• We’re Back – Thanks for Your Patience! We’re thrilled to welcome you back! After some time offline, our site is up and running again, though you may experience occasional instability as we work through the final steps of restoring full functionality. Your understanding and support mean the world to us – thank you for sticking with us through this!
  • Email notifications are being sent but may be blocked by spam filters. If you don’t receive an expected email, please check your spam folder.

Solar Hookup Solar Hookup Questions

Conundrum here. Just bought a Zamp 120 solar panel for Sunnyside. It has its own controller. I'd love to be able to just plug the puppy in, but my lovely Sunnyside has its own controller.
Cary has advised I disconnect the internal controller on the Camp Inn. Zamp has suggested that I simply let both controllers work together. Indeed here is what Zamp had to say:
What will happen is your battery's will charge from both controllers. As the battery's fill up to about 80% the dominate charger will take over and fill the battery's the rest of the way.
Do any of you have experience one way or the other? Two controllers present a problem?
Our first extended trip begins on Sunday. We are excited!
 
Wade and Nan. Cary always has well thought out answers.

My question is how long is the wiring from the solar panel to the Camp-Inn trailer? Voltage drop occurs with any distance run of wiring (the larger the wire gauge the less voltage drop per foot). I would think having the controller next to the battery being charged is better than having the controller at the solar panel. Therefore my thought would be to bypass the Zamp controller.

Maybe Cary address this concern.
 
Wade,

I believe the person at Zamp may have misunderstood the question. They answered it as if there were two controllers in parallel and two panels. That is not the case here. This would be two controllers in series. That just won't work.

Best to bypass one controller or the other. The other option (which I did no mention before) is to make a change to the trailer to reflect a current feature on 2016 trailers. That is a standard DC connection on the side of the trailer. It is there for two reasons, one would be a external connection to power things like fridges and such. The other would be for a panel like a Zamp to be connected. This connection runs on a fused outlet circuit in the trailer so connects right to the battery.

So, one could simply drill a hole in the side of the trailer behind the battery and mount either a watertight DC socket or install one of Zamp's external battery connectors. Then wire that to your battery with a inline fuse.

Cary
 
it's very easy to bypass the TD's onboard controller. That's the easiest approach, imo
 
For what it's worth, solar panels without a built-in controller are the exception rather than the rule these days. It's hard to find one without a built-in controller. We had our 560 built with the external female cigarette lighter style socket to pulg in the solar panel and no CI controller. Worked out well for the Solarland panel that we purchased that came with a cigarrete lighter style plug. That stated, cigarette lighter style plugs have also become the exception. I would recommend selecting your panel before the build begins and seeing if Cary can add the appropariate female external socket to match your panel.

Randy
 
In preparing for our trip, we are re-reading the manual. I see the fuse chart on page 19. So a question / possibility arises...
Instead of disconnecting the wires from the on board controller to allow the Zamp controller to function on its own, what if I simply took out the fuse for the Camp In Controller?
This sounds too easy, so there must be something wrong.
Let me have it, I'm used to being laughed at...
 
Wade and Nan said:
In preparing for our trip, we are re-reading the manual. I see the fuse chart on page 19. So a question / possibility arises...
Instead of disconnecting the wires from the on board controller to allow the Zamp controller to function on its own, what if I simply took out the fuse for the Camp In Controller?
This sounds too easy, so there must be something wrong.
Let me have it, I'm used to being laughed at...
Click to expand...

:)

In the time you have waited for the answer, you could have disconnected the controller....(I don't know the answer)
 
You have choices. You can pull the fuse on the controller, but then the connector on the side of the trailer will be dead; plugging your panel there won't charge the battery. You can plug the panel with controller in any of the other sockets and it will work. If you want to use the external socket, you must have the fuse in place and bypass either the trailer controller or the panel controller.

Bypassing the trailer controller is really trivial if you can turn a screwdriver and have a flashlight. The controller is in the right galley cupboard, you release a wire from one screw terminal and move it to another. Takes a few seconds. Probably takes less time than removing the fuse panel cover and pulling the fuse.
 
New to solar. So for you folks with a Renogy solar panel setup, such as the 100W suitcase style, how are you actually making the connection to the trailer? Renogy panels seem to have MC4 cables, and the CI solar connections I have seen referred to in this forum (that CI would install for you) are SAE or cigarette lighter style. What does one purchase for CI to install at the side of the trailer to connect panels with MC4 style cables? This would assume a CI solar installation with CI also installing the controller.
 
Well, I think Joan has answered my question, if CI still installs the cigarette lighter style solar connection. I saw this thread mentioned elsewhere Energy Independence but old links don't seem to be working for me on the new site. If this is still the recommended means of connecting solar panels and isn't outdated, many thanks to Joan.
 
Last edited:
In the research that we have done, all the major manufacturers offer various adapters. I know that Goal Zero uses some funky kind of connector (not sure what it's called' looks like a small pack of cigarettes). Probably the best idea for those building their trailer is to pick a solar setup and have Cary install the most appropriate universal plug. That way down the road the first owner or subsequent owners will have connection options.

We had Cary install the Zamp SAE connector. SAE is not proprietary to Zamp, many know this connection from Battry Tender products and pictured in the link in the previous post from Randy.
 
Something I haven't seen mentioned in the controller discussion is rain. I didn't get the solar option on the trailer so I added a 12V outlet in the side of the trailer behind the battery and bought the Renogy suitcase with controller. The only problem is that the controller on the suitcase is not waterproof and if it's caught in the rain it could be destroyed. If I had it to do over, I would get the controller option with the trailer so it's out of the weather, then get the suitcase w/o the controller.
 
gregangsten said:
Something I haven't seen mentioned in the controller discussion is rain. I didn't get the solar option on the trailer so I added a 12V outlet in the side of the trailer behind the battery and bought the Renogy suitcase with controller. The only problem is that the controller on the suitcase is not waterproof and if it's caught in the rain it could be destroyed. If I had it to do over, I would get the controller option with the trailer so it's out of the weather, then get the suitcase w/o the controller.
Click to expand...

Good point. That's why we have chosen to go with a Zamp setup, their controller on the panel unit IS weatherproof and no worries about moisture or rain.
 
I also have the Zamp, but didn't realize it was waterproof. Good to know. Why would anyone make a solar panel and use a non-weatherproof part? That seems short-sighted.
 
gregangsten said:
Something I haven't seen mentioned in the controller discussion is rain. I didn't get the solar option on the trailer so I added a 12V outlet in the side of the trailer behind the battery and bought the Renogy suitcase with controller. The only problem is that the controller on the suitcase is not waterproof and if it's caught in the rain it could be destroyed. If I had it to do over, I would get the controller option with the trailer so it's out of the weather, then get the suitcase w/o the controller.
Click to expand...

I'm interested to see this part of the discussion, as that is why I've thought I'd go with the controller install by CI and a Renogy suitcase w/out controller setup - keeps the controller out of the elements. From what I've seen, Zamp is a bit out of my price range. Greg, did you install your own 12v adapter on the Renogy panel wiring? I haven't found an adapter online for MC4 > 12v cigarette lighter style, so guess I would need to follow Joan's thorough instructions and make my own.
 
We got a 12v adapter with our camper. This thread talks about how to do the wiring:
Energy Independence

We just ordered our Renogy panel and will pick it up next week. So I bookmarked the above knowing that it would come in handy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top