Who has solar installed in their expanda

[Capt. Gadget]

Cheers Burnsy I might flick and Email off to Setec and see what they say

 

[boots33]

I have a Question, I'm about to set up my Solar charging system and was wondering would it be a good Idea to put switch in somewhere to be able to switch off the current from the Solar Panel when connected to mains? I thought I had seen someones wiring diagram on here somewhere but cant seem to find it .

from the setec jayco FAQ found here

General Questions
- If the “Power supply unit should only be powered from either 240 V mains or Auxiliary Power (Auxiliary Power also includes solar power) but not both. Failure to do so may result in damage to power supply"
Does this mean if the RV is fitted with Solar? The 240 V connection must be removed?

Answer
There should be no problem operating from both 240 V and AUX in as long as the AUX in does not exceed the 14.8 V limit defined in the manual. The AUX limit of 14.8 V must not be exceeded or damage to internal components will occur. It is possible that the power supply will operate in a hiccup mode if the AUX input voltage is above the voltage that the power supply is trying to regulate at, however this should not cause any problem.


So you can see there is no risk of damage as long as your solar reg does not exceed 14.8v.

I would run the solar direct to the van battery(through a regulator and fuse of course) and keep the vehicle supply connected through the aux in on the setec. Jayco normally fit a battery switch to disconnect the battery from the setec so that should be all you need to get you going. That way when you are on 240v you can just switch off the bat switch and the setec will supply your van requirements and the solar will keep your battery topped up. If your battery was heavily discharged you could leave the switch turned on and get power from both the setec and solar. While you are driving(wth the power switch on) you will get power both from the tug as well as solar and the blocking diode in the setec will ensure that there is no adverese affects to your tug charging system. In practice this is rarely an issue anyway as there will usually be some voltage drop on this line anyway.

 

[Dingo]

Gday All,

I to have just installed solar on the roof of our 17.56 .2. I got a bargin deal on a 200w panel that was 24v and bought a regulator to convert it from 24v to 12v. Nothing to flash but it keeps it topped up with no problems at all. How ever i did make it so i had a 50mm gap between the panel and the roof to let the heat out.
Just a sneak peak of it in the cupboard.
View attachment 6610

Hi there mate just wanted to ask a few questions about how you connected your solar to your Jayco. If you connected the solar directly to the batteries and you plugged in your 240v at a powered site would that affect your batteries in any way?

cheers Adam

 

[David Johnson]

Hi Guys
just wondering if anybody has some photos of where and how they drilled andplaced the cables through the roof.
i will be tacking this job as soon as my 200w panel arrives.

Thanks
David