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Bobbo's avatar
Bobbo
Explorer II
Mar 20, 2016

Thinking about solar

DW has decided to downsize since our kids are all grown and gone. We are thinking of going from a 32 foot Class C to a Class B.

We are looking at a Roadtrek Zion.

Now, to the question.

The Zion comes with a 400 amp AGM battery. They have an option from the factory of 200 watt, 270 watt, or 300 watt solar on the roof. How much do we really want for a single 400 amp AGM battery?

There is less than $800 dollars difference between the 200 watt system and the 300 watt system.
  • Hi,

    Have them do a prewire using #8 wire. Then get an after market solar system added. I'd double up on the battery bank and wire it in a balanced manner.
  • Rv's and boats use Lithium Phosphate (Lifepo4) batteries which do not suffer thermal runaway. The less stable lithiums are of a different chemical makeup such as Lithium Cobalt. Although less stable they do hold more energy per pound/volume.

    With some shopping and willingness on your end to learn and install I believe you could come close to buying a 400amp Lifepo4 pack and 400 watts of solar for what you would be paying for just the 400w solar option.

    The suggestion of having them run wires ahead of time is spot on.
  • Thank you, wonder where I hid those on my files. Now I have them again
  • Decided to go with both Solar and inverter gen. As I'm new to the RV world the uncertainty of what to expect (regardless of how much reading I do).

    Getting a 2000w running/2200w peak generator to go with my 400w portable solar setup. Have 2X100amp batteries, so I should be good in the boonies even with a couple/few consecutive cloudy days.

    Hope so, wouldn't want to have to turn off the Big Screen Smart Satelite TV beer cooler electric razor MP3 player when I'm in the wilderness :p

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