ADDING SOLAR ON THE COLEMAN 17B CAMPER. (on the way to off grid) 

Dude i really appreciate it. I plan on doing another video on the 17r its just be so cold and rainy lately and the thing is covered in dirt and mud. Doesnt make for a good video. I have another video coming somewhat soon on an inverter i installed on the vehicle i use to pull the travel trailer so you might like that in the mean time. Eventually i want to add an inverter to the actual camper but its much harder and more expensive but overall solar isnt that hard so dont worry. You got this and the youtube community will help you out sir.

Also i like your video on the bunk in the truck bed. I like the slide out concept.

@@BULLETENVY I saw a video where someone did something similar, so I guess I reverse engineered it in a way 😂. It was a fun project for my son and I. Thanks for watching man!

ive seen a few others on there too. people are so creative. also anytime dude. i try to keep up with my subs even tho numbers are growing daily.

I thought so too! Everything is right where you need it and accessible! And for under 60 bucks. And thanks for showing others that recomendation. I have more multimeters than i could ever use with both hands. Thanks for watching!

Well thank you very much! It looks simple because I've don't so many solar projects over the years. It is very much work tho. Enjoyable work. But work. I have faith in you tho. There are so many videos online that can help you and you can follow them or get creative. Either way having a back up power source is a great peice of mind. I've done it small for now but I do plan on expanding bigger in the 17b. Thanks for the watching!

Thank you so much! I'm glad it helped. I appreciate the support. New coleman video coming out in a week or less.

Congratulations George. And yes sir I plan on getting some in the next couple weeks. Thanks for watching.

Thanks! I share it with this hottie.

I eventually am going to put a switch between the charge controller and the battery but as far as the panels I just open the door and unplug it. I moved the panel input to right below the door of the camper.

Glad to help :) I assure you it's not solar ready. It doesn't even include a charge controller. If you find different please let me know.

Just bought a 2024 and it's has a plug to plug solar panels in

That's awesome I'm so happy for you. Look under the plug and make sure and see if it's connected to the battery for one and for two if it has a charge controller because those are two things that I show in the video that you absolutely need for it to truly be solar powered.

so the solar panel is plugged into the plug which goes to the controller and then you have wires coming from the controller to the buss bar, which then is switcdhed by a disconnect?

Well the reason I didn't show where the plug was originally was because mine came with some really Tangled wiring and was not professionally done and it was just hanging down so I wanted to get it off as soon as possible. If you're doing this I would highly suggest watching a few videos on how to hook up a charge controller in any solar system. I know it seems difficult but it's actually extremely simple. It's all direct current so think of it as a straight line. You run wires from your battery to your charge controller with fuses in line of most everything. Then you run wires from the solar panel to the charge controller and honestly that's it. The bus bar is basically just a power distribution board so you could also think of the bus bar as the battery. Everything red from the battery connects to the Red Bus bar and black to Black. As long as you have the black grounded to the frame and all power going to that red bus bar then another wire from the bus bar to the battery then you're good. I really hope I didn't overcomplicate that.

I'm super happy you're getting a camper. It's going to be a great journey for you.

@@BULLETENVYo

Well I'd be happy to answer any questions you had and I hopefully soon we'll be putting up a video of an entire overview of the whole camper. And I think I still have the box for the charge controller so I'll go out to the garage and find it and get the model for you if I can. Just be aware solar ready doesn't mean anything other than it has a plug that will accept a solar panel. You would have to do all the wiring yourself. It's just a marketing gimmick. Also I'm glad you like the video. Thanks for watching.

Well first off congratulations. Secondly I feel your pain. I don't understand why it's wired in such a way but there are 2 separate systems. 12v system that runs off the battery. And "sure" power that is 110 v ...I think. It's the outlet power. The way it was explained to me and keep in mind this was two or three years ago so the information is not fresh but I don't think it's an inverter. I think it's a converter. All it does is take the power from the sure power that you plug into the side of the RV and charge the battery with it and that's it. This camper does not have an actual inverter so unfortunately you have to install one yourself. I've been wanting to do a video on that but I wanted to make sure I had all my information correctly and could do it properly. Once I have the time to do that then I will most definitely put a video out on it.

Not sure as I threw the box away and doesn't say on the front but I'll try to find out. I know they sell a similar newer model on Amazon tho. It's a 30 amp.

I'm not 100% sure and I've moved my camper somewhere else for storage currently but I think I remember it being a deep cycle battery and it was either 93 amp hours or 96

If you're needing to order one I'm pretty sure you would be able to call Camping World and order it through them or at least figure out which one to order and if they didn't know you could always just go look at one on the lot because I'm sure they all come with the same battery. If I can remember I'll go by tomorrow and check it out and let you know.

@BULLETENVY ill prob end up getting same ones I have in van. In the mean time I could use a shore power adapter..and use vans solar and inverter to keep trailer charged. Looking to pick one up Wednesday

That sounds like a fantastic idea. You could just keep a Solar trickle charge on it at all times when you're not using it. As far as the battery goes I would get at least 96 amp hour or higher. There's a lot of extra room in the battery box. About 2 in on each side so it should fit slightly bigger.

Yes it does stop charging when the battery is full and flipping the disconnect on the battery actually shuts everything off at the same time. At least in my experience even if you left solar panel plugged in nothing would even accept charge from the solar panel but I usually just disconnect the panel for safety anyway.

Well currently I do not have an inverter for it... yet. The one i want to add is a bit pricey so waiting to get the money to get a 3000 watt. Hopefully i will show in a future video. The solar that was shown in the video is strictly just to charge the battery that runs all the lights and fridge that came with the camper. Once the inverter is installed tho it will be the same concept just with more batteries.

love the video by the way @@BULLETENVY

Thanks Mike. Really appreciate that. Doing my best to put out good videos for all you guys and gals.

Ah just tryna be professional I guess. Plus he was basically up my butt he was so close. It was frekin loud on my end. Aint tryna bust peoples ears out on youtube lol.

Yea I know. This video was made a while ago and I've been learning the processes of recording on RU-vid every day now but if you look about 5 minutes in or less I did fix the orientation and it Smooths out. I hate that I did that. Check it out after 4 or 5 mins. Thanks for the helpful tips.