, I started planning and purchasing the components for our latest solar/power system upgrades. As a brief note, this is a recent 2022 build and came with the Furrion 12 volt fridge (so far we love it!), a single Furrion 165 watt solar panel and 25 amp solar charger.
This time out I am "going all in". We are installing 800 watts of rooftop solar composed of 4 200 watt RICH Solar monocrystalline panels, 2 - 206 ah SOK lithium batteries, a VE (Victron Energy) Multiplus 3000 inverter/charger, a VE SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 solar charger, a VE Lynx Distributor, VE 500 amp Shunt (battery monitor) and other goodies. I am removing the existing solar panel and solar charger and will either sell it or maybe convert it to a portable panel and run it through it's own solar charger. I am essentially following an install documented by Nate of Explorist Life.
So far I have procured everything with exception of my fuses which are arriving in the next week or so. I am going to list the items I have completed as of today in a list format, add some pictures and will return with a new list until I finish the project.
1.) Remove the existing 12 volt batteries from the front tongue. NOTE: I will install a diamond plate storage box here which is what I did on the 17MKE and it was very handy.
2.) Remove the original battery wires and replace with 6 awg wire from the original location over the coroplast to the street side of the trailer and up into the pas through behind the water panel.
3.) Pull 2 - 25 feet 10-3 Romex wires from an existing hole in the floor behind the power center (fuse panel) in the kitchen area above the coroplast across the trailer, forward and then up through the floor behind the water panel and into the pass through.
4.) Disconnect to OEM 10-3 from the power center and connect those 3 wires to one of the new 10-3 cables which results in a single run of 10-3 from the power port at the rear of the trailer all the way into the pass through compartment where it will connect to the Multiplus..
5.) Connect the other new 10-3 to the same positions in the power center the OEM wires previously occupied this will then connect to the Multiplus providing 110v back to the power center.
6.) Disconnect the WFCO factory converter as it will no longer be needed.
7.) Run 4/0 black wire down the existing hole behind the water panel into the space between the floor and the coroplast.
8.) Drill a hole in the frame and using a Dremel tool removed the surface paint from the contact area and fastened the wire lug to the frame for my ground.
9.) Remove the existing paneling on the forward wall of the pas through compartment and replace with painted 1/2" plywood to provide a mounting surface for all the components.
10.) Before mounting the plywood I placed all the components on the board laying flat to locate everything and predrill all my mounting holes.
11.) Mounted solar disconnect breaker box, solar charger, Multiplus hanger and the Lynx Distributor and test fitted the new wall in the pass through.
I should have everything done in the next day or 2 except the solar panels.
A few random pictures that may or may not be in the same order as my above list.
It's also really nice to know if I'm going to be somewhere for an extended period and the sun is low, I can get the most out of them.
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