Lance roof solar plug question

Thanks everyone! I physically mounted the panel today but cannot figure out the wiring... spent a few hours with a friend today. We wired a small battery to the roof plug to ensure it's hot and played around with a multimeter in the camper battery box trying to see where the wiring terminates in the battery compartment... there was a stray capped 12ga blue wire so I thought that would be it, but we couldn't get anything out of it (ground to the grounding block and positive to the blue, we got 0 V with the battery connected to the roof plug). There are a few 12ga whites but they are all connected to the grounding block.

I also looked in the storage cabinet above the dinette and couldn't locate the blue/white wires anywhere near there. There is a single junction box up there but it's for house/AC power, not DC, and I didn't see any other access ports/junction boxes.

I wonder if my plug isn't pre-wired at all? Though it seems odd for the factory to install it and not wire it? Where could these wires be hiding?

One possible next step seems to be to remove the roof plug and see if it's wired/tug on the wires to try to locate them.. but given it's winter and snowing daily for the next week, I'm not sure I want to remove the sealant up there and redo it (I guess I could go up there with a hair-dryer)...

Any other ideas/anything I'm missing?

If I abandon using the pre-wired plug, what do you guys did who ran your own wiring? Did you drill a hole in the roof and how did you route the wires inside to the battery compartment in a clean way? Obviously all the wiring is hidden inside the paneling...

Thanks again!!

We have owned 2 Lance campers and have wired both for solar. The first was an 845 which had 2 wires for hooking up the solar, one blue, one white. The second is a 2009 830 (purchased 2 years ago)which only had one blue wire for the hot. I spent a LOT of time checking but my best guess is that the ground was prewired, and it seems to work just fine. I hooked up 100 watts of solar, one 75 watt panel and one 25 watt panel with independent controllers and added a battery switch. I tied the 25 watt panel into the prewire and ran independent wires for the 75 watt. Without getting into it I have my reasons for doing it this way however I would suggest that running 100 watts through the Lance prewire setup (14 gauge)would lead to a reduction in recharging capability. I added a second input on the roof just aft of the TV antenna that went down through the pantry locker and used 8 gauge wire for the 75 watt panel. With 100 watts we can easily go a week without power. However........if you desire an inverter for coffee, etc you may be challenged. If you want more info pm me

The negative wire is connected into the grounding block. I would connect the blue wire to a battery and measure polarity at the plug.

There is also a solar junction box in the upper cabinet above the battery compartment. This is where the factory solar controller was located. The blue and white wire loop in that box. The next fun part is figuring out which side of the loop goes to the battery or the solar. They should have labeled it better.

deltabravo wrote:
The exposed pin should be negative, the receptacle surround by plastic should be positive... at least that's how those connectors would normally be wired when they are connected to a source of power (the camper battery)

The problem with this type plug is the positive from the solar will now be the exposed pin. But since this should be going to a charge controller the exposed pin in the roof connector could be wired the opposite of standard convention or positive.

Try calling Lance. At times they can be helpful.

The exposed pin should be negative, the receptacle surround by plastic should be positive... at least that's how those connectors would normally be wired when they are connected to a source of power (the camper battery)

If it is anything like my 08 1055 the wires don't directly lead to the battery comparment. one set ran from the roof to under the sink and the other from under the sink to the battery compartment for you could wire in the controller. And there should be a positive and a negative wire to connect to the battery from the controller. Find the wires connect to the roof panel then test with an amp meter to find the proper lead to hook to the controller. do the same with the wires going from the controller to the battery comparment then once you know which is which hook up the batteries

Ground one side of the plug on the roof of the camper to the camper and then check with a multimeter where they terminate inside the camper.

Link for what his roof plug looks like: