Furrion Solar Issues

[Paul & Deb]

I'm not sure how many folks have a recently built trailer which are now using Furrion solar panels, wiring, roof glands and charge controllers but I stumbled into an issue that has me ticked off and I'm trying to find a "simple" solution.

My recent build 2022 22MLE came from the factory with a Furrion 12v fridge, which so far I love, a 165w Furrion solar panel and 25amp Furrion charge controller. I am in the process of upgrading my solar and power system so I removed the 16w panel and am adding 4 200w RICH solar panels. I went to connect the industry standard MC4 connectors from the new panels to the roof gland and, wait, what?, they don't connect! After much research and speaking with both GD customer service and Furrion customer service it appears Furrion uses it's own proprietary connectors on the panels and roof glands. What a bunch of BS!!!

The person I spoke with at Furrion literally told me I wouldn't be able to find any adapters in the after market for these.

I'm mad at myself for not checking sooner as I already removed my factory panel and have my new panels on the roof ready to mount and connect. Who knows how long it will take to get this resolved.

I'm trying to avoid replacing the roof gland with an industry standard gland such as the ones GD used to install from Jaboni. I just did this same modification to my 2021 17MKE and the connection was simple because GD was using industry standard roof glands and connectors.

Yes, I know, I keep repeating "industry standard" but I do that intentionally because it pisses me off that Furrion is doing this. If they think this will make people who want to upgrade their solar capacity buy their panels they're nuts! Solar panels usually cost roughly $1 per watt. So, for instance a 100w panel can be purchased for around $100. My new RICH 200w panels were just about $200 apiece (I have 4 of them). Guess what Furrion sells their 165w panels for? $509! That's highway robbery.

Anyway, enough venting. I guess I just wanted to share my misery and I will report back with what I end up doing and I hope I'm not forced to replace the roof gland.

[jdmeer]

That's super annoying that they aren't using standard MC4 connectors.

I'd cut the ends off the old panel, buy a crimper and some MC4 connectors, and make a pair of short adapters. It's surprisingly easy to do; there are plenty of youtube videos all about it. But it's definitely very upsetting it's necessary at all...

[Ynot4me2]

I feel the same way as you when companies do this. Some thing shouldn't be proprietary. You probably can't change the Furrion receptacle part on the roof part but you can maybe purchase a furrion plug and change that part on your solar panels.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

[Paul & Deb]

That's super annoying that they aren't using standard MC4 connectors.

I'd cut the ends off the old panel, buy a crimper and some MC4 connectors, and make a pair of short adapters. It's surprisingly easy to do; there are plenty of youtube videos all about it. But it's definitely very upsetting it's necessary at all...

I would but I'm trying to keep the Furrion panel intact in case someone wants to buy it and just add it to their Furrion system. I'm waiting to hear from Furrion and hopefully they will sell me a set of their connectors then I can make a couple short connection cables.

[geotex1]

Is the factory wiring even sufficient gauge to handle the upgrade? If it is, I'd just make up my own adapter and seal them in a dielectric grease filled splice gland or quality adhesive-lined, heavy wall shrink tubing. Then again, I'm pretty particular and probably would just re-cable and use a Jaboni since RV wiring is always too small or too large and never really just right...

[Paul & Deb]

Is the factory wiring even sufficient gauge to handle the upgrade? If it is, I'd just make up my own adapter and seal them in a dielectric grease filled splice gland or quality adhesive-lined, heavy wall shrink tubing. Then again, I'm pretty particular and probably would just re-cable and use a Jaboni since RV wiring is always too small or too large and never really just right...

The 10 gauge pv wire supplied is more than sufficient for this setup. My 200w panels are wired in series having 10 amps and 10 gauge wire is able to handle up to 60 amps so I am fine. Eve if I switched to a parallel wiring it would still be only 40 amps.

[Paul & Deb]

Thought I would come back with the response I got from Furrion looking for solutions to this problem. Gotta love these dirt bags.

Good Day,

Those connectors are not sold separately.

Apologies for any inconvenience



Have A Nice Day

Kyle F
Technical Service Representative
U.S.A Innovation Center & Institute of Technology
52567 Independence Ct. Elkhart, IN 46514


I should add before everyone chimes in that I will be cutting the connectors off my Furrion panel and adding MC4 connectors on the bare end and deal with what to do with the Furrion panel connectors later.

[Paul & Deb]

Just to keep the thread up to date ... no luck with anyone. I did finally just cut the cables off the new Furrion panel and I was going to add some MC4 connectors to the fresh ends and use it as a pigtail but then I got another smack in the face after discovering Furrion uses 14 awg wire from it's panels. No way I'm going to run my 4 200 watt panels through 14 awg cables. I think they will heat up and I have no idea how they will perform.

Regardless I removed the Furrion roof gland from the trailer and have a new one arriving tomorrow and I'll be done with it.

I did get my panels installed today too!

[Butcher]

We all get worked up sometimes but when the dust settles, if you just tackled the project head on vs raging about it, you would have been done weeks ago.

Good to hear there are differences so others know about this. There are many reasons why a manufacturer does not follow the norm. Many times, people are so fixated with their answer that they are unwilling to accept a logical reason why they would not use another design.

[SolarPoweredRV]

I'm not sure how many folks have a recently built trailer which are now using Furrion solar panels, wiring, roof glands and charge controllers but I stumbled into an issue that has me ticked off and I'm trying to find a "simple" solution.

My recent build 2022 22MLE came from the factory with a Furrion 12v fridge, which so far I love, a 165w Furrion solar panel and 25amp Furrion charge controller. I am in the process of upgrading my solar and power system so I removed the 16w panel and am adding 4 200w RICH solar panels. I went to connect the industry standard MC4 connectors from the new panels to the roof gland and, wait, what?, they don't connect! After much research and speaking with both GD customer service and Furrion customer service it appears Furrion uses it's own proprietary connectors on the panels and roof glands. What a bunch of BS!!!

The person I spoke with at Furrion literally told me I wouldn't be able to find any adapters in the after market for these.

I'm mad at myself for not checking sooner as I already removed my factory panel and have my new panels on the roof ready to mount and connect. Who knows how long it will take to get this resolved.

I'm trying to avoid replacing the roof gland with an industry standard gland such as the ones GD used to install from Jaboni. I just did this same modification to my 2021 17MKE and the connection was simple because GD was using industry standard roof glands and connectors.

Yes, I know, I keep repeating "industry standard" but I do that intentionally because it pisses me off that Furrion is doing this. If they think this will make people who want to upgrade their solar capacity buy their panels they're nuts! Solar panels usually cost roughly $1 per watt. So, for instance a 100w panel can be purchased for around $100. My new RICH 200w panels were just about $200 apiece (I have 4 of them). Guess what Furrion sells their 165w panels for? $509! That's highway robbery.

Anyway, enough venting. I guess I just wanted to share my misery and I will report back with what I end up doing and I hope I'm not forced to replace the roof gland.

They are trying to do the same thing as Apple is with their "Lightening" cables, instead of using the industry standard USB "C" cables. Lightening cables cost 3 times as much and are electronically inferior to the USB "C" cables.

Obviously, with the 165 Watt Furrion panel costing $509 they are getting as much money out of customers as they can. Additionally, they have an inferior product because they use smaller gauge wiring (this is exactly what Apple does).

For comparison, the Furrion $509 Solar panel equals $3.09 per Watt, You can buy ~ 325 Watt Residential Solar panels for $0.65 cents per Watt (~ $210).

PS: Residential Solar panels work great on an RV. You can get higher Wattage Solar panels that are more efficient than you can get from other brands like Furrion, NewPowa, Renogy, etc.