Thor Forums

[RDC54]

Originally Posted by DenverTransplant

I currently have 200W of panels on the roof and plan on adding another 200W this spring. I also have a 120W portable panel that connects to an SAE connector on a pig tail to my solar controller. With the 400W on the roof plus the portable, that will max out my controller's capacity (a little over, but I doubt I'll ever see max panel output). The portable is a hold over from when we had a trailer, but is handy to be able to locate it in the sun if the rig is shaded.

We dry camp a fair amount of time so the solar really helps keep the batteries charged. Also my storage location doesn't have power so the solar keeps the batteries charged all winter.

The solar panels are 100W (each) Windy Nation flexible panels fixed to the roof with Eternabond tape

Solar controller is a Bogart Electronics SC-2030. This is a PWM 40 amp controller chosen mainly because it integrates with my Trimetric battery monitor.

Solar controller is mounted in the storage compartment nearest the battery compartment, but is still about 10 cable-feet away. I routed two No 8 cables down the refrigerator vent and then into the belly bay below the refrigerator. Then across the bay to the driver side storage bay. Solar panels are run in parallel due to the PWM controller and a desire to have them independent. The No. 10 panel wire connects to the No 8 trunk cable under the refrigerator vent cover.

If you use the Thor provided wiring, you probably can't support more than 200W unless you use an MPPT controller and series the panels.

Another spring plan is installation of a 1500W Windy Nation inverter in the same bay with the solar controller. I need bigger battery side wire for the inverter so I'll replace the No. 10 I'm using for the solar controller with 1/0 and tie in the solar controller output to the inverter battery terminals.

DenverTransplant, I’m curious about your choice to mount flexible solar panels with Eternabond tape vs hardmount with brackets. I have heard that air needs to circulate around the panels (which would favor the hardmount with brackets), but I confess I am intrigued by the low profile and ease of installation of using Eternabond tape. And I really don’t want to drill more holes in my roof. How long have you had this setup? Any regrets about using the tape?