3250BH Solar and Inverter

[Arizona Camper]

Want to install both solar and a 3,000 watt inverter.In the front compartment there are 2 sets of wires behind a cover. Cover has a label , Solar/Inverter. 1 set is self explanatory (solar positive and negative) from roof. The second labeled (control positive and negative) is for the charge controller??? So far no wires labeled for Inverter have been found but I am going to remove a panel to see if those wires are by the battery disconnect switch. I am trying to cut my costs as much as possible when I take it in to get final install done. I have the Inverter and 40 amp solar charge controller as well as 9 hard solar panels and 2 flexible ones. Thinking of selling the hard panels and buying 2 or 3 more flexible panels instead for easier installation on the roof. Panels are all 100 watts or better. What if anything can I do myself to cut my final install costs? Not a electrician but I can wire OK ( with power disconnected). Pictures of panel cover and Inverter I have. Trailer is 50 Amp with 2 A/C units.

[Country Campers]

If you remove the cover with the Solar/Inverter label and post a pic of the wires we may be able to determine what the wires are.

Make sure that the panels you choose are the same or very close to electrical properties, voltage and amperage output. If you have some high panels 10 amps and some low panels 6 amps I think you will only get 6 amps, examples of course. So keeping the panels the same will be better. If you are not comfortable with electrical items it is best to get someone that is to do this project, but it is not that difficult with a little reading and learning, I did my own from learning and help from this Forum. The main thing is to cover the panels so no sunlight is activating them, the wires will be hot when in sunlight.

Brian

[Arizona Camper]

Solar charge controller installed easily. I did not want to install it behind the box covering the water intake, cable TV connections, cut off switch and all the other connections by the door. Not sure why Grand Design would bring the wireing somewhere that can not allow me to see the controller status screen. 40 amp charge controller and i have 2 flexible 100 watt panels just thrown on the roof. Showing 4.8 amps at high noon. Thinking I will connect 7 panels in total to this controller. Somewhere down the line I would not mind upping it to 12 panels. I have 12 more hard panels but will probably buy flexible for the complete install. Just going to glue them to coro plastic on the roof to allow cooler operation. Estimating high on each panel at 5.5 amps so that gives me a little safety margin for 7. Top left is the Bluetooth module that allows me to monitor and change parameters for the controller on my phone. Waiting on inline 40 amp fuse holder to connect to the panel input side.
Never found any wiring for the inverter so that is my next project. Any personal experience on what I will be able to run with the 3,000 watt/9,000 watt surge inverter i have?
i am expecting a little criticism on the close location to the water input. Going to create a waterproof shield to cover the wires.

[Arizona Camper]

Screen shot of the interface screen on my phone. 4:30 pm with some shade on panels.

[Country Campers]

Just a note, In one of the previous posts you mentioned "glue the panels onto the coroplast on the roof", the roof material is not coroplast it is a rubber type material and requires special adhesives for sealing. You will need to be careful what type of "glue" that you use to adhere your panels.

Brian

[Arizona Camper]

I had heard that also. Will check through the threads to find out what adhesive I will need. Really do not want to drive any screws through the membrane. Thanks

[TucsonJim]

I had heard that also. Will check through the threads to find out what adhesive I will need. Really do not want to drive any screws through the membrane. Thanks

Good morning AZ Camper. Just to recap so I understand. You're considering putting flexible panels on your roof and will glue them down?

As a fellow Arizonan, I'd suggest proceeding with caution. Based on my memory, the flexible panels do not do well with the intense UV light we experience in Arizona.

Jim

[ncitro]

Arizona Camper I have to agree with Jim. Flexible panels are not a good way to go with the roof material we have. If you need to replace a panel you are looking at a very costly roof repair. Pretty much every RV system I have seen runs rigid panels.

[Arizona Camper]

Thank you both for saving me that headache and expense. I have 12 rigid panels already so that saves me money. Will start with 7 and at some point upgrade to 12. Will the solar ready install wireing from GD support 12 panels? Another issue is penetrating the roof membrane and the possibility of voiding the warranty. Will have the same concern when I have the winegard trav'ler satellite dish installed. Dealership question. May be many months before that happens.
Trailer was in for warranty repairs at Little Dealer in Mesa AZ for 2 months and they had not even looked at it. Finally told them I was picking it up so we could get some use out of it. Told them to call me when they thought a tech would actually get to work on it.

[ncitro]

Thank you both for saving me that headache and expense. I have 12 rigid panels already so that saves me money. Will start with 7 and at some point upgrade to 12. Will the solar ready install wireing from GD support 12 panels? Another issue is penetrating the roof membrane and the possibility of voiding the warranty. Will have the same concern when I have the winegard trav'ler satellite dish installed. Dealership question. May be many months before that happens.
Trailer was in for warranty repairs at Little Dealer in Mesa AZ for 2 months and they had not even looked at it. Finally told them I was picking it up so we could get some use out of it. Told them to call me when they thought a tech would actually get to work on it.

The factory wiring is 10AWG wire, good for 30A. I would think ten panels would be too many unless you put most of them in series, but then you'll need a high voltage charge controller.

You'd only void the warranty if they can prove what you did caused the warranty issue. For instance if you install the panels and the roof leaks because you didn't seal it well it won't be covered. However if you install the panels at the back and the roofing material leaks at the front they'd have a hard time denying the claim. That said the warranty is pretty short, and the roof warranty past one year only covers the roof material not the labor. My theory is do a good job and don't worry about it.

[RockingKCranch]

Welcome to this journey of adding solar. A few thoughts as I did mine last year and thinking of adding on this summer. Ncitro is right about not overloading your controller or wiring.. it has a max volt of 100 and max amps of 40... The amps are not as critical as the Volts coming in, as I understand it. . It's the free voltage of each panel to pay attention to and the total of them added together needs to be below 100. (I trust someone will correct me if I have that wrong). I installed 4- 150 Watt panels for 600 watts. My controller will accept 12v or 24 v from the panels, so to be able to use the 10 ga wire, I had to first wire 2 panels / pairs in series, (making 24 volts) and then into parallel to run down to the controller at 24V. This kept me nicely under the 30 amp limit of the wiring. I'd recommend keeping the Number of panels at even numbers and try to run to the controller at 24v. Safer and more efficient. . I assume you have engineered the whole project, putting in place cut-offs, and fuse blocks, Bus Bars, etc. in the right places. And don't forget to hook up your batteries before turning on the solar current to the charger, if you haven't done so yet. I am still trying to move to a 300 or 400 ah LifePO4 bank, and add a inverter, but that poses a lot of questions by itself that need to be engineered correctly for safety. I may post my own questions soon. Good luck!

PS, I have heard that those flexible panels laid directly on the roof can get dangerously hot, No worries with the rigid panels.

[AlpineGuy]

I am in the middle of my solar project right now. Arizona Camper, there is so much to unpack here. The 10 gauge wire from the roof really limits how many amps you can move. Since your charge controller is located so close to where the wire comes into the pass thru, you are making the wire distance as short as possible, so that is in your favor. You need to calculate the amps and distance traveled from the panel furthest away from your wire port on the roof. Let's say you are running 15 feet along the roof and then 8 feet down to your controller for 23 feet of 10 gauge wire. If you are using 100W panels, they usually are 24 V and 5 amps. So- if you wire 4 panels in parallel you are moving about 20 Amps at 24 volts, because wiring in parallel keeps the voltage the same as one panel but multiplies the amps. Using a wire calculator, we see that you would really be pushing the limits of that wire, probably not a good idea to wire more than 3 of those 100W panels in parallel. Now- if we wire in series, we keep the amps at the amps of a single panel while the voltage multiplies. You can push high voltages through wire safely, it is amps that cause problems. So- if we wire the four 100W panels in series, we end up with 5 amps at 100 Volts, which is much safer. Your charge controller has a max voltage rating, so you'll need to check that. My controller has a max voltage of 200, but it's a very large controller. When wiring panels in series, it is also essential that the panels have the same specs- it is highly recommended that all the panels be from the same manufacturer. There is a big downside to running panels in series: the panels essentially become one giant panel, and so if one panel is shaded or damaged, all the other panels suffer. You need full sun on all of your panels for any of them to operate well. This is where running a combination of series and parallel looks like a good idea. Wire 2 of the 4 panels in series, and repeat with the other 2. Now you have 2 groups of panels with each being 5 amps at 48 volts. Now wire those 2 groups in parallel for a total of 10 amps at 48 volts. Now you are still well under the amp capacity of the 10 gauge wire (at your distances), while making 2 groups of panels able to operate independently from one another for better performance. There is no right answer or best way here. But there is safe and unsafe. It's very important that we know we're being safe. I am only talking about series vs. parallel here- there are so many other subjects involved- for example- code requires a disconnect between the solar array and the charge controller, and because an RV isn't grounded, the disconnect must be a dual pole breaker. An inline fuse won't work, nor will a traditional DC disconnect because those usually max out at 48 volts. Solar is a popular DIY project, and I am doing mine myself as a DIYer, but I have seen so many systems on you tube that are not to code, I think most folks are better off calling an electrician in. That being said- we're all here to help each other as DIYers, so thanks everybody!