Arctic Fox 27T solar ready, what does this mean exactly?

[hawkeye-08]

I am told and have seen the stickers that the 2013 Arctic Fox 27T is solar ready. Salesmen tend to spin a story, often not making sense. I don't find anything in the manual or by searching this site on what is really meant.

I found some loose wires in the rear overhead cabinet (behind where the sticker says solar ready). Where are the other ends? Why would they put wires to the rear cabinet? The batteries are upfront, the converter under the kitchen counter. Do they expect a solar control unit to be placed there and then run (long run) down and to the front?

Has anyone installed solar panels on 27T and can answer these questions?

Thanks in advance for information solving this mystery (no, I have not contacted Northwood, it seems answers can vary)...

[ewarnerusa]

oughtsix wrote:
...Everything I have read says that the solar controller should be put as close as possible to the solar panels. So you put the solar controller in the cabinet then breach the roof to run wires to the solar panels. I have also read that even a partial shadow on a single panel can greatly reduce the output of a bank of panels.

The solar controller should be installed as close to the batteries as possible in order to minimize voltage drop on the charging line. The distance between the panels and the controller is not as critical because "12V" panels are usually over 17V when at full power and any voltage drop experienced between the panels and controller still allows for voltage in excess of the desired charging voltage.
It is true that even a small amount of shade on a panel can shut down that panel's output. But a bank of panels can be wired in parallel and the panels in the other parallel paths wouldn't be impacted if they are unshaded. Panels wired in series would be, though. Having to park in the unobstructed sun is a requirement for good solar harvest.

This solar ready setup provides convenient pre-wired access to the roof but the proposed controller location is far from ideal. With 8 gauge wiring and a 20' wire run from controller to the batteries, a hypothetical 140 watt panel providing 8 amps at max output (using my panels for this hypothetical) would experience a 0.2 V drop. So if your controller is putting out 14.4V, the batteries would only see 14.2V. I would suggest a solar charge controller with programmable setpoints so you can compensate for the voltage drop (set the setpoints 0.2V higher so the batteries will get the desired voltage).

Voltage drop calculator

[John___Angela]

mrkoje wrote:

John & Angela wrote:

Passin Thru wrote:
Why is 20 AMPS useless. It will keep batteries charged over a long period, even 3 amps will do that.

Good evening. I think the poster you are referring to mentioned a 20 watt panel, not a 20 amp panel. 20 watt will help keep a charged battery charged. It is more of a maintenance charger, not suitable for robust charging.

It was probably my post you were referring to and yes it's a 20 watt panel the size of a large book mounted on top of the AC unit. It does maintain a charge on the batteries but when boon docking it will not "charge" fast enough to replenish the lost power from the previous day/night use. I have since added a GoPower 120w portable unit and I am also about to purchase a 2x 100w flex panels to supplement the useless 20w panel!

that will make a huge difference. The other thing you can do is swap out any incandescent bulbs you have with LED bulbs and you will save a ton of power.

Good luck with the project happy camping.

[mrkoje]

John & Angela wrote:

Passin Thru wrote:
Why is 20 AMPS useless. It will keep batteries charged over a long period, even 3 amps will do that.

Good evening. I think the poster you are referring to mentioned a 20 watt panel, not a 20 amp panel. 20 watt will help keep a charged battery charged. It is more of a maintenance charger, not suitable for robust charging.

It was probably my post you were referring to and yes it's a 20 watt panel the size of a large book mounted on top of the AC unit. It does maintain a charge on the batteries but when boon docking it will not "charge" fast enough to replenish the lost power from the previous day/night use. I have since added a GoPower 120w portable unit and I am also about to purchase a 2x 100w flex panels to supplement the useless 20w panel!

[hawkeye-08]

I received the "wiring diagrams" for my trailer from Northwood.

I appreciated them sending it, but

It is not accurate for my trailer,
one page shows 110V
Second page shows 12V

Neither are accurate for my trailer...

Neither show solar..

No worries, things are working now.

[John___Angela]

Passin Thru wrote:
Why is 20 AMPS useless. It will keep batteries charged over a long period, even 3 amps will do that.

Good evening. I think the poster you are referring to mentioned a 20 watt panel, not a 20 amp panel. 20 watt will help keep a charged battery charged. It is more of a maintenance charger, not suitable for robust charging.

[Passin_Thru]

Why is 20 AMPS useless. It will keep batteries charged over a long period, even 3 amps will do that.

[hawkeye-08]

John & Angela wrote:
Arctic fox has a decent prewire. I have installed a few solar panels on Arctic foxes. This is how it goes.

There are two pairs of wires going to the cabinet where the solar ready sticker is. It isn't advertising. It is more a "cut here" type of thing. The controller (regulator) goes there. One pair of wires comes from the roof. (there is a capped plug on the roof to hook to the panel) The other pair goes directly to the battery's. They are usually 8 gauge wire. Recommend adding a 20 amp fuse to the plus side headed for the battery.

Hope this helps.

Good luck and happy trails.

Thanks, I only found one pair of wires in the cabinet with the solar ready sticker though (will look some more this weekend).

I see the cap on the roof and the wires near the batteries.

Edit: I found the second pair of wires back in the upper cabinet, they are not very long, I did not try to pull on them, figured that now I know is there so when I put solar on, my plan is correct.

Thanks all for the help! This is a great group to get help from and also some great ideas for mods.

[jmckelvy]

John & Angela wrote:
Arctic fox has a decent prewire. I have installed a few solar panels on Arctic foxes. This is how it goes.

There are two pairs of wires going to the cabinet where the solar ready sticker is. It isn't advertising. It is more a "cut here" type of thing. The controller (regulator) goes there. One pair of wires comes from the roof. (there is a capped plug on the roof to hook to the panel) The other pair goes directly to the battery's. They are usually 8 gauge wire. Recommend adding a 20 amp fuse to the plus side headed for the battery.

Hope this helps.

Good luck and happy trails.

This is exactly how my AF 990 truck camper was delivered. I was nervous about cutting that hole for my solar controller but everything worked out well. Pay attention to the polarity of the connections from the connector on the roof to the solar controller.

[John___Angela]

Arctic fox has a decent prewire. I have installed a few solar panels on Arctic foxes. This is how it goes.

There are two pairs of wires going to the cabinet where the solar ready sticker is. It isn't advertising. It is more a "cut here" type of thing. The controller (regulator) goes there. One pair of wires comes from the roof. (there is a capped plug on the roof to hook to the panel) The other pair goes directly to the battery's. They are usually 8 gauge wire. Recommend adding a 20 amp fuse to the plus side headed for the battery.

Hope this helps.

Good luck and happy trails.

[HGL]

With our Timberridge 207DBHS, solar ready had the lower guage wires, the solar "monitor" (my husband would know what it is) in place. As Outdoors RV is the sister company, I would hazard a guess that this is what they are talking about. I do know that most of them come with the 10W "top off" trickle charge panel as a standard feature. These are placed in a different spot than the full panels, thus the difference in the wiring.

[Doug33]

I would assume any solar installer would know where to access the connections, unless you are planning on doing it yourself.

[hawkeye-08]

nvreloader wrote:
You can also go to the Northwood Owners site and get all the info you need about your RV, see info here AF nash.com.

Tia,
Don

Are you talking about the site where you have to pay to join?

[nvreloader]

You can also go to the Northwood Owners site and get all the info you need about your RV, see info here AF nash.com.

Tia,
Don

[hawkeye-08]

Northwood emailed me asking for mailing address so expecting them to send me something...

While chasing a different problem (water heater stopped working on gas, posted another thread), I was fixing the ground near the battery boxes and noticed the other end of solar wires near the battery boxes. It is 8 gauge (red and white) pair that goes from back overhead cabinet to the front near the battery box. It will be interesting to see what Northwood sends me.