kevinn_63 wrote:
Incredible set up. I have a 24 AF 1150 on order with 600W solar on roof and Onan generator. Trying to find schematics and details for installing a similar system. Anything like this you can post will be appreciated. Where did you fit all of this equipment?
Will check into the batteries and removing the battery tray. Great idea!
Thanks, Kevin
Hey Kevin-
I started by emailing Northwood and requesting wiring diagrams for the 12v and 110v circuits. This helped me figure out where existing equipment was located (the converter, circuit breakers, tie in points, etc. I told them I was installing solar and they happily sent over pdf drawings within a few hours.
From here it was a matter of identifying space for the battery, and all the victron equipment. It quickly became obvious the original Arctic Fox battery box location would hold the lithium battery and the majority of other components since the 300 A/H Sun Fun Kits battery is pretty compact and has the usable power of 5-6 100 A/H lead acid batteries. I then opened up the underside of dinette seating and discovered there was more empty space inboard of the Arctic Fox battery box. This convinced me that the only answer was to get the sawzall out and remove the battery box. I then paneled the 3 sides with an additional piece of 1/2” plywood so I would have something to screw all my components, wire clamps, etc to without having screw tips come through and daylight. I then went to the compartment just below the battery box (on the left rear as the 865 is a non-slide model) and thats the access for the grey and black tank drains and has some exterior storage space in it as well. I needed a place to mount the Victron Multiplus, and since inverting DC to create AC power, I wanted to keep it very close to the Linksdistributer to keep the large diameter wire runs as short as possible. Plus it weighs about 25lbs so needed a secure location and wanted the weight as low as possible. In this same lower compartment I also mounted twin Victron 30a dc-dc chargers. Again the thinking was to keep as many components as close as possible to reduce wire runs (and weight - the nemesis of all TCs).
I’m not familiar with the 1150 but I would suggest requesting wiring diagrams from
Northwood. I will draw up a diagram of what I did and happy to share it. Use at your own risk as I’m not an electrician or an electrical engineer but have worked with AC and DC power on and off over the years and felt comfortable with it.
The system works really well and we can even run the microwave and air conditioner for a bit with the inverter. Havent stress tested it too much, but in peak sunlight with 500w of solar coming in it looked like I could run either one for about 1.5 hours before the battery would be dead. Not that I would ever do that, but on our last trip to Kings Canyon we did run the Furrion microwave for 1.5 to 3 mins here and there and the solar quickly brought the battery back to 100% and went into float mode.
I can also pass along the info for the gentlemen that builds relay boxes and a set of instructions to interlink the Cerbo GX and the Onan control panel. He builds them for Winnebagos but the concept is the same. I sent him the Northwood electrical drawing for the the comand center which is where the onan start switch is. He then mailed me a pair of relays pre configured and some instructions and it was easy peasy. Now if I happen to get below a 40% state of charge the generator will automatically start and the Multiplus then will charge the battery at up to 80a until it reachs 70% state of charge, and it will shut off. I can also manually start and stop the generator from my phone if the Cerbo GX has a connection to the internet.
More to come shortly. Perhaps PM me your email address and then I can more easilly share a layout and wiring sketch for what I did.
John
