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Thread: 310GK & Solar

  1. #1
    Left The Driveway teamnash-rv's Avatar
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    310GK & Solar

    Folks,

    Has anyone installed solar on their 310GK? Curious what size solar panel and how many you were able to fit on the roof?

    Also, did you install lithium batteries? Curious how many and where did you install them - front bay or the mid-bay? If you installed in the front bay seems you would need to be concerned with pin weight?

    We don't own a 310GK but we are planning to purchase in the coming year and I would like to add solar.

    Thanks,

  2. #2
    King Pin
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamnash-rv View Post
    Folks,

    Has anyone installed solar on their 310GK? Curious what size solar panel and how many you were able to fit on the roof?

    Also, did you install lithium batteries? Curious how many and where did you install them - front bay or the mid-bay? If you installed in the front bay seems you would need to be concerned with pin weight?

    We don't own a 310GK but we are planning to purchase in the coming year and I would like to add solar.

    Thanks,
    Good morning. These are great questions to ask.

    If you plan on boondocking (dry camping) quite a bit, solar power is great for recharging your batteries.

    Let me answer the lithium battery question first. These will do fine in the front bay of the 310GK. They are much lighter than your typical lead/acid battery. A 100 amp hour lithium battery weighs about 29 pounds. A 100 amp (50 amp hours) lead acid battery weighs about 60 pounds. Lithium batteries are expensive, but have so many positive benefits that if you're seriously interested in them, we can provide you lots of justification.

    Regarding panels. The primary purpose of solar panels is to charge the batteries, and not provide power to the coach. I have found that 150 to 200 watts of solar panels will do a good job of recharging one 100 amp hour in a reasonable period of time. So if you have two lithium batteries, then 300-400 watts of power will do a good job recharging it in a few hours.

    Jim

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    Site Sponsor gbkims's Avatar
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    acadiaforever posted his 310GK install: https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...-install-310GK
    - Gene

    Kim & Gene
    2015 Reflection 317RST
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    Commercial Member huntr70's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamnash-rv View Post
    Folks,

    Has anyone installed solar on their 310GK? Curious what size solar panel and how many you were able to fit on the roof?

    Also, did you install lithium batteries? Curious how many and where did you install them - front bay or the mid-bay? If you installed in the front bay seems you would need to be concerned with pin weight?

    We don't own a 310GK but we are planning to purchase in the coming year and I would like to add solar.

    Thanks,
    Just a little preview....sometime next month-ish, they are going to offer solar on the Solitude and Momentum as a factory option.

    Here is a quote from my Rep.... "Solitude and Momentum, effective 6/10, will now have true solar prep. Also effective on this date we will offer a solar package that includes a 300W panel, controller, and 2000W inverter. This will power the refrigerator, TV, electric seating (Solitude), and several outlets."

    I should know more about it as they refine it. Don't have any other info as of right now.
    Steve- Inventory Manager at Tom Schaeffer's RV, Shoemakersville, PA www.tomschaeffers.com
    [email protected]
    2011 RAM 3500 SRW Outdoorsman Edition 4X4, 6.7 Cummins--TWEAKED!
    2021 Reflection 310RLS

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    Site Sponsor gengiant's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by huntr70 View Post
    Just a little preview....sometime next month-ish, they are going to offer solar on the Solitude and Momentum as a factory option.

    Here is a quote from my Rep.... "Solitude and Momentum, effective 6/10, will now have true solar prep. Also effective on this date we will offer a solar package that includes a 300W panel, controller, and 2000W inverter. This will power the refrigerator, TV, electric seating (Solitude), and several outlets."

    I should know more about it as they refine it. Don't have any other info as of right now.
    Of course! 3 months after we bought ours. Lol! Well, we’re getting our 760 watt solar system (4 panels), 2000 watt
    Magnum inverter/charger and 6 volt battery bank installed mid-June. I’m not about to look back!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Holger & Corinne
    Granite Bay, CA

    2019 Solitude 310gk w/goosebox conversion
    towed by 2012 Ford F450 Lariat crew cab 4x4
    Bilstein shocks, Air-ride air bags
    2 independent on-board Viair compressors w/2.5 gal. air tank
    Boston Whaler 21' Outrage when not towing 5'er

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    Seasoned Camper grandsl's Avatar
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    Wow about the new solar changes! We have not yet figured out our situation for power but definitely need to this summer. I don't want to spend all our time navigating tiny campgrounds just because we need to power things!
    Our Setup
    2018.5 Solitude 310-GK
    2012 Ford F-450

  7. #7
    Setting Up Camp
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    Its 2k for the option, i am working with my rv guy here in Lincoln, NE on a new 385GK-R, I am also going to have them ship the frame to MOR/Ryde to install the IS and disk brakes-6649.00

  8. #8
    Long Hauler Paul & Deb's Avatar
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    The company Grand Design chose for the solar package is Jaboni Power Products. They are at the National Rally and had a speaker at one of the seminars. They provided a flier outlining 3 options but no pricing. They do not currently include the inverter or batteries but that will come. The options are shown as Good, including 1 300 watt panel, a 30 amp MPPT controller and a internally mounted remote display. Better upgrades to 2 300 watt panels, a 60 amp MPPT controller and display. And the Best system is 4 300 watt panels, 2 60 amp MPPT controllers and the display. Any inverters, transfer switches or batteries are sold separately but it looks like they will be working with Magnum and probably Battleborn to supply those. The actual solar system ARE installed in the factory and not the dealership which will be nice.

    He did not mention the retail cost of these packages.

    He also implied they were not quite ready for these packages to be available but it should be before the year is up, if I understood him correctly.
    Paul "Poppy" and Deb Cervone
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    2021 Imagine XLS 17MKE - SOLD ; 2015 Grand Design Reflection 337RLS - SOLD
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  9. #9
    Seasoned Camper
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    We have a 310GK-R and here is the solar system I installed.
    1) 3-REC 320 Watt residential solar panels wired in series.
    2) Victron MPPT-150/70 charge controller.
    3) Victron BMV 712 battery monitor.
    4) Victron Multiplus 3000 inverter.
    5) 7-Battle Born 100 Ah lithium batteries.
    All live in the front storage compartment. Before doing the installs, I first removed the generator shroud and reinforced the floor.
    My recommendation in planning your solar install is not to get hung up in how many and how big panels can fit on the roof, this is putting the cart before the horse. Rather, determine by doing an energy audit on how much power you will typically consume, how you will use your rig ie. will do a lot of boondocking, occasional boondocking or only stay in RV parks. Once armed with that critical information you can then determine how much Ah of battery power you need to support your expected energy requirements, whether you in fact actually need lithium or not and then determine how much solar power you need to charge the proposed battery bank. As far as pin weight goes, for us I have plenty of payload capacity on my truck, so pin weight was not an issue, but consider many of these rigs come with at least generator prep, so I do not see it as big issue unless you have limited payload capacity and perhaps a 5K Onan generator, especially if you decide on lithium batteries which are considerably lighter than their AGM or lead acid counterparts.
    Last edited by BB&LAB; 08-29-2019 at 06:27 PM.
    Regards, Bruce, Lin An, Kenji & Suki (Our two Akitas)
    2019 Solitude 310GK-R
    2015 Ram 3500 Big Horn CC, TD, Aisin Tranny, DRW

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    Quote Originally Posted by huntr70 View Post
    Just a little preview....sometime next month-ish, they are going to offer solar on the Solitude and Momentum as a factory option.

    Here is a quote from my Rep.... "Solitude and Momentum, effective 6/10, will now have true solar prep. Also effective on this date we will offer a solar package that includes a 300W panel, controller, and 2000W inverter. This will power the refrigerator, TV, electric seating (Solitude), and several outlets."

    I should know more about it as they refine it. Don't have any other info as of right now.
    We’ve all probably seen the youtube video announcing the solar package.

    My dealer tells me this will be a ~$2,000 option - 300 watt panel, wiring, MPPT controller, 2000 inverter, switching and wiring to “all” outlets. This sounds like a reasonable deal or am I missing something (besides probably 2 lithium batteries).

    Of course if you don’t boondock - this wont matter to you.

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