Hi All - I have a small 25'5th wheel to which I am adding solar panels. I've already upgraded my batteries to 2 GC2 6 volts in series. The batteries reside in boxes on a rack under the 5th wheel overhang. I'm trying to figures out the best way to route the wiring. I'm going with an MPPT charge controller which needs to be inside the unit, so obviously the wiring needs to get from the panels to the charge controller, then from there to the batteries. Getting from the charge controller to batteries is relatively easy as I would mount it on the interior wall with the batteries on the other side and just drill a hole for the wiring. The question is how do I get the wiring from the panels to the charge controller? I've seen people talk about going down one of the vent pipes, but those are at the rear of the camper with no easy path to get from there to the front wall. Any ideas? Any help is appreciated.

How about the frig vent? I went through strain reliefs in the side of the frig vent then out the side of the frig cavity into the cabinet area under the oven and then through the floor. Distance is resistance, make up for it with heavier gauge wire.

Is it possible to surface run the wire to the controller? That would eliminate any holes in the roof or long pulls inside.

The refrigerator chimney ia a good place, you can also use the black or grey tank vent tube area, not in the vent tube but on the side to run the wire in and then place the vent cap with dicore sealant.navegator

Mine goes down the fridge vent, across to the furnace space, through the floor, then forward to the front compartment.

How about something like this: https://www.renogy.com/renogy-cable-entry-housing/Amazon may have this item also.

Solar panel cable routing | Good Sam Community

CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Mar 09, 2017
In my sons 5er we went down inside the bedroom closet. Minimum distance to the controller and batteries.
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Mar 09, 2017
westend wrote:
One thing I never understood was trying to connect modules in series or not spending $$, all in an effort to eliminate buying and installing larger sized wire. I used a lot of 4 AWG welding cable in my 12V system and it is easy and inexpensive to do so. I always figured that I am spending good money on panels, controller,and distribution so why would I lose even 2% because of wire loss.
Lots of additional variables. For my rig 24V panels provided the most watts, least cost and least footprint/watt. At that time 12V panels would cost more and with the cheaper PWM CC the total cost was only $100 less for 12V panels.

And I connected them in serial because with bypass diodes it is more shade tolerant than parallel. I used 63' of 10 ga wire for a loss of 0.6% to the CC.
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Mar 09, 2017
westend wrote:
One thing I never understood was trying to connect modules in series or not spending $$, all in an effort to eliminate buying and installing larger sized wire. I used a lot of 4 AWG welding cable in my 12V system and it is easy and inexpensive to do so. I always figured that I am spending good money on panels, controller,and distribution so why would I lose even 2% because of wire loss.
Lots of additional variables. For my rig 24V panels provided the most watts, least cost and least footprint/watt. At that time 12V panels would cost more and with the cheaper PWM CC the total cost was only $100 less for 12V panels.

And I connected them in serial because with bypass diodes it is more shade tolerant than parallel. I used 63' of 10 ga wire for a loss of 0.5% to the CC.
GaryS1953
Explorer
Mar 09, 2017
Well after reading peoples thoughts the fridge vent seems the most likely spot, but my fridge goes right up to the ceiling, with no cabinet in between. If I feed the wire down will I be able to see/find it behind the fridge at the exterior panel opening? My 5th is so small I do NOT have a basement, and there is the kitchen sink, cabinets, and "living room" between the fridge vent to deal with. If I can get to the wire from the exterior panel opening then I can snake it under the sink and through the cabinets, but there is NO good way that I can think of to get it from there across to the front wall that I have to drill through to get to the batteries which reside on an exterior rack under the 5th wheel overhang.
GaryS1953
Explorer
Mar 09, 2017
Having re-read Wind River AND CA Traveler's suggestions, I think I may go with that. That way I could go straight down trough the bedroom which is the overhang of the fifth wheel. I don't have a closet in the bedroom, but there is a handy cabinet right there next to the bed where the charge controller could be placed, then just drill a hole through the floor, which would have the wire come out right above the batteries. That would also have the advantage of being the shortest run. I do plan on using large gauge wire, but the shorter the better. Any thoughts? Would there be any problem having the charge controller that close to where we sleep?

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