2018 vegas 25.3 solar?

[2 Trail Hikers]

So I have found the connectors on the roof. Asked Camping world and called Thor, no one can tell me if there is a charge controller already installed or not. Neither can tell me where the solar cables come out in the coach. I would assume that they are near the battery but I have been unable to locate them.

Has anyone had any luck finding them?

Thor did confirm that they could handle up to 300 watts and they think the charge controller is already installed and wired to the battery, but could not give me the location.

[JamieGeek]

Did you ask them for the engineering drawings of the coach? Presumably that information would be included on at least one of the electrical diagrams.

[2 Trail Hikers]

Jamie thanks I did and was told they had searched for them before but could not find them. I am finding that 2018 the 25.3 underwent some changes and their system has not been updated.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Did you ask them for the engineering drawings of the coach? Presumably that information would be included on at least one of the electrical diagrams.

The diagram that was previously posted in a different thread only list "solar prep" next to wiring and makes no reference to an actual piece of equipment like a controller. In other areas of same drawing they reference "thermostat" or lights so I think the omission was on purpose. Besides, I think it would be difficult to supply the controller because they don't know what voltage it should be, or what size/capacity (or brand) the owner prefers.

I hope I'm wrong and that they supply a controller, but wouldn't expect it.

[jpmihalk]

I wouldn't expect a controller as there are too many options to try to accommodate. (PWM vs. MPPT, # watts, # amps, plus fuses, etc.) If the wire is pre-run, that could be ok for smaller installs but depending on the gauge of the wire it may not handle bigger (400W+) installs.

[Chance]

Yeah, capacity was discussed on other thread also. As I recall wires are 10 gauge, so at higher voltages may handle quite a bit of power -- at least more than I expect to need.

[2 Trail Hikers]

All we are looking to do is replenish the battery when we are out in areas with no shore power hook up. We can use the onboard generator to charge them but i prefer the quiet sound of solar.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by 2 Trail Hikers

All we are looking to do is replenish the battery when we are out in areas with no shore power hook up. We can use the onboard generator to charge them but i prefer the quiet sound of solar.

Obviously, how much solar power you end up needing depends greatly on how much energy you need to "replenish" back into your battery.

If the system is limited to a single typical RV battery, then you're limited to around 50 Amp-hours a day, maybe a little more if you let battery run down lower. If so, that's only around 600 watt-hours per day of useable energy, which isn't that much.

I expect that once most owners have a system up and running, they find they'll use it more than originally planned. For that reason I would engineer components and wiring as if you were going to replenish a couple of large batteries from 50% depth of discharge at a minimum.