Thor Forums

[HaRVey]

My opinion is the GP-PWM-10-SQ is too small for more than a single ~100 watt panel, which is bare minimum to maintain your House batteries when your RV is not being used and not adaquate for any system large enough to be of any benefit to your situation.
You have a few (many) options:
1) (least cost) check the wires going into and out of the controller to see if they are standard 10 gauge, if so, you can use the factory wiring but replace the controller with a larger capacity one (GP Electric GP30PWM) which can support up to 400W of power, which I think is bare minimum for reducing your generator
2) (mid cost) just buy one 100W panel and move the output of the factory controller to maintain your Chassis batteries and then buy and install a entire new system like the Go Power AE6 or similar (760W total power) which will allow you to dramatically reduce you generator usage.
3) at the higher end of the equation is to install a new system of at least 1200W with at least six golf cart 6V batteries (or better like AGM), which will get you down to zero generator use on clear sunny days, except when you want or need AC or Microwave.
I went the mid route, but upgraded to four LiFePo batteries (400AH total) which with my Magnum MS2812 inverter/charger allows me to recharge my batteries at ~136amps in about 2 hours of generator time. I run the genny for no more than 2 hours before quiet hours and get the batterise to 100% SOC, go all night and the next day with heavy use (fridge, tvs, sat, coffee, blender, juicer, short hair dryer and micro, lots of wifes heat pad) and end at ~50-60% SOC before the end of day recharge...
One of the best additions was the Victron BMV 712 Smart (Bluetooth) battery monitor, which allows me to know precisely how much charge I have, how much I'm using or charging and how long I can go at that rate of use!