How I installed 400 watts of solar on my 2016 Thor Axis 24.1 Motor Home

 First off I had to decide where to install the 4ea 100 watt solar panels on the roof of the motor home. I made cardboard templates the size of the panels and layed them on the motor home roof. I moved them around untill I found the location that I wanted for the panels in a series parallel setup. I also used the cardboard templates to cover the panels until I got the wiring hooked up.

Here you see the panels in place and ready to be hooked up. Next was to run the cables to the 40 amp MPPT controller. I hooked the cables to the panels and ran them down the Refrigerator vent on the left side away from the vent pipe.

 Here you can see where I ran the red and black cables from the panels down the vent on the left side of the refrigerator. I then ran them to the right across the refer floor where I drilled a 1/2 inch hole into the outside TV compartment. on the right.

Here is where I ran the panel cables from the refrigerator compartment into the outside TV compartment. I ran the wires down and to the right where I drilled a hole into where the outside speaker was. I found the there was a wirin loom in the speaker compartment that went into the storage compartment below Where I mounted the MPPT Controller.

Here is the MPPT controller in the compartment below the outside TV and speaker compartment. The panel cables come in at the top of the controller and through a 40 amp circuit breaker and then into the controller. The controller is mounted on a 16 inch pine board that is afixed to the wall of the compartment. I then ran the cables from the controller Battery side to the batteries which were under the steps to the right of the compartment. I drilled a 1/2 inch hole and ran the cables through a 100 amp fuse on the positive side to the batteries along with a temperature probe from the controller.

All done with the cables hooked up from the panel series parallel array and ran over to the left and down the refer vent. All cables are held in place by cable clamps covered with Dicor on the clamps and screw heads. The panels are held down with stainless steel self threading screws through the brackets and into the roof with putty tape under the brackets and dicor all around the brackets and screw heads.

Several have asked why a Series Parallel instead of just a series or parallel circuit. Well on a cloudy day a parallel circuit will do a better job with limited sunshine same thing when driving down the road. It will give you the same voltage but will double the amps A series circuit will give you more voltage but the same amount of amps. for a long cable run a series circuit is better. So a Series Parallel is the best of both worlds for me with a 20 foot cable run. Some asked me why I put the controller in a outside cabinet instead of one inside. 

First of all  the controller is very large and heavy with a large heat sink which puts off a lot of heat. Its not sutable for a inside cabinet. Second you want the controller as close to the batteries as you can get it. My controller is about 6 inches from the batteries. Stay tuned for more upgrades.

Mel

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Why I had to Install a Battery Tender for My Jeep

 

My Jeep is a 2019 Jeep Cherokee TrailHawk which is mostly towed behind my Motor Home, it is driven very little, and sits sometimes for several weeks without being driven. I would go to start the jeep after it had been sitting for a week or more. The battery was low on charge, and it would not start as the battery voltage was to low and the battery was run down. I checked, and there was no electrical short in the wiring or nothing was left on to cause the problem. I bought a new AGM Battery which is expensive and a couple of weeks later I had the same problem. Here is what I learned.

Because of the electronics in the Jeep, and if the battery is not kept fully charged and is discharged a little bit, then the jeep will not start. It has something to do with the way the electronics in the Jeep are set up by the Manufacture. (this is normal) If the Jeep isn’t driven enough to keep the battery fully charged It won’t start when you go to use it. Driving a short distance to and from the store or once a week is not enough to keep the battery fully charged. There are two things you can do for this problem. You can either disconnect the battery, (a pain in the where it hurts) or you can install a Battery Tender or Minder.

I did not want the hassel of unhooking the battery and maybe having to reprogram everything. So I bought a Foval Automatic Smart battery Trickle Charger 12V 1000 mA Which has a 4-stage charging program (Initialization, BulkCharge, Absorption Mode, and Float Mode) with ISM Adaptive Charging. ISM= (Infinite Sequential Monitoring). I chose this charger so I could leave it plugged in to shore power when the jeep was not being used to keep the battery fully charged. I did not want to overcharge or ruin my new AGM battery in the jeep.

I installed The Foval automatic trickle charger under the hood of my Jeep where it was out of the elements and harsh weather. In the picture above you can see where I used snap ties to secure the charger in place on the face of the firewall below the hood. I ran the wiring from the right side of the charger to the battery located on the drivers side of the jeep (not shown). The wiring on left of the charger is for the wiring to a 110 volt ac brown extension cord which I spliced into the Foval charger and ran down to the front of the jeep where it is plugged into 110 volt AC outlet.

Here you see where the plug from the battery charger comes out the front of the Jeep and is plugged into a 110 volt AC outlet Via an extension cord.

This is the 30 amp 110 volt AC outlet on the side of my garage where I plug in the battery charger using a 30 amp to 15 amp adapter and extension cord. until next time.

Mel

Why a Small Motor Home?

Many of my followers and friends have asked me why I went back to a small to them, Motor Home. I  had many different RV’s during the past 50 plus years of Camping and RVing, and some of them were up to 40 ft Motor Homes. My latest Motor Home is a small 2016 Thor AXIS 24.1 Class A Motor Home. Why so small You ask? Well here are some of the reasond why I went Back to a small Motor Home.

Small size, only 25 ft long.

Sits Close to the ground. 9 inches at the steps.

The steps are inside when you open the door and there are only 2 steps to get inside. A large grab bar on one side makes it Very Easy to get into the Motor Home, We are in our Eighties.

Can get into almost any campground or camping spot. I Can park almost anywhere. We can dry camp without hookups. We don’t have to pay the High Exorbitant Price most RV parks charge.

Easy to setup Everything on one level. Can do everything inside unless we are towing the jeep, which takes less than 2 minutes to unhook.

While traveling down the road, the wife can use the bathroom or lay down on the couch Without me having to stop and unlock a trailer.

Everything is accessable with the slide in. I can stop at the side of the road and fix something to eat without leaving the Motor Home, or the wife can fix something while i’m driving down the road.

Easy to drive and handle. Has side view and rear cameras. Large panoramic windshield.

The Motor Home body is mounted on a Ford E350 Chassis. Easy to get parts almost anywhere.

The Engine is a 6.8L Triton V10 engine, a 305 horsepower, 420 ft. -lb. torque behemoth. The Motor Home only weighs 12500 Lbs and can tow 8000 Lbs. Gas milage while towing my jeep is anywhere from 8 to 13 MPG.

The above are just some of the reasons we went to a small Motor Home. At our age and  health, It was  a chore getting in the Fifthwheel trailer that we had. It had to many steps and the bathroom and bedroom required more steps to climb to get to. Having to stop unlock the door and put down the solid steps and go inside to fix something to eat, or climb more stairs inside to go to the bathroom, was more trouble than it was worth. It just wasn’t feasible for us.

So you ask why? I went to a small Motor Home. At our age and what little we stay or travel with a RV anymore and the exorbitant price of RV parks, it was a easy way for us to go.

Stay tuned for more Mods to our new to us motor home

Mel