Add exterior solar port to 400

Michael49

Currently have 200W of solar on the roof of our 400. I purchased a 100W suitcase solar last year so I could position solar in the Sun when the 400 is in the shade - really seems to help. Right now I attach it to the battery with alligator clips but I would like to add an exterior port to attach the suitcase solar. Has anyone here done this?

DenisP

I installed a Furrion solar connector to my 2018 400. I also have 200w of factory installed solar and a 100 W suitcase  The connector has worked well   

Michael49

DenisP said:

I installed a Furrion solar connector to my 2018 400. I also have 200w of factory installed solar and a 100 W suitcase  The connector has worked well   

 Nice! Did you do the install yourself?

pthomas745

"BigGuyTinyTrailer" installed a Zamp port, also known as an SAE connector, and has a blog post/video about it. 

https://www.bigguytinytrailer.com/2019/01/23/zamp-connector-added-new-camper/

DenisP

@Michael49 I did install it myself. It was pretty straightforward once I got the courage to drill a hole in my precious 400. The wiring was pretty easy as the battery cutoff is right there for the positive (hot) connection and a ground wire (white) is nearby. I put an inline fuse on the positive connection. I purchased a connector from Amazon to connect to the solar panel and to the Furrion port.   iGreely 2 Pin Power Industrial Circular Connector to Solar Panel Cable Adapter Com... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXHF3GF/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_i_ff-sEbTP91XEE

jameskuzman

We had out dealer (Beckley's) install a Zamp port inside the storage compartment, right next to the batteries. We haven't used it yet as we haven't purchased panels. It does require leaving the storage compartment door open for the wires, but I was more comfortable with that than having a hole drilled into a brand-new camper. 

CrabTab

@pthomas745, isn't a Zamp port wired in the opposite polarity of a standard SAE plug?

I went with a 10 gauge SAE connection on my 320 tub to bring solar briefcase power to the battery. The 'through fitting' seemed smaller than the Furrion and I felt it would work better on the convex surface of the tub. I don't know that there is a particular advantage to the type of connector when going through the flat side wall of the trailer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SWHKZZ9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

pthomas745

If you are wiring it up yourself,  you can make the polarity "correct" if that is what you want. The red wire to the positive side of the battery, the black to the negative.  You would then just wire your SAE cable from your solar controller correctly, and you are on your way.

I know this stuff gets massively confusing when discussing the "reverse polarity" of the Zamp.  It is very easy to work around, if there is a port installed on your trailer.  You just have to carefully trace out where the positive and negative sides of the panel and controller are going.   I've been using SAE cables from my panels wired to the controller and from the controller to the trailer's port for a year now, and it is a piece of cake.

It took me two years to figure out, of course....but a piece of cake!  All those eleventy billion posts about "reverse polarity" made me think it was rocket science....and it isn't.

CrabTab

Agreed, not difficult at all. Worth noting for a new reader to the topic though. I thought Zamp and SAE in the same sentence, without differentiation, could be confusing. Good follow-up explanation on your part!

Tundra57

I would put a connector on the propane box and wire to the trailer plug junction box at the front. Access to both the battery and ground are right there. As mentioned by @DenisP an in line fuse should be fitted. This method would not cut into the Tab nor need the battery access door to be left open.

Or of course you could also mount the connector on the battery access door.

For those who bought the suitcase solar cells, what type did you get and like?

Sharon_is_SAM

@Michael49, it sounds like you have a solar suitcase with a built-in controller.  I would think it would be better if you connected close to the battery instead of at the front of the Tab.  

@Tundra57, we purchased the 100 w suitcases from Renogy (Renogy and Amazon) without the controller.  Well constructed and you can source everything you need to connect from them.

CrabTab

@Tundra57, we bought the Renogy Eclipse 100W solar suitcase. We found the cable to be too short so I made a 30 foot, 10 Gauge, extension cable. The cable connects to the battery with an SAE plug (shown in my previous post) wired through the tub. It will charge our depleted stock Group 27 battery in just a few hours. We are pleased with the performance.

gspdx

CrabTab said:

@Tundra57, we bought the Renogy Eclipse 100W solar suitcase. We found the cable to be too short so I made a 30 foot, 10 Gauge, extension cable. The cable connects to the battery with an SAE plug (shown in my previous post) wired through the tub. It will charge our depleted stock Group 27 battery in just a few hours. We are pleased with the performance.

Really nice.  Can you show a pic about how you connected the SAE plug to the battery?  

Tundra57

Did you use a controller supplied with the solar panels or did get that seperately? If so which one did you get?  MPPT or PWM? MPPT is supposed to be significantly more efficient.

pthomas745

You can buy suitcases (if that is what you want) with separate controllers.  The key word on MPPT vs PWM is "significantly."  I have both types of controllers, and in my little 75 amp hour battery and 100 watt panel, I cannot tell the difference.  How would they measure the "significance?"  My battery gets to full charge in 45 minutes with an MPPT instead of 60 minutes with a PWM? 

CrabTab

As requested, here are some pictures of the connections I used for our Renogy suitcase @gspdx. The first pic shows the outside view of the female SAE connector on the tub.



The second pic is the SAE connector from inside the tub. I put it towards the back of the tub to be out of the way for future mods.



The third pic is the cable I made to extend the reach of the panel to chase the sun. You can see the SAE connector that I attached, along with the MC4 connectors that came installed on the cable. The MC4 connectors attach to the Renogy suitcase.



The forth picture shows the ring connectors installed on the studs of the battery. The black and red cables are the ones from the solar. The green and white are the factory cables that go inside of the T@B.



The SAE cable connections I made were soldered and had heat shrink tubing added. The ring style cable ends for the battery studs were crimp connectors with heat shrink insulation. Most components were purchased from Amazon.  Hope this provides a clearer explanation...

CrabTab

I have been using the 20A Victron  PWM controller that came with my Renogy suitcase @Tundra57. We wanted to establish baseline data from the stock components before we started modifying our setup to better fit our needs. We know we'd like more reserve capacity from batteries at this point, so that is the next step. After we see how our 100W setup handles charging our future batteries, we'll consider a second suitcase or possibly an MPPT controller. I don't have the experience, or equipment that @pthomas745 has to give a good comparison of controllers.

gspdx

@CrabTab- thanks for the extra photos and descriptions.  Looks great!