Solar Pass Thru

[Seanmcgillivray]

I have a 2019 Thor ACE 30.2 MH. On the roof is a solar pass thru. I attached a pic. My question is where do the wires terminate inside the coach?

Thanks in advance.

[Scubawise]

At the solar controller near front door

[Chateau_Nomad]

Technically that's not a "pass through". It's an MC4 solar panel connector. Your coach likely has a 10 amp GoPower charge controller mounted on the side of the cabinet in your entry doorway... just above the step well. It's part of a "solar ready" package.

[DavidEM]

Do you plan to add panels? If so, how many and what wattage.

David

[Seanmcgillivray]

I have walked the coach extensively and there is no Solar controller. Just that MC4 on the roof.

Pulled up the panel covering the bed (above the distribution panel) and found two wires just coiled up in a loom. Believe these are them. Will get a multimeter to confirm.

[Chance]

A few years ago “solar ready” often meant wiring from motorhome roof to interior, and did not necessarily include solar charge controller. For higher-power systems, controllers often got replaced anyway.

[Chateau_Nomad]

If those are indeed the lead wires from the roof, Thor took the really cheap route. First, those Go Power 10 amp PWM control modules are a dime a dozen for Thor. Second, you want your solar charge controller as close as possible to your house batteries. I'm guessing your batteries are nowhere near that area.

P.S. I replaced the 10 amp Go Power controller in our rig with a 40 amp. I still have the 10 amp one gathering dust in a box... make me a reasonable offer and pay shipping and it's yours.

[Lt Keefer]

On my Hurricane, the other end of those wires are in the birds nest of wires under the bed, behind the breaker panel.

[Seanmcgillivray]

Going to do a little more detective work. The wire loom I did find doesn't "seem" to be heavy enough. 10 gauge wire is called out for the solar panels.

Anyone else have experience with a solar connector, but not solar controller?

Thanks in advanace.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Seanmcgillivray

Going to do a little more detective work. The wire loom I did find doesn't "seem" to be heavy enough. 10 gauge wire is called out for the solar panels.

Anyone else have experience with a solar connector, but not solar controller?

Thanks in advanace.

10 gauge? What solar panels do you have that will be putting out close to 30 amps?

[Seanmcgillivray]

I maybe mistaken. It was the specs on the prebuilt MC4 connectors from Go Power.

Going to ring out the wires and that will give me positive identification.

[Chance]

Someone in forum posted electrical drawing a while back, and if I recall correctly wire size for future solar panels was 10 gauge. With lower-voltage panels, 30 Amps isn’t all that oversized. On other hand, by using higher voltage panels, 10 gauge can handle 1000+ Watts of solar if needed.

[Sylvain]

behind the electrical panel

[wbob]

Originally Posted by Seanmcgillivray

Going to do a little more detective work. The wire loom I did find doesn't "seem" to be heavy enough. 10 gauge wire is called out for the solar panels.

Anyone else have experience with a solar connector, but not solar controller?

Thanks in advanace.

I too have the roof connector and no solar controller on my Thor 24fe Freedom Elite. I have searched everywhere in and out of the coach and cannot find the wires. I saw a YouTube video of a 2019, same model as my own, and there was an orange wire bundle behind the power panel. Unfortunately, not on my 2018.

[71_340]

My 2020 ACE came from the factory Solar Prepped. The roof connector and wiring that ended under the bed/behind the power panel was the extend of the prep. When you install solar, the controller should be as close to the batteries as possible....keep that in mind.

I bought a 100 Watt solar kit with an MPP controller, all the wiring and fuses for $279.00 from the Renogy store on eBay and installed it myself. I placed the solar controller right above the battery box.

[crazylegs]

Thor only preps the solar. The access point on the roof is wire to the power cabinet area. Mine is under the bed. There will be 2 - 10 AWG wires that don't connect to anything. The positive is black with a yellow stripe.

You will need a controller. Mount in the same area as the power centre so the 10 AWG run is short. Ground the negative with the rest of the ground wires in the cabinet. Mine was a clump of 20 or so wires to a large bolt. Connect the positive to the battery side of the main battery switch. It should be a large 2 AWG cable or larger.

Follow the instructions for the controller. Typically you connect to the batteries first and select the type of battery. Then connect the solar panes.

[Junodtim]

Originally Posted by Seanmcgillivray

I have a 2019 Thor ACE 30.2 MH. On the roof is a solar pass thru. I attached a pic. My question is where do the wires terminate inside the coach?

Thanks in advance.

On my 2019 RC25 they terminated on the solar controller. I found the male connectors on Amazon.

[plastrd]

I guess I'm curious why the solar charge controller needs to be as close to the batteries as possible?

The converter/fuse panel is under the bed at the rear of the coach and there seems to be no problem with charging the house battery over that distance. I would likely put the solar charge controller right next to it where the solar wires terminate and then the battery output paralleled with the converter back to the house battery.

I could see an efficiency argument since a boondocker would want to eek every last watt-hour out of a solar setup. Sending the higher voltage PV output as close to the battery as possible would save you some I^2*R losses in the wire. For the rest of us does it matter that much?

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by Seanmcgillivray

I have a 2019 Thor ACE 30.2 MH. On the roof is a solar pass thru. I attached a pic. My question is where do the wires terminate inside the coach?

Thanks in advance.

If you don't have the solar panel you don't have the controller just wires where the controller would be mounted

[paulwadley]

My controller is mounted inside the cabinet above my refrigerator. Look inside the cabinets to find the wires where they terminate.


Paul