New solar and controller for a 2020 Thor outlaw C

[Snks]

So my motorhome came with a small Go Power solar controller and I would like to upgrade it. I want to use 2 Go Power 190 watt panels the total being 380 watts. It appears it came wired with 10 gauge wires to the roof and batteries.
Is this Renogy rover 40 amp mppt controller look good with my set up.

[DavidEM]

I have the same Go Power setup on my new Axis with a single 100 watt panel. Do you also have a 100 watt panel and if so what are you going to do with it?

You can buy 200 watt panels much cheaper on Amazon than Go Power's prices, about half or less. In any case, wire them in series and then to the power port on the roof to the internal 10 gauge wire down to the controller. That will save voltage drop in the wiring. Wire the controller's output to the batteries with big #6 wire. You want the voltage drop from the controller to the batteries to be very low.

David

[Snks]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

I have the same Go Power setup on my new Axis with a single 100 watt panel. Do you also have a 100 watt panel and if so what are you going to do with it?

You can buy 200 watt panels much cheaper on Amazon than Go Power's prices, about half or less. In any case, wire them in series and then to the power port on the roof to the internal 10 gauge wire down to the controller. That will save voltage drop in the wiring. Wire the controller's output to the batteries with big #6 wire. You want the voltage drop from the controller to the batteries to be very low.

David

No I only have the single 190 watt go power panel. Thanks for the info.

[Snks]

Looks like this controller is a better fit and has back lighting so you can see the voltage at night.

[Judge]

When I had my Outlaw 29H, I installed two Renogy 160W Flexible Panels and their 40A MPPT Controller. It worked great. I could actually run the 5000BTU A/C unit with an upgraded Inverter and the system kept the house batteries charged on a sunny day.

What I really liked about the Renogy Controllers is several come with the ability to add a Bluetooth module so you can monitor the system through their app. It will tell you how much wattage the system is producting as well as the current and charge mode.

The only down side is that Controller is big and heavy. You could also look at the their 30A PWM Controller. It would also do a good job (unless you intend to install your panels in series instead of parallel) and it is just a little larger than the Go Power Controller.

And to be honest with you.... I have the 10A Go Power Controller in my Magnitude and I installed the two 160W flexible panels and it works just fine even though the limit is supposed to be 190W.

In reality, 320W of panels is rarely going to generate near its full potential.... unless the panels are always clean and they are pointed at full sun at the proper angle.... and even then you will be hard pressed to get full power. Plus the panels start losing small amounts of power generation capability from day one. I have had the system hooked up for over a year without any issues supporting my four 6V house batteries.

[Chateau_Nomad]

I also had that same factory installed GoPower 20 amp controller. I replaced it with a Rich Solar 40 amp MPPT controller, and installed two Rich Solar 100 watt panels on the roof. I replaced the single 12 volt battery with two 6 volt GC2 batteries. Used existing wiring from panels to controller, but used 4 gauge from controller to batteries, and to wire batteries in series. Works great... very affordable, nice display on controller... and batteries are ALWAYS charged!