This is the first video I've watched about RV solar that shows how to hook up to the main batteries! Everyone's always hooking up the panels to 1-2 lights and 1-2 outlets. It didn't make any sense to me why they wouldn't just do what you did! Now I know it's possible to do it the sensible way. Great job and thanks for making sense.
You have no idea how much you have helped me getting ready for my install, your video is very detailed and that helps a lot. Thank you so much. Great music :)
Wrap all the wire nuts with rubber tape covering the wire but to the first 1 inch of the wires you've joined. Ask for rubber tape. It's black and stretchs before you wrap the cables and will vulcanized together after a short time securely holding the wires and wire nut together. You will find intermittent connections if you don't. I've spent 45 years working on electrical systems where vibration was a large factor in system failures and fires. .
Thank you! I did my best to make this a good resource for anyone else doing a full solar install on their RV. And it's funny you should say I'd make a good teacher because before we went full time I was an adjunct professor at a community college back home teaching Mechanical Engineering Technology courses =)
You both are so smart! I bet you could help many RVers with their Solar Panels. I have not Dry camped just learning about the regular RV stuff. I would love to get Solar down the line! Your so shocked it worked? You knew exactly what you were doing!! Great watching your job..
In a vibrating environment such as an RV, you don't want to use wire nuts for electrical connections. They will loosen up over time causing higher resistance and heat and eventually fire! Replace them with properly sized, crimp-on, butt connectors.
John Smith “butthead” is an unnecessary label to place on the gentleman preparing this informative (yet flawed) video, in spite of Tony’s very good & thought provoking comment. Sometimes it’s hard, but be nice🤓.
Good video on showing what is involved with adding solar power to a RV. I read some comments about using wire nuts, I agree wire nuts should not be used in a RV, think about all the constant vibrations while you are driving, good advice were given. I would add make sure you cover the wires than run under your rig with some wire loom tubing so to protect them from the elements (water/moisture/rocks etc) also the vibration against your steel frame can cause some wires to get exposed.
Dave, another great video. It is nice the way you make sure you explain everything step by step as you go. You will soon have all the comforts of home with you no matter where you are. That will give you so much more freedom to camp where you want. I'm curious what you did for a job before you quit to full time RV. You are really handy and know your way around with tools, etc. My wife and I are waiting for you to get back on the road and follow your adventures again. Also, ask around about this. I hear you should always wrap those wire nuts with tape to prevent them from loosening.
+Mike Lizonitz Thanks Mike! I tried my best to show every step so someone else doing an install like this would have a really good resource. These videos were actually shot back in June just before we hit the road so we've had the solar this whole time but are just now getting around to posting the install videos :P Before we hit the road I was a mechanical engineer. We are back on the road now and will get back to posting out adventures right after the next (and last) solar install video! And I actually did wrap all the wire nuts tightly in electrical tape but for some reason I failed to show that on camera. Thanks for saying that though in case I didn't and for anyone reading your comment working on a solar install of their own!
Ha, yes, I figured that this was your original install. You did make it seem easy. The Mechanical Engineer background shows. Glad you did wrap the wire nuts. That way you avoid problems down the road. I figured you would be back on the road by now so you can avoid the snow and cold up north..... If you are like us, you enjoy life best when on the road. Stay safe and healthy.
The job you doing is amazing can you do another video and set all the link so we can buy everything you put in your camper we really love The way you doing it
Excellent video for the first time using solar ....I thank you very much for easy clear speaking instructions. Now you can do my class C ...Come over to Lake George, NY Plenty of room on my land for Boondocking and enjoy the Adirondacks.
Thank you I appreciate that! I hope these videos are helpful for anyone else doing a solar install =) Sorry we won't be out in the New York area for the foreseeable future so you're on your own :P I'd be happy to answer any questions you've got though.
Regarding the converter charger, is the trailer's factory converter still hooked up and working along with the smart converter? Are they two different devices? I ask because I've seen videos where the trailer's factory converters are replaced with smart converters. I'm wondering if you can just upgrade the factory's converter for a smart charger, instead of using both factory converter and the 4 stage converter charger. Or maybe I'm a little lost. By the way just wanted to say great videos and information. I'm fairly new to owning a trailer. I've watched your videos several times and I learned something new each time lol.
Love you walking through your install, for sure is helping me with my ideas. I did have a few comments though :) Please get some real wire crimping tools, the ones you had were anything but quality, look for ratcheting style with dies, you will love them. I noticed you stumbling on explaining the 3/10 wire routing..I dont blame you at all on that.... Easiest way for others to think about it is you are creating 2 sources of AC power VS the 1 the RV came with. So you have to have this magical box "transfer switch" it takes 2 inputs inverter and shore power and provide 1 out and basically you need to install it in the middle of what is already in the RV. Tada ... I'm sure you have heard it a few times already and maybe you have already moved things, but there is no way I could dedicate that much storage floor space for your stuff, there are usually lots of open spaces "wasted" spaces in a RV to hide these things. I have a 5th wheel and I still want more storage. LOL Keep up the videos, I mean all comments as a learning idea suggestion VS negative.
You do an awesome job explaining the entire installation! Thank you for making all the videos! I may have missed it, but I didn’t see a link to where you got the batteries!
David Good Video, I think installing in your basement makes sense, inverters put-out heat and noise so although you lose some basements storage, I think it was a wise decision. Keep up the good descriptive video.
Your videos of this install are the absolute best, no wasted time blabbing just pure install. I love them but have one question that is slowing me down on getting my system hooked up. I intend to use the same transfer switch but my Pure Sine Wave Inverter is only a 1000 watt, 2,000 surge. My question is twofold. 1. Can you leave the solar charge controller hooked up all the time. Is there a problem with this? When running on batteries and the inverter is running and the converter is running. 2. You inverter is pretty hefty and you can run your air, or microwave, or anything else as long as the total load does not exceed the total wattage capacity of the inverter. To the system your solar system in effect looks like shore power. In my situation my inverter is not as big so I guess I have to manually throw the the breakers for Air, & microwave to the off position so someone does not turn them on kicking out the INVERTER? Does this sound correct? I am worried about running solar and leaving it and the CHARGE CONTROLLER hooked up all the time. Not sure how much of this switching the Transfer Switch does. I noticed you bought another CONVERTER, why didn't you just bring your ORIGINAL CONVERTER from your breaker box out to where you installed your new one and just use the old one? I am pretty sure the standard CONVERTER is the same as your new one with varying charge cycles. I am guessing with your new AGM batteries you needed a special or bigger CONVERTER?? Looks like your 2 batteries cost about $5,000.00 or did you buy pull outs from cell towers? Maximus
I love the setup, I'm looking at doing one myself but my travel trailer is 50 amp, so I'm a little more challenged. The only thing I noticed is that you could have saved yourself an entire run of wire by putting your transfer switch under the fridge.
This is great stuff, and will help me install my Solar Power, great job. One suggestion, all of your wire nuts should be taped with electrical take to keep them from coming off during travel.
Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful. And don't worry I did use a healthy amount of electrical tape but for some reason didn't show all of it. I ended up replacing all the wire nuts with crimp connectors though.
The 10/3 SJ/SO cable you used is not listed for permanent installation. It’s cord, not wire, which means it must have a plug and is meant for temp use. Instead you need to use NM (Romex) wire or use THHN inside conduit.
There are compact insulated terminal blocks that can be used to splice power wires where there is vibration that can cause twist wire nuts to loosen. Otherwise, wire nuts should be wrapped in quality electrical tape back onto the wire to keep everything snug and free of moisture. To protect against fire, electrical components should also go into a ventilated steel enclosure, which could be mounted on rubber shock-absorbing struts. That would deal with the possibility of water in the compartment as well.
I don’t know if you already do this, but you should see if you can get 12 volt chargers for your laptops, they are much more efficient than power going through the inverter then through the laptop chargers, plus no worries about some wave issues
There are three types of outputs from inverters. Pure sine wave which is the best and sometimes even better than commercial power. Modified sine wave which was your second type. Not as good as pure sine wave but better than the third type. Some wall warts do not like modified sine wave so watch the temps on them. Same applies to all electronics. While microwaves will operate on modified sine wave, they do not heat as well. The third type of inverter is a square wave inverter. Fine for light bulbs and things like drills but keep them away from anything electronic. Square wave is just that, the voltage peaks at both ends are flat and the rise and falls are straight lines. Modified sine waves have the benefits of steps on both the rise and falls of the voltage but still are flat at the peaks .
theirs three types of sign waves all thuo most people only know of just 2 you just talked about.the 3 one is mix part pure sign wave and step wave together it almost looks like the pattern of pure sign wave but it has step wave still in it witch is small then steps then the normal step wave as it follows the pure wave together.give my mind i do not remeber what its called. but great job on the video it give good insight for rv installtion.
hello, ray in cali again.it looks like some wire connectors under your install are not corrosion controlled . you should get the type that have a built in sealer. you crimp your wire then heat them up with a heat gun. the silicone oozes out to protect. they will corrode and cause you problems....thanks for the videos...
Copper on copper won't corrode, zinc on copper will. you can do the same thing with vaseline. Also, as mentioned earlier, wire nuts aren't ideal in an RV anyway
Hey, I love how you install your components, I just want give a recommendation why don't put the smart switch inside of the compartment where the hose are and build a shelf for the other two equipment. I have a motor home class C and i know all space for storage are important.
I would have tried to put the components there as well as below and above the fridge. Maybe some in the hot water tank area. Maybe not lose any storage. Awesome install none the less.
Not sure if/when you will see this and I hope to one day be doing this as well but could you have stacked some of those components to save some space? Possibly built a platform to separate them but also be sturdy? I know storage is a valuable commodity in trailers and RV's so didn't know if stacking some of them would have been possible without impacting their functionality. Thanks
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I HAVE 2PANEL OF MAXIMUM VOLTAGE 52.8V EACH 3.32AMP EACH WAT WILL BE THE CAPACITY SOLAR CHARGE MPPT CONTROLS FOR THAT SISE OF PANELS VERY GOOD VD KEEP UP THE WORK
We have a Toyhauler with no storage area like you used to mount the equipment. We do have plenty of room above the cabinets inside. Would there be any reason not to mount them (except batteries), inside sorta exposed ie. Heat issues, noise etc. And by far the best videos on this subject I have found.
I use a 30 amp to 15 amp plugin and plugin to the shore power plug to my inverter which I pull out and take it to the front of my camper where my charging station and batteries are or I can continue up to my pickup and hook up to the generator with 30 amp so I can run my AC it also charges my lead acid batteries through my converter which gets power from my shore power cord that is hooked up to my inverter and or get power with my solar power. although I have to pull out my shore power cord to hook up to my inverter I don't have control switch and have to buy all that wire. and go through all the hard work you did, but your way is a little more sophisticated but it is no big deal for me to pull out shore power cord to hook up to my solar or generator.
Instead of running that second cable for the shore power, you could have just installed another shore power connection right next to the door for your pass through.
How do you deal with your existing power converter/charger? Your method, at least shown, means your inverter could be trying to charge the batteries you're running off? 2nd question is how do you deal with the existing 12v circuits in the RV? Just leave the existing connections from your batteries to the DC panel?
That would cause even more long back and forth wires runs from the inverter and converter charger. This placement provided the least amount of wire used.
I'm back! Told you I'm binge watching! Excellent work on videos!! Dave (real name!) man, great work!! I'll have to watch this one several times. Transfer box is so ALL regular RV outlets work on solar, right?
That's awesome we are excited for you! Have you already purchased your RV? If so we are curious what you decided to go with. We are always interested in seeing what RV's other full timers chose and hearing why they made that decision. Good luck with your preparations =)
Just a tradesman’s observation, after working as an electrician in the past, but couldn’t you just use 1 SO cord of 10/3? You could tap into the neutral and ground at both electrical connections but then disconnect your shore hot (the black line, send it to the front compartment transfer switch, then back from the transfer switch on the red line to your power distribution? 2 less holes, less wire, and accomplishes the same thing doesn’t it?
This series of videos is so incredibly concise and helpful, wow, awesome job! Question: It looks like the victron and xantrex units have inverter, converter, charger, and transfer switch all in one unit. Can that be true?
Dave, great video series....seems simple yet complicated to get the initial information and break it down. Where did you get all the info to know how to do all the wiring of the various components. Is it from the directions that come with the components or was there a central set of instructions?
+Sharon Wignot I agree it is pretty complicated at first but once all the information is gathered it's actually really straightforward. I got my information from three sources: the manuals that came with each component, calling Go Power and Relion technical service, and the internet/youtube. I couldn't find any videos though that showed a step by step install of the whole setup though so hopefully this series can be a good resource for people =)
I noticed that when you disconnected the factory converter/charger from the DC bus on the panel you didn't put a new connection on the DC bus. How is the DC bus getting power?
I believe modified sine wave inverters are actually a little more efficient and most things are alright with modified sine wave inverters like tv's and switched mode power supplys
I love the fact that you’re all DYII and I think you have the right idea but wire nuts are a bad idea especially when dealing with something like a 30 amp service. Everything I do is soldered and heat shrink. The first place heat is going to build up is in those wire nuts. It’s a potential hazard but it’s also a major failure point in the future when your electrical system starts breaking down
why did you use a separate converter? what I've seen says you don't need one if your RV already has one to convert DC from the battery to AC for the electronics. What am i misunderstanding?
Yes, we could have, and we know someone who did and we're quite envious of how he did it haha. Whenever we switch trailers we plan on doing it like he did 😊
Hey, just catching up with your solar. Question why didn't you install your transfer switch near your RV converter, that way you'd only need to install one cable from your inverter.
Hi David. I love your video's. This year I am installing 2 - 145W solar panels with a 2000w pure sine Xantrex Inverter/charge/transfer switch with 2 - 12v AGM. Our trailer is the same layout as yours but will be mounting the Inverter under the bed pedestal. My question is: I have run a 20' length of 10/3 - 30A a/c wire from the convenience center to the inverter then back to the shore power cable. That will add 40' length to the shore power 30amp circuit when plugged in. Has there been an issue with voltage drop when using your a/c when plugged in? Thank you. Dave Coldstream BC, Canada
Did you uninstall the original converter-charger that was in the trailer or did you just disconnect/bypass it when installing your new/smart converter-charger?
Great job on the install. Would it have been simpler if you installed the inverter upfront (closest to the battery as possible) and install the smart-charger and transfer switch and converter box by the ac panel?
Hey David! I don't know if you're still reading these comments, but I'm planning on installing a similar setup to yours very soon and I was just curious; why did you decide to buy another converter/charger instead of using the one that came with your RV? I decided to run the same transfer switch that you guys have and use it to power the converter unit that came with our rig, but I figured I'd ask someone who's already been through it - was there something you ran into that held you back from doing that? Additionally, is this the only battery bank in your guys' rig? I hear that some people run into issues with charging a Lithium bank from a vehicle's alternator, so as another guy running the 6.6 Duramax I'd be really excited to hear about your experiences with this.
David great install nice job. I was wondering if you know what the max dc amp draw your battery monitor has show while using your 3000watt inverter? And one more Q. how long have you been able to run your roof a/c on batts/solar. Or haven’t you tried yet. Thanks Greg
Thank you I appreciate that! The maximum we've ever drawn from our battery bank at a time is 120 amps. This is what our microwave pulls by itself. We shut everything else off before turning the microwave on hahaha. We don't run our A/C off our batteries and solar. It draws just so much that it will drain us down incredibly fast and just isn't worth it. We live without A/C by choice and just turn some fans on when it gets hot. I made a video about running A/C off solar, maybe you'd like to check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XHPIEy9Ciac.html
Why not use an all-in-one inverter/charger/transfer switch? Would that not eliminate the need for the transfer switch and the converter charger? Or am I missing something?
I think you should’ve gone a little higher than that I think 2 x 2 by fours would’ve been better because it been guaranteed that your electric components wouldn’t get hit with the sewage pump
I have a 2002 general coach citation 25 ft and I want to do the same set up what would your recommend for how many watts I would need for my solar I want to be completely on solar power
I have a Reliable 3000 Watt inverter with a 6000 Watt surge and I’m trying to figure out what size fuse I need to go from the (4) batteries I have into the inverter.
No I saw on one of your videos that you can’t use an Insta pot or that you got rid of your Insta pot and I’m so bummed because I really wanted to be able to bring my Insta pot with me exactly how much solar do you think we would need to run an Insta pot
I don't think you had to wire it directly into the electric box. You could save some time by just connecting everything in the junction box where the (in) shore power and the wire that goes to the electric box (out )meet. Wire one wire where the shore power goes and another to where the power goes to the electric box. All the wire meet in the junction box and you could save some wire.
My electrical box is almost directly in front of where the power cable runs into the wall of the trailer, so that would have only saved me two or so feet of wire. I wanted to wire it directly to the electrical box because that seemed to me to be the "right" way to do it.
@FateUnbound yea nothing wrong with that just could be more wires in the box. But if you hook up in the junction box where the wire goes directly to the electric box you would be fine. And especially if your main box is above or on top shelf not at the bottom.
May I ask what state do you live in? I was wondering how much everything cost, if you don't mind me asking. Thinking about going solar myself. Just wanted to know what do you do with the panels in the winter?
David is the 10/3 wire SJEOOW, SOOW OR SJOOW? I got the SJEOOW, which has a maximum of 300v or 30amps. The SOOW is able to double that at a maximum of 600v or 60amps. Do you know which type your using????
Hey guys...hope all is well. I have a quick question about your set up. I’m just curious, does your AC panel have a smart charger built into it? And if so, why the additional charger? I’m asking because I have a motor home with an AC panel/charger converter and am curious when hooking up my transfer switch will I just run wires from that charger or is a separate one needed if mine is already a smart charger? Thanks for any info you could provide.
Thanks Mike! Our AC panel did not have a smart charger, it was a single stage charger. If the factory converter charger is already suitable for your application then there is no need to replace it. You can just run wires from the existing converter to the transfer switch. Let me know if you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them!
Mate! All those unprotected cables going through chassis holes. Get some split tubing. The way they are just there rubbing against the chassis are just a ticking fire hazard.
Good video. Again, wire nuts are not a reliable way to connect wires in something that moves, shakes, and rolls down the highway, At the very least, tape them to the wire with electrical tape so they don’t “unwind.” Better, use a splice connector or something which requires crimp connections for better reliability. Otherwise, quite enjoyable.
