Solar thru 7pin tow connector

[Philip.M]

Solar installation
I bought a 2019 Pioneer RG22. It doesn’t have solar prep. And I am not too fond of drilling holes into my new camper. While going thru the documentation and after asking some questions I realized that my tow vehicle charges the house battery.
So here is my idea:
connect my 100 watt (expandable to 400 watt) Harbor Fright solar panel to a charge controller and wire the controller into the #1 & #4 & #5 (white and black and red) of a male 7pin tow receptacle which I can then plug into the campers 7pin plug.
Since the Red (#5) goes to the converter I’m not sure if I even need to pre-wire a charge controller before going into the camper. These are #14 wires I believe but that should be sufficient for charging from solar.

Any ideas about flaws for this setup? Improvements?

 

[Silverado23]

1. You need to use a charge controller. It will regulate the voltage and current from the panels to the battery and prevent issues.

2. 14 gauge should be ok for 1 100 watt panel but check the chart in your manual for length recommended or if you plan to go with higher wattage panels.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

If you don't want to drill a hole, then just come down the grey tank vent like I did. Create opening in vent pipe inside the RV to pull wires, then seal hole back up. Easy.

 

[Philip.M]

If you don't want to drill a hole, then just come down the grey tank vent like I did. Create opening in vent pipe inside the RV to pull wires, then seal hole back up. Easy.

Thats an interesting solution. I’d prefer the black water tank since I’m converting to a compost toilet and that tank will never see a drop of sewage.
However, I was also hoping to use existing wording.

 

[danemayer]

Unless you'd modified your trailer, I think pin #5 goes to a turn signal light. Pin 4 is the 12V wire and pint 1 is ground. I wouldn't go by wire color - there's no telling what color wires were used in manufacturing.

 

[Philip.M]

Unless you'd modified your trailer, I think pin #5 goes to a turn signal light. Pin 4 is the 12V wire and pint 1 is ground. I wouldn't go by wire color - there's no telling what color wires were used in manufacturing.

View attachment 62793

not trusting the colors is a good recommendation. I went by the electrical diagram I found in the original documentation. There the red goes to both the direction signal as well as to the campers converter

 

[Philip.M]

1. You need to use a charge controller. It will regulate the voltage and current from the panels to the battery and prevent issues.

2. 14 gauge should be ok for 1 100 watt panel but check the chart in your manual for length recommended or if you plan to go with higher wattage panels.

So you are saying that outlet is good enough to trickle charge the battery, but not good enough to provide whole house charging capacity.

One thought that that I had was to install a separate battery bank. The main house battery (current) would power basics like lights, fridge, stove, water pump (not heater), and the second (new) bank would power non essential conveniences like the entertainment center, laptops, a/c and so on. In this case the 100watt panel might be totally sufficient and a larger array can power the other bank. I’d have to do some rewiring.

 

[travelin2]

So we’re talking a “suitcase” style 100 w portable panel, why not just use alligator clips directly on the battery posts? Otherwise just close your eyes drill a hole for this plug...

I have roof mounted panels with 8 ga wire to the junction then 4 ga down through controller on to the batteries

Your thoughts on 100 watts powering much are a bit short on watts IMO. You need a min of 10-1200 watts and 6-800 amps to power any significant loads excluding any chance to power an AC unit

100w panel will trickle charge your battery(s) adequately while rig is in storage without much if any load

My son has a 160 w folding panel for the 2 6v batteries in his R-pod. Works quite well maintaining the battery levels but then he’s not powering any 110v appliances through an inverter

There are several Facebook pages on solar for RVs that provide some interesting information, some of which I don’t prescribe to but none the less it’s enlightening

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Oregon_Camper]

So you are saying that outlet is good enough to trickle charge the battery, but not good enough to provide whole house charging capacity.

One thought that that I had was to install a separate battery bank. The main house battery (current) would power basics like lights, fridge, stove, water pump (not heater), and the second (new) bank would power non essential conveniences like the entertainment center, laptops, a/c and so on. In this case the 100watt panel might be totally sufficient and a larger array can power the other bank. I’d have to do some rewiring.

You might get ~6 amps at peak sunlight on a 100w panel.

You'll never get enough power from a single 100w panel to power any of the stuff you're talking about. You'll need 1,000 watts to do that, plus at least 500 amp hours of Lithium to run one A/C unit for ~4 hours.

BTW...you never mentioned which inverter you're planning to use. ???

 

[Silverado23]

So you are saying that outlet is good enough to trickle charge the battery, but not good enough to provide whole house charging capacity.

One thought that that I had was to install a separate battery bank. The main house battery (current) would power basics like lights, fridge, stove, water pump (not heater), and the second (new) bank would power non essential conveniences like the entertainment center, laptops, a/c and so on. In this case the 100watt panel might be totally sufficient and a larger array can power the other bank. I’d have to do some rewiring.

To do more than trickle charge batteries you'll need more than the 100 watt harbor freight system. Even at 400 watts you might be able to do some of the stuff you want but will quickly fall short of doing all you want.

I have a 765 watt system that powers all 100% of my 12 volt needs including my furnace refrigerator and water heater but they still use propane when not using ac as the heat source.

You also have to remember that overcast or rain days will quickly reduce charging on solar systems especially when you have several days in a row.

Then you have recharge demand along with whatever usage demands that can really tax a solar charging system.

 

[Philip.M]

So we’re talking a “suitcase” style 100 w portable panel, why not just use alligator clips directly on the battery posts? Otherwise just close your eyes drill a hole for this plug...

I have roof mounted panels with 8 ga wire to the junction then 4 ga down through controller on to the batteries

Your thoughts on 100 watts powering much are a bit short on watts IMO. You need a min of 10-1200 watts and 6-800 amps to power any significant loads excluding any chance to power an AC unit

100w panel will trickle charge your battery(s) adequately while rig is in storage without much if any load

My son has a 160 w folding panel for the 2 6v batteries in his R-pod. Works quite well maintaining the battery levels but then he’s not powering any 110v appliances through an inverter

There are several Facebook pages on solar for RVs that provide some interesting information, some of which I don’t prescribe to but none the less it’s enlightening

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i totally understand what you mean with 1100 watts being underpowered. That’s why I mention an expandable system. However I disagree with 100 watts being barely enough to keep the battery charged.
I do not plan on running much in the 110V category. So that’s not an issue. I might end up drilling a hole anyway to put a proper solar system in.
Now that I’m thinking about it, my question was more geared towards if my wiring is correct for the limited application that I suggested.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Your original question was could you use the 7-way plug to run power to your batteries ?

In my opinion (Yes) BUT not very well.
I can't even get my truck to charge my batteries very well through that cord. I'm told its about 2amp. My fridge inverter pulls about 4 to 6amps while travailing so I'm still in the negative side of that.

If your going to do it, Do it right. Use that nice adapter plug shown in the previous post and a good size wire. That first hole is always a tough one but they get easier after that, LOL If you seal it with some silicone it will be fine.

Hope this helps
Jerrod

 

[Silverado23]

Your original question was could you use the 7-way plug to run power to your batteries ?

In my opinion (Yes) BUT not very well.
I can't even get my truck to charge my batteries very well through that cord. I'm told its about 2amp. My fridge inverter pulls about 4 to 6amps while travailing so I'm still in the negative side of that.

If your going to do it, Do it right. Use that nice adapter plug shown in the previous post and a good size wire. That first hole is always a tough one but they get easier after that, LOL If you seal it with some silicone it will be fine.

Hope this helps
Jerrod

Yes you can. the issue is that wire length will cause a voltage drop that may be unacceptable. That is why you need to check you wire length to seen how long of run your 14 gauge wire you can run.

It is also why the alternator of a truck will not charge your rv battery sufficently.

 

[jbeletti]

Solar installation
I bought a 2019 Pioneer RG22. It doesn’t have solar prep. And I am not too fond of drilling holes into my new camper. While going thru the documentation and after asking some questions I realized that my tow vehicle charges the house battery.
So here is my idea:
connect my 100 watt (expandable to 400 watt) Harbor Fright solar panel to a charge controller and wire the controller into the #1 & #4 & #5 (white and black and red) of a male 7pin tow receptacle which I can then plug into the campers 7pin plug.
Since the Red (#5) goes to the converter I’m not sure if I even need to pre-wire a charge controller before going into the camper. These are #14 wires I believe but that should be sufficient for charging from solar.

Any ideas about flaws for this setup? Improvements?

As an aside, I was at HF the other day and saw 4 dirty panels in a cart that had been returned. Unsure if it was a quality issue or what. Just be sure to put them through their paces within the return period.

 

[Bogie]

Yes you can. the issue is that wire length will cause a voltage drop that may be unacceptable. That is why you need to check you wire length to seen how long of run your 14 gauge wire you can run.

It is also why the alternator of a truck will not charge your rv battery sufficently.

You can use this TOOL on the Renogy web site to calculate the wire size for a specific sized solar system.

I use a portable 100 watt Renogy panel myself. While a bit more expensive, you get the same power rating (100 watts) in a much smaller footprint than the HF panels. This is one of the reasons I didn't go with HF. Their efficiency is quite a bit lower.

 

[Silverado23]

You can use this TOOL on the Renogy web site to calculate the wire size for a specific sized solar system.

I use a portable 100 watt Renogy panel myself. While a bit more expensive, you get the same power rating (100 watts) in a much smaller footprint than the HF panels. This is one of the reasons I didn't go with HF. Their efficiency is quite a bit lower.

The HF panels manual had a wiring chart lookup table for the OP that I referred to in my original post.

Both you and Jim have good points on the HF panels and if you read any of the warnings on the panels they really seem pretty fragile for handling much in a portable manner. They are glass panels after all.

Although my panels are a bit less efficient, I went with thin film panels that contain no glass. I can walk on my panels but I usually avoid it as much as possible.