Thor Forums

[DenverTransplant]

I have my doubts on how robust Thor's "solar ready" installations are. Anything of any size takes some fairly beefy wires in order to keep voltage drop down. My sense is that Thor leaves you hanging with under sized wires and letting you figure out how to connect to the batteries.

You might be able to install 200W of solar with the factory wiring, and might be able to use an MPPT charger with the panels in series if you need more power. I don't know where your DC distribution panel is, but I suspect its a ways from the batteries. You might get away with a tie in to the the DC input/output cables at your converter, but I'd be a little concerned about voltage drop. Solar charger needs its own fuses on both the input and output sides.

I have 200W of flexible panels on the roof of my ACE 30.1 (non "solar ready") and I decided to run a pair of 8 gauge cables from the roof through the refrigerator vent and then down the belly bay and across into the forward storage compartment where I mounted a Bogart SC-2030 solar charger. The solar panels are wired in parallel to the 8 gauge cables and I'll be adding another 200W, also wired in parallel.

The solar charger is about 10 cable-feet from the batteries as the generator is between the most forward storage compartment and the battery compartment. With the charger being only 40 amps, I cheated a bit and just used 10 gauge wire from the charger to the batteries. However I'm adding a 1500 watt inverter in the same compartment and am installing 1/0 battery cables for the inverter input. I'll probably remove the 10 gauge wires and tie in solar charger to the inverter terminations..