900 watt solar install
Finished installation of solar to 1998 U270. Five 180-watt Grape Solar Panels purchased through Home Depot; Victron 150/70 Solar Controller; Victron BM 712 monitor and 500 W shunt; battery disconnect switch for incoming solar; AM Solar rooftop combiner box; 2 gauge battery cable from combiner to charge controller; circuit breaker/switch from charge controller to battery.
Ran 2 gauge through side of refrigerator vent box flange on roof using gland nuts, ran wire down side of vent and penetrated floor of refrigerator support floor next to Suburban heater, then pulled kitchen drawers under kitchen and ran along floor behind drawers near to the floor penetration from inverter down to main storage bay next to inverter where solar charge controller was installed against the forward wall of the pass through storage.
Purchased wiring from Windynation; charge controller, monitor, and battery switch from AM Solar which provided assistance in clarifying design; 1 ½ aluminum 1/8 inch angle from Home Depot along with wire ties for panel mounts; 15 yards VHB tape one inch and half inch off Amazon; nuts and bolts from Tractor Supply.
AM Solar wanted $80 per panel for mounting kits. Seemed too much, but after making 40 bracket pieces, drilling 80 holes, and cleaning up the burring from using chop saw with fiber cut off wheel, I might go with the AM Solar mounting kits. I probably spent three days designing, redesigning, fabricating, and installing those brackets. I did have a drill press and a borrowed cut off saw. A metal band saw would have been a lot neater and faster.
Watched all the videos on AM Solar and found them very helpful. Definitely thought the combiner box was worth the money. Battery monitor and charge controller can be monitored and controlled through my iPhone via Bluetooth that is built into both Victron units. Did not have to find place to mount control panels or route control wires into coach. Big plus in my estimation.
I was on the edge between 4 gauge and 2 gauge for home run to controller. Not much difference in price or installation complexity. I found good, flexible cable with high strand count. Bought a hammer crimp off Ebay for $18.00 along with a supply of appropriate lugs. Also bought a good wire cable cutter from Home Depot.
I bought 10-gauge PV wire designed to extend with male MC4 on one end and female on the other. Bought the extension cables twice length from panel to combiner box, cut in middle and connected MC4 at panel pigtails + -, then wired direct to bus bar at combiner box. All runs to combiner box were discrete, no parallel combined runs. Had to carefully mark the positive leads and used small wire ties to keep each pair together. All wires were black and retested before connection to bus bars.
The coach has been unplugged for the past week, Trik-L Charge has been keeping chassis batteries up and charge controller easily maintaining main coach batteries.
I chose my panel locations to preserve walking space on roof for maintenance and with three forward and two rear it works for me.
Topic: 900 watt solar install