Solar conversion on an ol Six Pac

[Sixpacamper]

Hey all! Brand new to the forum and brand new to having a cabover. Just bought a 93 six pac and am looking to fix her up a bit. One thing I'd like to do is slap a solar panel or 2 on the roof to avoid having to use a generator. The other problem is that I'm brand new to solar panels and 12v wiring. My question: Should I just wire the charge controller from the solar straight to the battery like I would if it were the only charging method? Would that somehow mess up the trickle charge coming from the trailer wiring?

[Geewizard]

I have two solar chargers in my travel trailer. One is part of the solar panel installation that came with the trailer (100W on roof). The other is a MPPT solar controller (Morningstart SunSaver) for my portable panels. Both controllers connect directly to the batteries (2-100AH FullRiver AGM).

My TC has the same batteries and the same MPPT controller.

[mr_andyj]

Yep 2.

You can have multiple chargers going to the battery and they all play together fine. Many here have 3 chargers at once sometimes... alternator, converter/charger and solar charger. The one with the highest voltage is in charge, lol.

200 watts minimum, 300-350 preferred if you have room. * unless all you want is batt maintenance while stored.
Roof is fine unless you are always in deep shaded forest, in which case the ground probably not sunny either.

Pros for ground use is u can park in shade, put panels in the sun.
cons are you have to always every time deploy your solar system and wires and they are vulnerable and have to be kept safe when u are away.

200+ watts on the roof in the shade still gives you a good amount of watts as long as you are not power-hungry.
On the roof means you never really have to think about them again. Just keep them clean.

Consider running them in series.

[Geewizard]

Don't put them on the roof. Put them on the ground as portable solar panels. It has worked for me for a long time.

I took this guy's methods and modified them a bit. More info if you want.

DIY Solar Suitcase

[Lwiddis]

Slapping on a panel or two isn’t the way. Determine your amp use over 24 hours, multiply by 1.5 or 2. Your batteries need to be at least twice that number. Then one solar watt for each battery amp hour.

[CA_Traveler]

Slap a few panels on the ground, camp for awhile and see if they meet your needs. :B Or first do a energy audit to determine your needs.

[jdc1]

Yep. Panel to controller to battery. Put a fuse and shut-off in somewhere too.