BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: Michael DeFalco on January 20, 2021, 10:12:59 PM
-
is any one familiar with the wiring of the factory solar set up in a 2000 marquis tourmaline. i would like to improve the system for better performance and do not know how the existing system is wired ?
-
Check coach assist for the wiring diagram for your coach. If you have one solar panel like my coach, its likely one, 100w panel. A 100w panel makes about 5 amps charging current in full sun, for about 5 hrs/day. That's only 25 amp hours per day; think of your solar as a very small, 5 amp trickle charger. There is not much in the way of re-wiring that one can do. Solar works great once you understand its limitations.
-
ok ,there are two 80 watt panels but i never see any amps on the monitoring panel , so maybe the panels are shot they are 20 plus years old
-
i need to find the charge controller , question do all solar panels require a charge controller?
-
i am looking to improve on the factory 2 panel system in my 2000 marquis tourmaline, i do not know how this is wired so i need to find out if i can use existing wiring ,where is the solar charger ,how do a marry a new system to what i have now ???
i have no clue where to start.
-
AM solar did the original factory installation of your solar panels. See their website for more details than you can imagine, good info.
https://amsolar.com/
More solar won't make up for bad batteries. Check your batteries with a hydrometer (if they are flooded wet cell batteries) to see if they will hold a charge.
-
Michael,
If my memory hasn't failed me I think the controller is under the bed or just inside the engine access.
Steve
-
Michael
In my 1997 patriot the solar may be different from yours but as Steve said my charge controler is mounted on the firewall under the bed as part of the isolated board .
On the roof of my coach there where two larger panels (40 watts each ) for the coach batteries and one smaller (10 watt panel for the chassis they where all mounted on the right side of the roof just behind the front A/C from there the wiring runs back inside the roof coming out of the roof and down the inside of the rear cap where they run forward along the edge of the floor / bed structure from there they run across the isolated board.
The coach panels are hooked to the charge controler which in turn feeds through a 10 amp fuse to the coach side of the isolator board .
The chassis panel is hooked through a fuse only directly to the chassis side of the isolator ( no charge controler)
The wiring coming down from the roof is only 10 gauge wire and are not heavy enough to handle anymore panels as the volt drop over the distance would render the output almost useless.
If you are looking to up grade your solar your best bet is to abandon the existing wiring and feed new appropriate sized wiring down through the fridge vent to a newer style controler and use higher out put panels
Beaver it seams where continually up grading there solar program over the years the earlier units like mine had very minimal charge capabilities in my case the coach system was a total of 80 watts which in full sun could only yield approx 6.5 amps
More realistically expect 4 maybe 5 amps. Which would be a good trickle charge for a coach parked on a salesman's lot but not enough to realistically put back the current used for a nights bondocking unless your really frugal .
And I suspect the thinking on not installing a charge controler on the chassis panel is that in full sun the chassis panel could only provide in the neighborhood of 1/2 amp and would not likely over charge the chassis battery bank.
On some of the newer coaches the charge controler was located in the waste water bay passenger side ahead of drive axle on the rear wall behind the access panel.
Hope this helps some
Eric
-
Michael,
As Eric notes, upgrading your complete system is an option. However first you should verify the existing system is working. If you don't have the manual, see Battery Charging Systems in Coach Assist.
One caution; if you decide to run new wiring, be aware that there are muffin fans mounted in the reefer vent (at least there was on my 00 Marquis). So, remove the roof vent cover and use a flashlight to see if there is a way to route the wires past the fans.
Good Luck, Steve
-
thanks for the input , it just seems to me the solar system is not atiquit to charge the batts on its own. checking the batts is something i need to do i am assuming they are ok because they are only 18 months old.
but thank you again for the feed back i will check about the fans u mentioned. what is their purpose?
-
Michael,
The stock solar system is not intended to charge the batteries, but to act as a trickle charger to keep charged batteries maintain their charge in the face of parasitic and the engine ECU load.
The fans are to provide airflow across the reefer coils. In hot humid weather the reefer can lose a significant amount of its cooling capability if there is no air flow across the ammonia filled coils.
Steve
-
thank you guys so much you've given me a direction which i had none of before. huge help !!
-
I think they stuck those controllers wherever in different years. Mine was behind the screwed on panel to the holding tanks, passenger side , along with all the Aladdin control boxes/ wiring hidden away. I replaced my controller with a more modern , better one.The wiring is too small to upgrade much, so I added 800 watts of panels run to a completely different controller. Both systems are on and functional I checked with solar install experts who said the would function independently just fine. And yes you should have a controller for anything beyond a small 10-20 watt panel.
-
Ah ok that's a different approach , so if you upgrade to a higher output solar system as an independent from existing things should work ok?? if so that would be the smarter way. mike
-
When I was deciding whether to put out the $ for lithium house batteries, AM Solar in Springfield, OR, was one outfit I checked out because they're not far away, original suppliers to Monaco, and one of the founders of the RV solar technology. The cost for a full and proper install got too discouraging, and my inverter panel would need upgrading as well as the solar controller, yada, yada. It wasn't all just the cost; there were other cons. So I junked the idea. But a takeaway was the availability of newer technology panels. Now a 200 watt panel is as affordable or more so as the common 100w was when our coach was new. I'm just not into crowding my roof with panels; it makes walking around or cleaning up there more difficult. But two 200w panels wouldn't be so bad, and would provide 4 times what I get now. You might check them out:
https://amsolar.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiA6aSABhApEiwA6Cbm_3iomA-ReF30Pn0jhpo__Bk-FV_GpIscH2WIIFEV7tBxP8aioDVXZRoCBM0QAvD_BwE
Joel
-
I had a single 100w panel on my 06 PT and for the first time since I've owned the coach, due to COVID, we did not winter in Indio at our park. So the coach is in outside storage here in Bend and the batteries keep running down. I added another panel and upgraded the controller and battery monitor. I went with Victron 702 to monitor the 4 house batteries and the 2 starters and the Victron Solar controller as well. The monitor was installed in the master stateroom pretty much directly over the batteries so the run was quite simple. The Magnum system up front is unaffected. The second panel and new controller pretty much offsets the parasitic drain, at least until the last big snow which buried the roof and panels. That stuff is not all that costly either.