Adding Portable Solar to Stock Setup

[Duner733]

We have the 2023 xls lde with the 165w solar package.
We don't boondock very often so I am pumping the breaks on cost of updating the panels and we have a generator. I don't want to run the generator for 16 hours though.
I am hoping to get a bit more solar without breaking the bank and any rewiring/extra controllers etc.
I am debating on the solar suitcase at 200ws realizing it will probably only work at 165w.
These apparently connect directly to the batteries.
My concern is having 2 different solar platforms could damage the battery or anything else.

Does anyone else have a setup like this?
I would love to hear opinions regarding this setup.

Thank you

Dan

 

[Soundsailor]

My concern is having 2 different solar platforms could damage the battery or anything else.

Thank you

Dan

You won't damage the battery by using two charging sources at once. I'd suggest using a cheap PWM controller (like https://www.amazon.com/EEEKit-Controller-Intelligent-Multi-Function-Adjustable/dp/B07R8TRJ8C) with your suitcase panels. Some suitcase setups come with their own controller, that would be fine also. The controller would be wired directly to the batteries. While you're at it, you might want to upgrade your battery situation.

BTW, welcome to the forum.

 

[Duner733]

I did forget to add, I have two AGM batteries. Not sure of the amps as it is in storage right now so I have that going for me.
When those go bad, I plan to move to Lithium batteries but that is down the road.

 

[Soundsailor]

I did forget to add, I have two AGM batteries. Not sure of the amps as it is in storage right now so I have that going for me.
When those go bad, I plan to move to Lithium batteries but that is down the road.

OK, that's good to know. Pretty sure you have the 12-volt refrigerator. Those can use a lot of power over a day (50 to 100 Ah depending on size). With two AGMs (I'm assuming 100 Ah each), you should have just enough capacity with the stock solar to power the frig. Adding the suitcase would power everything else you might want to run. Lithiums would be a good upgrade for the batteries.

 

[Duner733]

I will be testing but yes, I think the fridge will be just fine. We don't use a ton of other energy (radio/tv/appliances) so we will be close.
I am just trying to get a bit more solar to catch up before it goes dark.
Hoping the ability to just add the connection to the existing batteries will work and not blow anything up.

 

[Soundsailor]

Hoping the ability to just add the connection to the existing batteries will work and not blow anything up.

A controller between the panels and the batteries is a cheap insurance policy against overcharging.

 

[Duner733]

It looks like the Renogy suitcase comes with a controller.
I guess I keep getting concerned with having two different controllers to charge my batteries.
I hope I am making more of it than I should be but I am proceeding with caution.

 

[WhittleBurner]

Is there a way to have both the portable and the furrion connect together to the same controller ?

 

[Duner733]

I did send a message to both Grand Design support as well as my dealer.
Looking to see if there is an additional port I can plug right into.
That would be the best but not planning on it.

 

[Soundsailor]

It will be MUCH easier to have two controllers. The existing controller is set up well for the roof panel. You won't need to do anything to that to add a second controller. If you get the Renogy kit, simply connect the output from the controller to the battery. The Renogy would be a good choice since it is Lithium compatible for when you upgrade the batteries. Do you have the solar port? Sometimes the leads from that are not connected. If that's the case, simply connect those leads to the battery or your bus bars. Then all you'd need is to plug the cables from the solar suitcase into the port. 10 gauge wire should be fine for all of these connections.

 

[Thorvald]

Hi Dan, if you get the Renogy Eclipse panels you will be very impressed at the performance. I have 6 x 100w of the regular Renogy panels and 2 x 100w of the Eclipse panels. Those Eclipse panels almost always run at max when the sun is out unlike the regular panels. Very happy with them (had to put them on their own controller so I could see the difference).

The part number is normally:

SKU: RNG-KIT-STCS200MB-NC-CA

just remove the CA suffix for USA. That is for the one without controller but there should be a part number with a controller if you want the basic Renogy charge controller included but honestly it’s pretty basic and is usually only PWM, you want MPPT these days.

—-

Personally I don’t use any of the lower end Furrion or Renogy Solar Charge Controllers, they are too expensive once you add the Bluetooth module(s) and don’t communicate to each other. Your into Victron territory by the time you do which is a much higher quality unit.

I replace them with Victron SmartSolar MPPT controllers which include Bluetooth built in and can network over Bluetooth to con-ordinate charging from multiple controllers (VE Smart Networking). The phone app is also really nice to monitor them (Victron Connect).

Of course shop around on Amazon or any local suppliers the price can really very especially on Amazon. For that Renogy kit 2x100 panels (Voc of 21.6v for 43.2 max voltage) and ISC of 6.1 for a total of 12.2 amps, you only need a 75/15 MPPT controller (first number is voltage, second is max charging current). Should be about $100 to $120 max USD.

Avoid the BlueSolar ones, they are cheaper but don’t have Bluetooth built in. You want SmartSolar.

https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Smar...88255&sprefix=Smartsolar+,aps,133&sr=8-3&th=1

Cheers
Tim

 

[wudwork]

The Furrion controller, that came with your rig, is a very basic unit. There is no bluetooth or anything to "see" whats happening. If you did wire the portable panel to this same controller (so roof and portable are both on it), you would be at the mercy of which panel is shaded most. If they are combined, you don't get the best of both. Shade on one will clobber what goes to controller. Also, getting the max charge current from the arrays (what is printed on back of panel) is not going to happen. Length/size of wires, intensity of sun, angle of sun, shade etc.. will dictate what you get from them. Even a leaf that falls on a panel will affect output. Portable panels are nice if you babysit them (move them as sun angle changes) as well as make sure they don't grow legs! Figuring out how to protect them when not in use is another issue. Putting each panel on its own controller will assure each will operate without considering the other. Yes you "just" connect each controller to the battery. Be mindful of wire size from controller to battery, it really does matter.

As for AGM batteries, it would be useful to know the max charge you can deliver to them. Some will only charge at a certain rate and boil off whatever "extra" they cannot handle.

Be forwarned, whenever questions about solar start, you quickly learn there is no budget friendly approach.

 

[COGrandDes]

We have the 2023 xls lde with the 165w solar package.
We don't boondock very often so I am pumping the breaks on cost of updating the panels and we have a generator. I don't want to run the generator for 16 hours though.
I am hoping to get a bit more solar without breaking the bank and any rewiring/extra controllers etc.
I am debating on the solar suitcase at 200ws realizing it will probably only work at 165w.
These apparently connect directly to the batteries.
My concern is having 2 different solar platforms could damage the battery or anything else.

Does anyone else have a setup like this?
I would love to hear opinions regarding this setup.

Thank you

Dan

Dan---good morning. I have done what you are asking and it works great. You can just add this external port ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GNMPZZG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to your existing bus bar or batteries concurrently with the one that came from GD. I expanded my initial solar footprint with additional Renogy panels and added them to my existing Furrion solar charge controller. I now have 565 watts of solar running through the existing Furrion 50A solar controller. I then have a 200w Zamp suitcase (2x100w panels) connected externally (if needed) into my main 12v bus bar. Each controller works independently of the other with the goal of never exceeding the max voltage and amps to your batteries. I have 575 aH of LiP04 batteries and have not been using the external suitcase yet this year because of the ones on the roof but there may be a time when I need to augment with them. I also have the 12v fridge and am very happy so far with it's electrical draws and it's performance. Hope that helps! We boondock 100% of the time and that's why I installed the system for that purpose. I have done my upgrades for a fraction of what other's have spent I am told.

 

[Second Chance]

Thread moved to Solar Systems and Generators.

Rob

 

[Lv2gen]

It looks like the Renogy suitcase comes with a controller.
I guess I keep getting concerned with having two different controllers to charge my batteries.
I hope I am making more of it than I should be but I am proceeding with caution.

In addition to my GD 5th wheel I also have a remote cabin in the Utah mountains. It's off grid so I use solar/inverter for everyday use and a back up generator for high demand things. I have 6 batteries that I get from the local mobility cart service shop (the scooters you see in Walmart) for about $50 bucks each. They are about 6 months old when they change them out and I've had this set for almost 5 seasons. They are wired in parallel to a terminal block for even charging to each battery by the 3 different controllers. I bring them down in the winter and keep them on solar when they are stored in my shed.

My solar set up at the cabin is 3 sets of 3 each 100 watt Renogy panels for a total of 9 panels. I use a separate controller for each array of 3 panels to keep the loads in spec. The reason I do this instead of one large array is due to the trees on my mountain lot and the sun movement during the day. I'm in a small canyon and the trees are thick and tall so there isn't one location that gets enough sun all day to recharge my batteries. I've had this setup for 5 years and haven't had a single problem.

I also have solar on my house and I researched that quite a bit before I got it 8 years ago. Each of the 26 panels on my house have a micro-inverter, so there are 26 micro-inverters each controlling a single panel. This is more efficient than one large inverter for the entire array, since when 1 panel gets shaded only that panel is affected if it has its own inverter. On a whole array inverter the ENTIRE array drops down to the output of the single lowest panel. That's why it's incredibly dumb to use one inverter for a large home system, but it's cheaper to install.

The same would be true for the charge controllers in your RV setup. you have your roof mounted panels on one charge controller and if you upgraded that controller to handle more panels the entire system output would drop if you had afternoon shade, etc. By having a portable second array you could position that array in any place to maximize sun. Having a second controller for that portable array will not harm your system and it will be the most efficient output. I bought my 2018 5th used and it is wired for solar but the first owner didn't have panels and I haven't added any permanent ones. I do have 3 more Renogy panels for my RV that I take along with me if I'm going to be camping off grid. I have 4 of those deep cycle scooter batteries in my 5th, wired in parallel to a main terminal block for the even charging/discharging noted above. I have a plug i wired to that terminal block that I plug my solar panels into for easy connection when I set them up. I keep them portable so I can park the 5th in the shade but have the panels out in the full sun. Best of both worlds.

My 5th with the 4 batteries and it's 3 solar panels also does double duty as a "guest house" at my mountain cabin during the summer. I park it up there on a shaded pad and place the solar panels out in a small clearing to keep the batteries charged. They are full and ready to go every time I go up. You will be just fine using two controllers to charge your batteries. Just make sure each battery receives an equal amount of charge from your setup.

 

[Duner733]

I am still waiting to hear from my service department if there is a solar port to add.
If not, most look like they are saying it is ok to wire directly to the batteries as long as a controller is involved there as well.
Did you have to buy some adapter to go straight to the batteries or since you may have used a different controller that was not your setup?

 

[Duner733]

Here is one of my concerns as this has come from my dealership when asking this question.

" the issue with trying to add a carry out solar panel is that, they have their own solar charger. when you hook the carry out up to the batteries the trailer solar charger senses the up in voltage and will shut off charging. "

Any thoughts or opinions on this comment?

 

[Soundsailor]

Here is one of my concerns as this has come from my dealership when asking this question.

" the issue with trying to add a carry out solar panel is that, they have their own solar charger. when you hook the carry out up to the batteries the trailer solar charger senses the up in voltage and will shut off charging. "

Any thoughts or opinions on this comment?

So it is correct that additional charging sources will cause adjustments in how much each controller sends to the batteries. But unless the batteries are fully charged, no, none of the chargers will "shut off charging." They may charge at a lower rate, but most likely the total amount (all charging sources) going to the batteries will match the most they can take on.

 

[huntindog]

So it is correct that additional charging sources will cause adjustments in how much each controller sends to the batteries. But unless the batteries are fully charged, no, none of the chargers will "shut off charging." They may charge at a lower rate, but most likely the total amount (all charging sources) going to the batteries will match the most they can take on.

We have a winner!!
Will Prowse has a You tube where he proves this,

 

[Duner733]

Wow, that guy has a ton of videos.
Going to have to figure out how to search 'em down lol.
Thanks for the idea.