Planning on putting some panels on roof (400 watts) thinking to put charge controller in area at foot of bed and tie into isolator terminal that feeds front battery bank any thoughts.
Thank You Joey
Shortest route to batteries is best. Pretty easy to go down through refrigerator vent.
Sounds good to me. That is one of three places where heavy cabling to the house batteries (or the batteries themselves) can be accessed. The other two being the equipment bay next to the inverter-charger, and the area behind the kick panel in front of the passenger ( which is likely too small).
I put mine beside the inverter, which is one partition away from the house batteries.
You don't want to place any electronics in the same compartment as the batteries.
I would clarify by stating "no spark-producing electronics in an enclosed compartment with lead-acid batteries."
Where ever you put the charge controller, it's best if it's not in a confined space. In front of the foot of the bed would be good but not inside the compartment. As Doug says, the shortest way between the controller to the batteries is best. Welding cables are an excellent solution for cables. Put a fuseable link where you attach the + cable at the isolator, 12V bus or the battery itself. Bring the big cables up to next or behind the controller using a lug to attach it to a mounting surface and then run very short wires but as large as the controller will take at it's connections. I ran the roof panels to circuit breakers and another set between the controller and the big cables. This way, you are protected in case of a short. See my detailed photos of the installation here: U300 36' Solar Installation - Google Photos (https://goo.gl/photos/9KGwM2Zk28f5s4NW8)
Pierce
Here is how mine is done..
On my 96 270, I never considered connecting to the isolator. I came down from the roof into an overhead cabinet, then down through the wooden tunnel behind the driver's seat (remarkably easy to open and gain access) and hung the controller on the wall between the tunnel and the driver's side window. Then routed down from the controller to the house batteries was easy for the heavy cables out of the controller, down the tunnel to the floor behind the sofa, and drilled a hole into the battery compartment. No matter how you go, have phun. Andy1
Not sure of your floor plan but with ours it was a straight shot down the fridge compartment which straddles the battery and storage bay. Your run then becomes about 8-10 feet. You can then mount it on the opposite side of the bulkhead from your batteries. If you look close at bottom left you can see the 4 wire heading into battery bay but I don't have acid battery's but routing should not be an issue.
A bit of heresy, I would mount 3 160s length wise and not the larger panels to reduce heat. That is a personal preference.
James. looking at your picture, just a suggestion that you fasten that Victron Inverter down as it could get damaged while driving. >:D ^.^d
JohnH
Are we talking about solar panels on the roof? If so, why not larger panels?
Pierce
Pierce, I want the clearance under the panel to provide greater air flow. Mounting a 160 longitudinaly is a trade off that made sense to me to reduce heat. Given the arc of our roof and the diminished clearance that results with larger panels.
I am getting ready to remove the nonslip black square by the ladder and lay up with chop and gel coat. When I was at Xtreme, they recommended getting it off as it leads to delamination from heat. Having worked with fiberglass, it is an easy fix for me. It was a logical extension to panels as I saw it.
So as I said, it is a personal choice but one I thought was best for us.
Just a tid bit. If you need to run small wires for batt sensors to the start batts, or need to run them to the front, I have gone into the belly, found the "extra wires" EXT1 EXT2 or so, and taped into them . Saves a ton of work.
CW
Two recommendations:
1 At least 4 inches of clearance of air space is recommended for the most heat flow / dissipation, based on my internet research.
2. I painted a 15 ft by 2 ft strip of white non-skid boat paint for my solar upgrade. It is made for exterior fiberglass get coated surfaces. It must be good because it took days to get it off my hand. West Marine sells it. I lightly sanded the gel coat and cleaned with 90% rubbing alcohol.
A few years ago, when I started adding solar, I laid one flexible panel on the roof. It was a hot sunny SoCal day. After a while I went up with my IR gun and found the same temperature on the white roof, on the panel, and on the once black square.
I've seen no problems.
George,
Installing the panels fore and aft is a good idea with good clearance underneath for good airflow, cooling. The 300 watt panels are not that wide at about 39 inches so can be mounted a couple of inches higher so the curved roof has enough airflow. One member just sent a PM with some nice 315 watt panels at a very attractive price so will have a 1260 watt potential. His roof is also curved so will have to raise them a little higher than we did to get a flat installation. I'm sure he will share installation photos for others with a curved roof to examine. The only challenge here is finding four lengths of 77 inches on the roof to mount the panels without too much modification. Most panel manufacturers recommend 2 inches between the panel and the RV roof (3" mininum on a house). Ours have about 1.75 plus the distance between the frame and the actual bottom of the panel. Our roof stays pretty cool. Don't think it would be a big deal with less in the middle for a curved roof.
96" Foretravel owners will have to be a little more inventive to squeeze the panels in without going over the side. Think it can be done but will have to engineer mounts close to the edge.
FYI: commercial panels for solar fields are commonly 39x77 inches and 36 volts with load. They may say, "not for RV use" in the literature but other than putting an extra mount in the middle of the long part, there was no problem. Nice aluminum frame on them so will take some abuse without damage. Almost 8 years working well now.
Pierce
Pierce, Tom, Tim
Next sunny day I will climb up and get some IR measurements. Very curious and will enjoy seeing actual temps. I will post with pics.
The measurements you request may be inaccurate because they don't take into account the fact that solar panels heat up when a panel is almost in full sunlight, but shaded by a long branch. Almost an additional 300 watts of heat load could be dissipated by the panel.
Agree. Had 1200 watts of flexible panels on my roof, not much difference in temps between them and tops of non running ac's and vents.
Did check inside coach roof temps, less than two degrees difference between areas with panels overhead, and no panels.https://nebula.wsimg.com/067a0b086bcdbb011d73c983b5cabcee?AccessKeyId=69CC3057D53E066A8205&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
Thanks for posting the article. If I read that right, the panel with 21mm air gap, .8 inch, was 20C, 68F, cooler than the flat mount. My initial concern was not internal temps but the impact of high temperatures on the layup. By the way the "extreme" temperature they are using of 43C, 109F, is 5C cooler than Phoenix yesterday.