brianjwilson
Some sort of lost...
Long weekend! I didn't get a chance to install the solar before we left. We spent the weekend at the coast "camped" on family property. We were plugged in, so no real comments on battery or charging capacity. The ride is great overall. You can feel the weight back there but handling is way better than my f150 was with a camper. Very confident and comfortable. Plenty of power to pass on hills, but some transmission hunting at 60mph or so. The new gears should keep the trans back in its powerband and prevent this.
The camper is super comfortable. Much nicer and roomier than I expected. Our daughter slept with us which was mostly uneventful, aside from here wanting to play with everything the first night. I bought a king sized RV superbag which is really convenient. Since no bedding can stay on the main bed with the camper closed, this means making a bed is incredibly easy with the superbag, as the sheets are velcroed in. Just pull it off the dinette and throw it on the bed. Done. We used the outside shower for my daughter at the beach, very nice. The fridge and freezer seems to maintain steady temps even at home where it's warm. Ice is hard and ice cream is soft!
Overall we are very pleased so far.
Once we got home Sunday I decided to install the solar. I'm using 2 x 100 watt renology flexible panels, and 2 x 50 watt panels for a total of about 12lbs. Why not 3 x 100w panels? The camper has yakima racks. I want to be able to mount stuff on the roof (cargo box or snow boards etc) without shading the panels. Most cargo boxes need a spacing of around 30". If I used 100 watt panels I would need to span over 4', too far. Currently the left rear of the roof is clear. I can mount a 16" tall by 24" wide box flush with the drivers side, and none of the panels would be shaded when the sun is more than 45 degrees above the horizon from any angle. And the roof vents wouldn't be blocked. I used mc4 branch connectors to bottle everything down to 2 wires. But I don't love it. The panels have leads coming off in two directions. And if you cut their leads off it voids the warranty. I need to tidy up the wires in a couple spots to they are less likely to snag a branch.
The controller is a blue sky 3000i MPPT controller. It is digital and programmable. Much more tolerant to shading than a PWM controller. A few minutes ago I went outside and two panels were completely shaded, and still charging at 6 amps. The most I've observed today was 11 amps, but I expect I should be able to see 14 at least in bulk charge. It was in absorbtion mode most of the day at 14.4 volts even with the blue sea ACR disconnected all day.
Hmm what else... I removed the decals. I measured ride height and it is dead even left to right. The fender gap is 1" more in back than in front. The timbrens are only compressed about 3/8", and they can compress over 3" total. Lots of time planning and obsessing seems to have paid off so far.
The camper is super comfortable. Much nicer and roomier than I expected. Our daughter slept with us which was mostly uneventful, aside from here wanting to play with everything the first night. I bought a king sized RV superbag which is really convenient. Since no bedding can stay on the main bed with the camper closed, this means making a bed is incredibly easy with the superbag, as the sheets are velcroed in. Just pull it off the dinette and throw it on the bed. Done. We used the outside shower for my daughter at the beach, very nice. The fridge and freezer seems to maintain steady temps even at home where it's warm. Ice is hard and ice cream is soft!
Overall we are very pleased so far.
Once we got home Sunday I decided to install the solar. I'm using 2 x 100 watt renology flexible panels, and 2 x 50 watt panels for a total of about 12lbs. Why not 3 x 100w panels? The camper has yakima racks. I want to be able to mount stuff on the roof (cargo box or snow boards etc) without shading the panels. Most cargo boxes need a spacing of around 30". If I used 100 watt panels I would need to span over 4', too far. Currently the left rear of the roof is clear. I can mount a 16" tall by 24" wide box flush with the drivers side, and none of the panels would be shaded when the sun is more than 45 degrees above the horizon from any angle. And the roof vents wouldn't be blocked. I used mc4 branch connectors to bottle everything down to 2 wires. But I don't love it. The panels have leads coming off in two directions. And if you cut their leads off it voids the warranty. I need to tidy up the wires in a couple spots to they are less likely to snag a branch.
The controller is a blue sky 3000i MPPT controller. It is digital and programmable. Much more tolerant to shading than a PWM controller. A few minutes ago I went outside and two panels were completely shaded, and still charging at 6 amps. The most I've observed today was 11 amps, but I expect I should be able to see 14 at least in bulk charge. It was in absorbtion mode most of the day at 14.4 volts even with the blue sea ACR disconnected all day.
![](http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t295/brianjwilson/2DE80852-96CD-4EB5-8655-7706BDF60CB9.jpg)
![](http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t295/brianjwilson/7D224EB8-0E66-49E9-841F-53FF45D770CF.jpg)
![](http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t295/brianjwilson/C9D4E47C-CA53-464A-898E-2FE981ED6044.jpg)
![](http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t295/brianjwilson/C5181268-37DA-4378-B73E-CA36CD6E413A.jpg)
![](http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t295/brianjwilson/486FCD08-DC6B-4B07-BE51-9CB9C87880B3.jpg)
Hmm what else... I removed the decals. I measured ride height and it is dead even left to right. The fender gap is 1" more in back than in front. The timbrens are only compressed about 3/8", and they can compress over 3" total. Lots of time planning and obsessing seems to have paid off so far.
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