Country Coach intrigue 32 ft (((((Solar install)))))

onanysunday

onanysunday

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Never installed the system so now I am going to put it on the coach we just bought. Need to start figuring out what all I need and what needs changed. Coach has lithium batteries now and we will be putting in a residential fridge. Might need more panels and a different controller. I assume a battery monitoring system as well. Still have not found the inverter but I think I know where it might be hidden. Has the keypad in the coach that lights up. 2003 Country Coach Intrigue. I will probably have lots of questions once I figure out what is what. Still at the don't know stage. Meant to take pictures of the batteries today and forgot. Going out of town for a few days and back next week. Go back up to the cool country to play with pine needles. So far we have filled the tractor box 52 times and the trailer 13 dumps. Still not done. Mega job.


 
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He's Steve Frakes on Facebook, for anyone else wondering or needing his help.
 
I was able to talk to him last night. Super helpful and he's going to dial me in on doing my system.
 
I bought a solar 'kit' from socaldmax years go and installed it on my RV's roof. I added a second panel from Steve a year later and had to upgrade the MPPT controller. That controller failed pretty quickly and I got a replacement from Steve. Then that one failed. I was done with his junk shit. Checking my system I found the cheap ass wire Steve sold me was melted and burned. I had Andrew, a different solar guy, dial my system in with a new MPPT controller and wiring. Andrew has since done most of the solar systems for our Glamis group and several systems for board members on GD.com Mine has been working great ever since Andrew worked on it (which he did in Glamis).
 
L.R.S. said:
I bought a solar 'kit' from socaldmax years go and installed it on my RV's roof. I added a second panel from Steve a year later and had to upgrade the MPPT controller. That controller failed pretty quickly and I got a replacement from Steve. Then that one failed. I was done with his junk shit. Checking my system I found the cheap ass wire Steve sold me was melted and burned. I had Andrew, a different solar guy, dial my system in with a new MPPT controller and wiring. Andrew has since done most of the solar systems for our Glamis group and several systems for board members on GD.com Mine has been working great ever since Andrew worked on it (which he did in Glamis).
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Do you have a contact number for Andrew ?

Thanks
 
For the AZ side of things, Pete at Main Street RV is your guy for Solar.
Has done everyone's rig in our group and does a bunch in Havasu.
 
L.R.S. said:
I bought a solar 'kit' from socaldmax years go and installed it on my RV's roof. I added a second panel from Steve a year later and had to upgrade the MPPT controller. That controller failed pretty quickly and I got a replacement from Steve. Then that one failed. I was done with his junk shit. Checking my system I found the cheap ass wire Steve sold me was melted and burned. I had Andrew, a different solar guy, dial my system in with a new MPPT controller and wiring. Andrew has since done most of the solar systems for our Glamis group and several systems for board members on GD.com Mine has been working great ever since Andrew worked on it (which he did in Glamis).
Click to expand...
Steve is a better golfer than you.
 
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lincster said:
For the AZ side of things, Pete at Main Street RV is your guy for Solar.
Has done everyone's rig in our group and does a bunch in Havasu.
Click to expand...
Pete at Main street is the man for anything RV. He just needs a west side location so I don't have to drive to the east valley anymore!
 
Dang there is a lot to learn about solar. So this thing has three 8d AGM batteries. Each battery weighs 169 lb. I am keeping one of those to start the engine and then replacing two of them with two sunfun kits 315 amp hour each LiPO batteries. Did a lot of research on different batteries and really like their product. They have an 8-year warranty. Little more expensive but the battery monitoring system is pretty neat in these. You don't need a shunt in the system. There's a whole booklet that comes with the batteries on how to use Bluetooth or a laptop and make changes to the battery monitoring system. They each weigh 60 pounds. Those big 8ds have 280 amp hours each. So that will drop 218 lb in battery weight. I had already bought two SunPower 327 watt each panels from steve. So I will have 654 Watts. Not a crazy size on this system. Mainly just want to run a residential fridge and a few items. AC units will still get run with the diesel generator.
 

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Trying to mount my electronics in the same Bay with the batteries was going to be a real pain in the ass. To do it right I needed to separate the AGM starting battery from all the electronics. Elected to mount all of the electronics under the bed in the storage area. I will cut a rectangular opening in each side and put a regular AC register vent to let some air flow through that area. From what I gather as long as I'm not running AC units with this inverter it will build some heat but not get crazy hot. Going with the multiplus II 12 volt 3000 VA inverter. For the price point without going absolutely nuts everything I gather Victron has really good products. Controller will be a victron MPPT 150/45. Selecting the correct controller is extremely important to make the system as efficient as possible. My battery guy who is a tech wizard helped select the controller. He said victron controllers don't scale correctly and rattled off enough numbers to make my head spin. You look online and think you are able to figure out how to select the right one and then I just threw all that out the window and gave up. Then also mounted in that area will be Victron Serbo that lets all the components talk to each other. The brain of the system so to speak. The batteries I bought also talk to the Victron components through cables. Components are just sitting there for the photo it will need to be mounted up higher to get air around them. This location keeps them away from the sand during a big storm at glamis as well. This inverter does add 40 lb but I still figure with the whole system I'm going to be 180 lb lighter.
 

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