Solar Suitcases Compared?

pthomas745

You would need a separate controller for the separate panel.

You would need: the panel.  From the panel to the solar controller, there will be a cable with "MC4" connectors that go from the panel to the solar controller. Something like these.  Note the plastic connectors would attach to the "MC4" connectors on the back of the panel. The ends of the wires are stripped: those cables would be inserted into the proper connections on the solar controller "Panel" input.

https://www.amazon.com/ECO-WORTHY-10FT-10AWG-Extension-Connector/dp/B0CDZVMBP8

Out from the solar controller, you need an SAE cable.  You can buy the same sort of cable (plug at one end, bare wire at the other) to go from the solar controller to the port on the trailer. There is a huge amount of confusion concerning the proper wiring of the solar "port" on the trailer.  Part of the confusion is the comedy of buying cables of this type from Amazon.  What you want is the positive output of the solar controller to end up "inside the plastic" of the plug that goes into the port on the trailer. Like the cable below. (photo for demo purposes only!  I made this connection more secure when I actually used this controller!)

The positive (red) cable from the battery side of the controller goes "into the plastic" of the cable.  Not the big chunk of metal on the cable.  The positive cable is protected to prevent sparks, shorts, etc (even though solar voltage is low).

On the SAE port in the trailer: the picture below shows how the SAE port is "normally" wired from the factory.The metal part of the plug would go into the "bottom" of the port, and the "inside the plastic" part on the top.

The meter shows how the port is wired.  If you have a multimeter, you can do this little test yourself.

The problem of buying pigtails is the manufacturers pay no attention to the "red into the plastic" idea.  So, buyers grab a cable with the "red wire going to the big metal part" and discovering the solar controller won't work.  (In the old days, controllers would short out when wired wrong into the port).  One of the first lessons I learned in this group was "colors don't matter: always check with a multimeter!"

You can use one of the little 2 dollar adapters to make the "wrong" cables work. It is much easier to simply wire the cable from the controller to the port correctly. 

The cables with the various ring connectors are usually the "correct" sort of cable (positive into the plastic) but you would have to strip the ring connectors off and trim off a bit of insulation to fit the wires into the controller.

https://www.amazon.com/Billion-wealth-Disconnect-Extension-Maintainer/dp/B09HNSG4B6

This all sounds convoluted, but it is as easy as wiring up an old VCR! Don't let it overwhelm you.

Gomers2

The SAE Port does not go to the Victron charge controller. It is wired straight to the battery (or in some cases like mine it is set up for that, but not yet physically connected to the battery) from the factory. In any case for best results my research indicates you should not mix and match panels on any controller, so a a suitcase panel should not be added in with the existing panels on the existing controller. However, the renology probably has its own built in controller which, if modern, can do lipofe charging. Assuming that is the case you can set the charger to a lithium charging profile, plug it into the SAE port and it will add charge to the battery directly through its own controller, assuming obviously those SAE wires are connected to the battery terminals.  If you use the smartshunt to monitor battery usage, you can route the SAE negative lead wire to the load side of the smartshunt instead of directly to the battery negative. This way the smart shunt will measure the amp hours the auxiliary panel adds to the battery and keep your state of charge readout more accurate. Others may chime in with corrections or more information but this setup has worked well for me.