Critisizing New Solar Install By Proffessionals

Most of "us" would have done our homework before. But I would bet most of us would have done the I install ourselves, not have a specialized solar shop do it. Those, like this guy, that have a hi $ solar shop do it, don't want to do any homework, don't want to be bothered about any of it, they just want it to WORK,...plug and play, and drive away. And they expect the job to be done correctly,
The problem is that one would expect to get a perfect job from a specialized place,....that's the reason for the hi $s right ?
I would think they would ask the customer only about 2 questions,...how many watts, and where do they want the controller display. He should not have to tell them to "screw to" the rubber roof, or to mount the controller as close to the battery as possible.

I told this guy quite a bit about these places, but he used more logical thinking than listening to me. He knows this stuff can be over priced here, but he expected to get a job correctly done, and I think he had a perfect right to expect that. And to go back and tell them it wasn't done right, should be backed up by proof, or seems it wouldn't go over well.
But don't take this wrong, this guy got what he got, and is not complaining, probably because from his little knowledge of it all, it appears to be working as good as he would think it should work.
He saw 14 amps on the ammeter once, but only 13,2 v. Remains to be seen if he'll ever see 14 volts.

What people here are missing - I think - is the voltage drop in a battery wire that is too long and thin. Lost amp-hours in MPPT mode have nothing to do with this. BlueSky is not a "top notch" brand, it's a OK brand, and as with any brand, some models are cheaper and have less features than other. I looked at the wiring diagram and didn't see anything to connect the voltage sense wire. Which means, the controller has no way of "knowing" the real voltage on battery terminals, and due to 22ft length this voltage will differ from the controller output voltage.

This will result in either a) batteries won't charge fully - stupid green light on OEM panel tells very little as we all know, or b) they will be kept at voltages that are not optimal. In either case, battery life will shorten.

I also suspect that he skipped temperature sense wire, given 22ft distance to batteries.

4 days waiting list for this installer in QZ only shows low level of knowledge among his clientele. This guy should've been flooded with lawsuits - not with work orders. People don't do their homework.

2oldman wrote:

And judging by my conversations with most boondocker RVers, they don't know what they're talking about.

Yes. People wintering in the South are mostly retirees. DC wiring is not what most people were dealing with during their younger years, and solar technology is new, and retirees are - usually - not into learning new things.

Almot wrote:
The way how he did it though, shows how little he knows about RV installs, or how little he cares.

If you're going to have a shop do it, it would be good to design it yourself. Unfortunately, I imagine some shops would turn you away as a difficult customer, or, "you don't know what you're talking about."

And judging by my conversations with most boondocker RVers, they don't know what they're talking about.

3% loss from the panels to controller I suppose is acceptable as the voltage is between 17 and 20 volts for a 12 volt nominal panel, losing some volts can save some money in the applied wire size and the controller still gets plenty to output the 13 to 16 volts demanded of it. I recommend 2% or less between the panels and controller. Where loss is critical is between the controller and battery(ies). The controller is configured to provide a specified charge required by the batteries, usually 14.1 to 14.9 volts for bulk/absorption, depending on the batteries. 3% loss of voltage between the controller and batteries is unacceptable. Properly charging batteries is facilitated by providing for virtually no loss between the controller and the batteries. That's why the controller should be close to the batteries and the wire used should be at least as big around as one of your fingers. JMHO

RJsfishin wrote:
A well known neighbor camper had a 280 watt solar install done yesterday.
A few things surprised me,....
The 2 Kyocera panels (brackets) were glued to the rubber roof, no screws.
The BlueSkys MPPT SB 3000i controller was mounted 15 ft from the 4 6v batts, thru 22 ft of 6 ga wire.
The panels were connected in parallel,....which the manual plainly says parallel connections only.
Installed price of $1550 dint surprise me much.

The "glued to rubber roof", maybe ok, they should know.
The 22 ft wire to batts, could have been 5 to 7 ft, had they not elected the easy way out. The owner is upset about that.
The MPPT controller using parallel connected panels only, was news to me.

Any comments appreciated.

The glued to the roof worries me. I can see vibrations down the road causing the panel to tilt a little bit, then air rushing underneath would cause the panel to act as a lever, and shear the mounting off with a chunk of roof coming with it. There are far better ways to do this and ensure that the area is leak resistant, ways that don't require smearing caulk over everything.

The wire length is also not a good sign, as others have mentioned. 22 feet of six gauge wire seems pretty skinny unless the panels are 48 volt and the MPPT controller can handle the combined top voltage.

It would be interesting to see if the batteries are able to ever hit a 95-100% SOC, assuming no outgoing load (just the CC on the batteries and a sunny day.) I would not be surprised if this impossible with this setup.

Anybody that uses the Q installers, never did their homework, as I have never heard a good comment on the installs done there, especially when folks found out later just how bad they got shafted. Sure some will try to save face about their results, but in the end, solar in Q is nothing but a ripoff.

The funny part is that if a person did just a little research, they would find some very well established and proficient RV solar installers in the west, one as close as 1½ hour east of Q.

Price is not up for discussion because he can afford it? LMAO!! I can afford that $1500 install too but it wouldn't erase the fact that I got bent over if I agreed to such a thing (which I would not). I do not mind paying a bit more to have a pro do work but, ****, he's gotta do an equal or better job than me. At least he got some Kyocera panels out of it.

I don't know the guy, but usually if you are getting something like that done, you would discuss what you want done with the installer first. He had a chance to read the manual for that controller ahead of time and could have chosen another one instead. etc etc.

OTOH, the installer could have spent some time with him ahead of time so he knew what he would be getting and how it would perform etc. I don't know the installer either.

It is a sad tale and a lot of money. I do not believe it is covered under the rule, "Never give a sucker an even break!" which is more of a wartime idea when setting an ambush. (Quote is from an American admiral in Oct 44 who did just that very successfully)

Gluing the solar panels to the rubber roof? WOW!!! That's embarrassingly bad. Not to mention the excessive length of the wiring run.

It certainly could have been done more professionally, with better calculations on location and wire gauge to operate/charge more efficiently, with less voltage and amperage losses. ie more amps and voltage bang for your buck, with less losses. Which is what most of the engineer types that post up here in the Tech section would have suggested.


Clear insulation suggests lamp cord or speaker wire used in the install, I have no idea if that is exterior wiring grade rated, or rat/rodent proof.

Does not seem very well thought out, from design to implementation, to lack of fasteners used on the panels. Something should be used that attaches the brackets and binds them to the framework with metal fasteners, or something structural underneath the rubber roof like frame work or rafters.