Victron or Jaboni. I’m ready to add Solar

[USA in a Chevrolet]

I’m ready to go solar on a small scale. I say small scale because we don’t boondock often. Occasionally we stay one night with no hookups. However with the residential refrigerator I want to make sure I don’t abuse my batteries. I have a 345GK-R with factory prep for solar & the 1000 watt inverter. So should I buy a Jaboni system or a Victron system? It appears that it’s pretty simple to install the components. I have a couple more questions please. If you purchased a Solitude with solar power system installed, does it have multiple outlets that are powered by the inverter? As far as I can tell if you bought the trailer with just factory prep, the only inverter outlet is the one for the refrigerator. Is this correct? My second question is can the converter & solar charger both be used at once to charge the batteries? Thanks in advance.

[Second Chance]

Since you have a choice, go with the Victron. They have a very good reputation; the Jaboni... not so much.

We ordered our Solitude with the factory solar (Jaboni). The 2,000 watt inverter powers a number of the outlets in the rig via a sub-panel separate from the main power panel. The main things that are not included are the water heater (AC - controls are DC), the fireplace and the microwave/convection oven.

Rob

[Ynot4me2]

I agree with @Second Chance with Vicron. There's also Renogy that is also good.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

[USA in a Chevrolet]

Since you have a choice, go with the Victron. They have a very good reputation; the Jaboni... not so much.

We ordered our Solitude with the factory solar (Jaboni). The 2,000 watt inverter powers a number of the outlets in the rig via a sub-panel separate from the main power panel. The main things that are not included are the water heater (AC - controls are DC), the fireplace and the microwave/convection oven.

Rob

Bob, thanks for the vote for Victron. I also appreciate the explanation about a separate auxiliary panel. That makes lots of sense to me

[huntindog]

I’m ready to go solar on a small scale. I say small scale because we don’t boondock often. Occasionally we stay one night with no hookups. However with the residential refrigerator I want to make sure I don’t abuse my batteries. I have a 345GK-R with factory prep for solar & the 1000 watt inverter. So should I buy a Jaboni system or a Victron system? It appears that it’s pretty simple to install the components. I have a couple more questions please. If you purchased a Solitude with solar power system installed, does it have multiple outlets that are powered by the inverter? As far as I can tell if you bought the trailer with just factory prep, the only inverter outlet is the one for the refrigerator. Is this correct? My second question is can the converter & solar charger both be used at once to charge the batteries? Thanks in advance.

Yes you can charge with both at once.....BUT, be sure your battery bank can handle the max tht both sysems together can put out, also make sure the wiring is big enough.... Now with a small system it is unlikely to be an issue. Just be aware ot it

[USA in a Chevrolet]

Yes you can charge with both at once.....BUT, be sure your battery bank can handle the max tht both sysems together can put out, also make sure the wiring is big enough.... Now with a small system it is unlikely to be an issue. Just be aware ot it

Thanks. I didn’t see why there would be a problem. Somewhere I read a post saying that the Solitude had an automatic transfer switch for charging but I think the poster was confusing generators with solar.

[Brother_Bluto]

Go with Victron. Much better reputation and interconnectivity. I will be replacing my (factory) Jaboni SCC with Victron as I expand my system. Will also eventually swap out the rest for a Victron Multiplus II 2x120. Abut the only thing I may consider is buying are the Jaboni panels to stay consistent with the factory panel, but even so... it looks to be cheaper to just buy 4 300W panels from another mfg rather (and toss the Joboni) than 3 Jaboni's to match to the existing.

[USA in a Chevrolet]

Go with Victron. Much better reputation and interconnectivity. I will be replacing my (factory) Jaboni SCC with Victron as I expand my system. Will also eventually swap out the rest for a Victron Multiplus II 2x120. Abut the only thing I may consider is buying are the Jaboni panels to stay consistent with the factory panel, but even so... it looks to be cheaper to just buy 4 300W panels from another mfg rather (and toss the Joboni) than 3 Jaboni's to match to the existing.

Thanks. Can you suggest a good place to buy the things I will need?

[huntindog]

Go with Victron. Much better reputation and interconnectivity. I will be replacing my (factory) Jaboni SCC with Victron as I expand my system. Will also eventually swap out the rest for a Victron Multiplus II 2x120. Abut the only thing I may consider is buying are the Jaboni panels to stay consistent with the factory panel, but even so... it looks to be cheaper to just buy 4 300W panels from another mfg rather (and toss the Joboni) than 3 Jaboni's to match to the existing.

There is another option. Leave the Jaboni as is, since it is very hard to match anything to it, and install a Victron system as well. That is what I did. Both systems run at the same time. It works great
My Victron presently has 6 panels totaling 720 watts. I have 3 more panels on the way, so it will top out at 1080 watts. Add in the Jabonis 300 watts and the Grand total is 1380 watts

[USA in a Chevrolet]

I’m ready to go solar on a small scale. I say small scale because we don’t boondock often. Occasionally we stay one night with no hookups. However with the residential refrigerator I want to make sure I don’t abuse my batteries. I have a 345GK-R with factory prep for solar & the 1000 watt inverter. So should I buy a Jaboni system or a Victron system? It appears that it’s pretty simple to install the components. I have a couple more questions please. If you purchased a Solitude with solar power system installed, does it have multiple outlets that are powered by the inverter? As far as I can tell if you bought the trailer with just factory prep, the only inverter outlet is the one for the refrigerator. Is this correct? My second question is can the converter & solar charger both be used at once to charge the batteries? Thanks in advance.

Thank you all for your responses. My wife & I have spent the last 2 months in the Elkhart area. After my questions about Jaboni or Victron, your answers to avoid Jaboni prompted me to do in person research. Jaboni is located in Elkhart. I visited them & found them to be very nice people. They gave me info & prices on their products. As for installation they are booked up through October. Their price was $795 for one 300 watt solar panel if I wanted to buy & self install. I researched other facilities & found Solar Energy Systems in Nappanee Indiana. They have an actual store with an amazing variety of solar projects as well as a huge shop with three bays for the largest motor homes out there. In addition they have a thriving residential & commercial solar business. Early the morning I visited I saw almost 20mof their vehicles getting ready to go out to work.

They carry Victron, Magna, & cheaper solar products. They carry 200 watt mono solar panels for RV use that cost $240 per panel versus Jaboni at $759 per 300 watt panel.

So I ended up going all in on Solar & my install should be complete Monday afternoon. Their primary RV customers seem to be high end motor homes. Fifth wheels are much simpler installs & they allow you to watch their work. I ended up going with Victron products & Relion lithium batteries. Here is what I have. 8 200 watt panels, a 3000 watt Victron Multiplus II inverter that handles both sides of a 50 amp service with auto transfer to inverter and a 100 amp Victron Solar charger controller with various monitoring accessories. I’ll let you folks know how it works out. I also added 2 Easystart soft starts for the AC units. Solar Energy Systems says I can run one AC for 2 hours straight with the 4 batteries. That’s fine for me for now. Their RV sales person is Tim Nifong.