1 or 2 solar panels??

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

That would be fine, but if you've been camping and your house batteries are depleted, there is not enough energy from the tow vehicle to recharge them and to cool the fridge on 12V.
You get to the next site with depleted house batteries.

With apologies to the dead horse...

A number of us have arrived with depleted house batteries while attempting to cool the fridge on 12v and recharge the batteries. But frequently the reason is the long run of undersized wire from the alternator back to the location of the batteries/fridge. Most modern alternators have way more output than necessary - but the voltage just doesn't make it back to where it is needed. For example, I measured the voltage drop from the alternator on my Toyota back to the fridge at over 1.5 volts. That was enough to totally prevent battery charging.

The fix - upgrading all the power wiring in the truck, and maybe the wiring from the trailer plug to the batteries - is too expensive and labor intensive. So I drive with propane cooling and charge with solar. Others have had better luck and much about this topic has been discussed in the Forum.

--
Alan

[h2owmn]

parfsten, thanks for the controller location info. where's your zamp external port? on that same (passenger) side?

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

With apologies to the dead horse...

Have to remind myself that some of us have been here a long time and some of us a very short time, so repetitive posting is unavoidable.
Somewhere in the archives is a thread on the dead horse emoji, which apparently causes some people pain.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

I drive with propane cooling and charge with solar.

As I do Alan, although, my main reason for towing with the fridge on propane is, it won't cool otherwise.

It's a bit of a side topic, but I've never had adequate fridge cooling on anything but propane. It's so bad, you might as well leave the fridge turned off rather than run it on either AC or DC power.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

As I do Alan, although, my main reason for towing with the fridge on propane is, it won't cool otherwise.

It's a bit of a side topic, but I've never had adequate fridge cooling on anything but propane. It's so bad, you might as well leave the fridge turned off rather than run it on either AC or DC power.

I absolutely agree. We always tow w/propane. The one time we didn't, ended w/ a low battery problem, until we eventually moved to a sunny campsite so the solar could do its thing.

[float5]

I believe that there was someone here who towed successfully with their solar replenishing the batteries sufficiently. We never tow with anything on but use a cooler instead. I would, however, be interested in trying with solar. May depend upon how many hours you are on the road and the season, and size of your refrigerator.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by float5

May depend upon how many hours you are on the road and the season, and size of your refrigerator.

And, how many tunnels.

[thiggins]

Yup, propane, very efficient. No tunnels.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by float5

I believe that there was someone here who towed successfully with their solar replenishing the batteries sufficiently. We never tow with anything on but use a cooler instead. I would, however, be interested in trying with solar. May depend upon how many hours you are on the road and the season, and size of your refrigerator.

I can do this, but I have three rooftop panels totaling 355W. But I use propane when towing because it seems to keep the fridge cooler. My typical towing day is about five hours long.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

But I use propane when towing because it seems to keep the fridge cooler.

I found the same thing last year. In a 6 hour drive while using 12V to power the fridge my voltage still dropped, but not to anywhere near a critical point. The worst thing was that my fridge temperature rose to a critical point.

I am considering upping the amperage from my truck alternator with a larger gauge charging wire, but if the element in the fridge is under powered, this action would be moor.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I can do this, but I have three rooftop panels totaling 355W. But I use propane when towing because it seems to keep the fridge cooler. My typical towing day is about five hours long.

we have a fridge + freezer wireless thermometer and we always keep an eye on temps while towing, on 12v, and temperature is rock solid and stable.

no issues.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Losangeles

we have a fridge + freezer wireless thermometer and we always keep an eye on temps while towing, on 12v, and temperature is rock solid and stable.

no issues.

I'd guess that's more of a testament to the performance of the Americana fridge vs the 8 series. Trust me when I tell you, running DC with the 8 series (in my case the RMD8555) is pretty much useless - unless you want to wait for 3 days and a cold front before approaching 40F inside the fridge.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

I'd guess that's more of a testament to the performance of the Americana fridge vs the 8 series. Trust me when I tell you, running DC with the 8 series (in my case the RMD8555) is pretty much useless - unless you want to wait for 3 days and a cold front before approaching 40F inside the fridge.

to clarify -

FWIIW

we have dual solar from ETI on the roof
also dual 6v.

also we had a trailer tech expert company put in the fattest wire possible from our tug battery back to the hitch connection on the tug. this made a huge improvement back when we were towing our Casita. The stock factory wire on the Acura MDX was super thin, as confirmed by the Acura senior tech.
Went from "could not tow with small Casita Fridge on 12v" to "no problems whatsoever"



all that may or may not be relevant. Above my pay grade.

john

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Losangeles

to clarify -

FWIIW

we have dual solar from ETI on the roof
also dual 6v.

also we had a trailer tech expert company put in the fattest wire possible from our tug battery back to the hitch connection on the tug. this made a huge improvement back when we were towing our Casita. The stock factory wire on the Acura MDX was super thin, as confirmed by the Acura senior tech.
Went from "could not tow with small Casita Fridge on 12v" to "no problems whatsoever"



all that may or may not be relevant. Above my pay grade.

john

Thanks for the additional info John. Yes, all those steps you took would definitely take care of the power issues. My comment was more about fridge cooling performance when running off DC. Mine is terrible.

[CarlNH]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

Yes.

Thanks for the photo... I'm trying to decide between 1 or 2 panels. Is this the ETI installation? If so, a bit disappointed to see the coil of extra cable under the rear panel. Guess they just used the pre-cut cables provided by Gopower rather than doing any customizing? OK, maybe I'm too fussy :-) Thanks again!

[CarlNH]

I was thinking about having the second solar location prewired for my build sheet but was advised by ETI that a second panel install can only be done during production. Not sure I understand why. Has anyone had this done? Thanks!!

Originally Posted by alanmalk

I would agree with others who have said that a portable panel, in addition to the single ETI roof panel, is a good solution.

Of course a compromise might be to have ETI prepare the trailer for a second panel and you try some fall/spring camping and see what your actual needs are. In other words, push the decision out until you have your own personal data.

--
Alan

[CarlNH]

I would like to get the solar install but really would prefer not to have the junky GoPower controller. Were you able to order the solar without the controller or did you just replace it later? If the latter, did you have to purchase the remote for the inverter separately when you swapped out the solar controller?

Thanks for the photo! I plan on having ETI run a cable from the electrical area to near the tank monitors to put my Trimetric there (If they will do it, that is).

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

With the systems that ETI installs, the monitor panel *is* the solar controller. There are not two separate units.

This is our setup, driver side front bench on our 19. We replaced the factory GoPower PWM solar controller with a fancier Blue Sky MPPT unit. Also shown are remote for EMS, Bogart Trimetric battery monitor, and remote for the GoPower Inverter (if you order factory solar and an inverter you won’t have this as the inverter remote is then integrated into the GoPower solar controller).

but it is nice to have all the “power related” stuff in one location.

[wdr2]

We picked up our new 21 last month. I asked Escape to install the roof solar panel without the controller. They credited me $50. The only issue is they could not then verify during the build that the panel was fully functional. I was OK with that.

This week I installed a Victron SmartSolar 75/15 MPPT controller. This is a much better controller than the GoPower stock unit and is controlled via Bluetooth on my iPhone. I also put in DC circuit breakers for both roof and portable panels.

Originally Posted by CarlNH

I would like to get the solar install but really would prefer not to have the junky GoPower controller. Were you able to order the solar without the controller or did you just replace it later? If the latter, did you have to purchase the remote for the inverter separately when you swapped out the solar controller?

Thanks for the photo! I plan on having ETI run a cable from the electrical area to near the tank monitors to put my Trimetric there (If they will do it, that is).

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by CarlNH

I would like to get the solar install but really would prefer not to have the junky GoPower controller. Were you able to order the solar without the controller or did you just replace it later? If the latter, did you have to purchase the remote for the inverter separately when you swapped out the solar controller?



Thanks for the photo! I plan on having ETI run a cable from the electrical area to near the tank monitors to put my Trimetric there (If they will do it, that is).

We had ETI install the GoPower controller inside the bench (zip tied to the interior and no hole cut into bench). We then added our own Blue Sky MPPT controller after pickup. I asked them to install a stand-alone inverter monitor/switch, which they did at no charge. Also had them run the wiring for a Trimetric which we hooked up after pickup. All the power related panels now in one space:

Note: I replaced the simpler GoPower inverter remote that ETI with the fancier model shown.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

We had ETI install the GoPower controller inside the bench (zip tied to the interior and no hole cut into bench). We then added our own Blue Sky MPPT controller after pickup. I asked them to install a stand-alone inverter monitor/switch, which they did at no charge. Also had them run the wiring for a Trimetric which we hooked up after pickup. All the power related panels now in one space:

Note: I replaced the simpler GoPower inverter remote that ETI with the fancier model shown.

whats that round vent for ?