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Last changes 2/11/2007 |
Why AC electricity is important to us. |
A normal RV refrigerator uses AC or propane gas. When AC is not available,
the propane gas is used. We have a household refrigerator and we need
AC power all the time.
When we are in a place where an AC plug-in is not available,
we have a generator. However, running the generator may not
be desirable or allowed.
We also have an inverter which used DC voltage from the batteries
to deliver AC power. We decided to add solar panels to our
trailer to insure the trailer batteries get recharged.
Also, even when we have AC shore power, the solar panels take
over the job of the Inverter/Charger, reducing the amount of AC
power we need from the park. It is our part of being a little
green for the planet. |
Solar system description |
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We could repeat the description of a solar system but there are very good
descriptions available at
Jack Mayer's website
and at AM Solar
Education, too good for us to repeat. |
The solar system we chose |
We chose an
AM Solar SunRunner
system. AM Solar is owned by Greg Holder. We had taken
classes on batteries, and solar controllers from Greg Holder at
Life On
Wheels. The thing that impressed us most is that Greg
does his own testing with his own RV. He practices what he
preaches.
Not only does Greg test his own solar systems, his RV has three
solar systems, two being competitors systems. When Greg says
a SunRunner puts more juice into your batteries, he has observed it.
We took Life On Wheels classes with Greg over a period of four
years. In the LOW classes, Greg doesn’t peddle his systems,
he talks about several systems. When you ask him questions
about competitor equipment, you will quite often get a response
that that equipment is good stuff.
At the last class we had with Greg, we asked about a Sky Blue
solar controller. This solar controller had been recommended
to us. Greg said it was a very good unit and then offered
the fact that the Heliotrope solar controller used in the SunRunner
system uses licensed technology from Sky Blue. That brought
up the obvious question, “Is the SunRunner controller better?”
His response said yes because the SunRunner systems are tweaked
to perform best for RVers. Other systems, like Sky Blue, are
very good but geared more for home installations.
While AM Solar is an incredibly knowledgeable company, it is
a small friendly company. The ordering process is very easy.
I had the advantage of being located at a campground where Jack
Mayer was workamping and he helped me do the installation.
It is not that hard but it you feel technically challenged, AM Solar
has an excellent installation team. |
Wiring |
The
SunRunner Kit comes with a very complete set of cables and wires
to connect the system. We choose to beef up the #8 down-feed
cables included in the kit.
When we ordered the Travel Supreme trailer, we added a Solar
Prep kit and we requested #8 wires be used instead of the normal
#10. Bigger wire reduces voltage losses. Somewhere in
the order process, the #8 requirement got lost. When we went
to install the solar kit, we tried to use the #10 wire in the Solar
Prep kit to pull bigger wire. Unfortunately, the way the wires
were run through the walls and ceiling of the trailer, pulling the
existing wires was out of the question.
After we had ordered the trailer, we came to the decision that
we should have asked for #6 wires. So the order error wasn’t
all that bad. We would have had to run new wire anyways. |
Solar Controller |
We choose the SunRunner kit with the
Heliotrope HPV-30DR
solar controller. This is a 30 amp solar control that
is very sophisticated in solar charge management. This controller
will handle six solar panels so we can grow 50% from the four solar
panels we installed.
The HPV-30DR has a remote control monitor panel that we mounted
above the Inverter remote control panel. |
Solar Panels |
The AM100 solar panels
used in the SunRunner Kit have 44 cells instead of the typical 36
cells. These are custom panels made for AM Solar. The
extra cells contribute to the extra battery power the SunRunner
system delivers from a sunny or semi-sunny day,
The AM100 solar panels are a couple of inches narrower than typical
panels making easy to install the panels along side of the air conditions
on the roof.
The rocker foot mounts for the solar panels were glued to the roof using
VHB (Very High Bond) 3M tape so we did not have to drill the roof.
The base kit comes with one solar panel. We added three
more panels for to make a 400 watt system. This is about the
right size for the 440 amp-hour capacity of our house batteries. |
Combiner Box |
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The CB Combiner
Box in the kit has the terminal strips that the solar panel
wires are combined to the main feed down to the solar controller. |
Panel Tilt Bars |
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We added tilt bars
to the solar panels. These bars allow us to elevate the
panel towards the sun when it is low in the sky. |
Battery Monitor |
We also installed a
TriMetric 2020 Battery
Monitor to provide more information on the real condition of
the charge of our batteries. Since we have two sources that
can charge the batteries, the solar panels and the Inverter/Charger,
we needed something that was independent to the two sources.
We acquired the TriMetric 2020 from
www.solarseller.com.
For example, the Inverter/Charger can be showing a float charge
of 4 amps and the TriMetric will show 0 amps. This is because
the 4 amps is being used by devices (lights) in the trailer.
Thus the Inverter/Charges is showing a float charge but none of
it is going into the batteries. |
The Installation |
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This is a close-up of the wiring connections to the AM100 solar panels. |
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The electrical connection box for the AM100 solar panel is located under the panel.
The panel is raised for access. |
click on images to enlarge |
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The AM100 solar panel electrical connection box with the cover on. |
click on images to enlarge |
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The hardest part of the installation was the hole in the roof.
To route the solar down-feed wire, we had to find a different route.
We drilled a hole through the roof over a 3” wall that was used for other wiring runs.
This was a very worrisome step as we didn’t want a leaking roof.
The hole in the roof was not easy.
The ceiling of the Travel Supreme is rather thick.
We cut a 1-1/4” hole through the fiberglass roof and then through the ½” plywood layer under the fiberglass.
Then a couple inches down was a wood cap piece at the top end of the wall we had to drill through.
We had a 12” long ¼” and 3/8” drill bit we used to make the initial holes.
We needed a hole big enough for a dual #6 cable with an insulated cover around the dual conductors, and a Cat-5 cable.
The 3/8” did not make thick enough holes and the challenge was to widen the oval
hole in the cap piece through the hole we had in the roof.
It took several hours of using the scraping action on the side of the drill bit to enlarge the hole. |
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This is the CB Combiner box. It is glued to the fiberglass rood with M 5200
adhesive caulk over the hole we drilled into the roof. The heavy #6 wire
goes through the roof down to the solar controller in the electrical compartment.
The lighter wire is #10 to the solar panels.
We ran and additional bead of regular RV roof caulk around
the box/roof seam as a second layer of protection from leaking. |
click on images to enlarge |
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The cables from the Combiner Box to the solar panels were attached to the roof with wire tie pads and/or puddles
of roofing caulk. |
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Here is a AM100 solar panel being elevated by the Tilt Bars.
The Tilt Bars can be located on either set of panel feet so the solar panel can be directed in either direction
when the sun is low in the sky.
The feet for the solar panels are glued to the fiberglass roof with VHB (Very High Bond) tape.
This means we did not have to make holes in the roof for attaching the panels. |
click on images to enlarge |
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Here are three of the four AM100 solar panels on the front end of the roof. |
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Here the AMS100 solar panels in the flat position. |
click on images to enlarge |
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A view not often seen of a RV trailer, the roof.
A long shot of the trailer roof showing all four AM100 solar panels.
There is room for at least four more panels if we need to expand.
On the right is the WISP antenna. |
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The Heliotrope HPV-30DR is mounted in the electrical compartment. The
converters would normally be mounted here but we do not have converters because
that function is provided by the inverter/charger. |
click on images to enlarge |
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A closer view to the Heliotrope HPV-30DR. |
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The power display panels are mounted on a wall in the bedroom.
This is the same wall that provided the cable access to the roof. |
click on images to enlarge |
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The remote control/display for the Heliotrope HPV-30DR. |
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The remote control/display for the Magnum Inverter/Charger. |
click on images to enlarge |
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The TriMetric 2020 Battery Monitor.
The TriMetric measures all current into and out of the batteries.
It provides a truer picture of the state of the battery bank than the charge values of the inverter/charger and the solar system. |
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The schematic of the Inverter/Charger, Solar Controller, and the TriMetric controls. |
click on images to enlarge |
