Adding Solar to a Magestic 28A
All set to add 400W of solar to my 28A. My family likes to do a lot of boondocking and adding solar plus an extra battery will really help. Has anyone done this? Any advise on routing wires from t...
Forum Discussion
Roof-top system: It's fine as long you don't park in shady places.
When I boondock, I like shade so I bought a portable system that I can move around the campsite as needed.
100w system works for me because I don't use a lot of 12v power. If I spent a lot time away sightseeing, then I would also have a panel secured to the roof and pack away the portable panels.
I can get away using less solar because I have toggle switches installed on all my parasitic draws. Radio/clock, TV, gas detectors (I use a portable detector) anything that uses an LED indicator light will draw power. Therefore I use a portable 12v volt-meter to view my battery condition.
The only draw I have is my fridge while running on gas. The circuit board draws about .35 amps on a 6 cf fridge.
Be advised, some power roof vent models do have a power draw when turned off.
If you desire a nice volt meter with other functions, look into using a Trimetric TM-2030-A Battery Monitor approx. $150.
If interested,
INFO from the website Trimetric :
The TM 2030 is intended to help maintain battery systems for 12V to 48V deep cycle batteries, such as ones found in RV's or off grid homes, which are regularly charged and discharged. It measures the rate of energy going in or out of your batteries so you can check your charging systems and see how much energy each of your appliances use. This is a big help when you're trying to conserve energy. The Trimetric will help you keep track of how charged or discharged your batteries are. It will let you discover if your charging systems are charging to the proper voltage, which is important for maximizing your battery life. The monitor will also tell you the number of days since the main battery system was fully charged, so if it hasn't been charged recently you can perform extra charging if necessary to help maintain the capacity of your batteries. The TM-2030 also can measure the voltage only of a second battery set, such as the starting battery, or solar voltage input to a charge controller.
The main difference between this model and the older TM-2025-A is that the TM-2030-A is capable of working in tandem with the new Bogart Engineering SC-2030 PWM solar charge controller. When the two units are used together, it increases the performance of the charge controller and can adjust the output to a level that is better suited to your batteries current state of charge.
3 year warranty
When I boondock, I like shade so I bought a portable system that I can move around the campsite as needed.
100w system works for me because I don't use a lot of 12v power. If I spent a lot time away sightseeing, then I would also have a panel secured to the roof and pack away the portable panels.
I can get away using less solar because I have toggle switches installed on all my parasitic draws. Radio/clock, TV, gas detectors (I use a portable detector) anything that uses an LED indicator light will draw power. Therefore I use a portable 12v volt-meter to view my battery condition.
The only draw I have is my fridge while running on gas. The circuit board draws about .35 amps on a 6 cf fridge.
Be advised, some power roof vent models do have a power draw when turned off.
If you desire a nice volt meter with other functions, look into using a Trimetric TM-2030-A Battery Monitor approx. $150.
If interested,
INFO from the website Trimetric :
The TM 2030 is intended to help maintain battery systems for 12V to 48V deep cycle batteries, such as ones found in RV's or off grid homes, which are regularly charged and discharged. It measures the rate of energy going in or out of your batteries so you can check your charging systems and see how much energy each of your appliances use. This is a big help when you're trying to conserve energy. The Trimetric will help you keep track of how charged or discharged your batteries are. It will let you discover if your charging systems are charging to the proper voltage, which is important for maximizing your battery life. The monitor will also tell you the number of days since the main battery system was fully charged, so if it hasn't been charged recently you can perform extra charging if necessary to help maintain the capacity of your batteries. The TM-2030 also can measure the voltage only of a second battery set, such as the starting battery, or solar voltage input to a charge controller.
The main difference between this model and the older TM-2025-A is that the TM-2030-A is capable of working in tandem with the new Bogart Engineering SC-2030 PWM solar charge controller. When the two units are used together, it increases the performance of the charge controller and can adjust the output to a level that is better suited to your batteries current state of charge.
3 year warranty
