Installing solar on Four-Winds Chateau (2009)

[gypsydan]

I have a 2009 Four-Winds Chateau and want to find out if anyone has installed solar on one in that age range? I'm trying to determine:

1. How you connected the new inverter/charger to the existing converter to take advantage of the internal 117v plugs.
2. Where did you put the inverter/charger and other instruments?
3. If extra batteries were instlled, where?

Thanks for any input.

Dan

[richard5933]

Dan - Welcome to the forum!

Solar and the inverter often go together, but they are not the same thing (and you don't need an inverter to add solar). The primary piece of equipment other than the panels that you'll need is the solar charge controller. There are two basic types, and the one you choose will depend on the ultimate size of your solar array and the way you're going to use it. The charge controller takes the power from the solar panels in on one end, and puts it out on the other end in a way that can be used to charge your battery bank. The better ones will have a good multi-stage setup so that they can charge your battery bank without damaging it by overcharging. The output of the solar charge controller is typically wired to the batteries directly and can run parallel to the input to the batteries from the converter/charger or inverter/charger.

Do you currently have an inverter at all? In order to be able to use the 120v output current from the inverter it will need to be wired to the inside of your coach. If you currently have an inverter alongside your converter/charger you can replace both of those with an appropriately sized inverter/charger. If you don't have an inverter yet, you can either keep your existing converter/charger and add the inverter to the system, or you can change the converter/charger for an inverter/charger. Either way, you'll also have to bring the inverter into the 120v wiring so that you can make use of it inside the coach. The switching between the inverter output/shore power/generator output can be as automated or manual as you want.

A little more information about your current setup and your end goal with the solar will help us help you better.

[manholt]

Desert Deals 69 has 800 watts of solar on a 1998 coach...age of RV has nothing to do with it. 

[rsbilledwards]

Hey Carl, I have 960 watts top side and a smile on my face every day camped in the desert in January thru May in Arizona and another one every day that I am not plugged it to a park charging me $40 bucks or more a night. The system is self constructed from information gleaned from handybobsolar.com. Read the charging puzzle and then continue for solar 102 and 103. Gypsydan keep asking the questions...there is no such thing as a dumb one.

[manholt]

Good Morning Bill E.

You'll never get an argument out of me, on that subject.  Just one question, what did you do about water/sewage for 5 months??? 

[rsbilledwards]

Carl, for us the black tank will last a month but usually we are moving before that time is up. One trick here is that we do not put any paper in the tank and minimal clear water. We then dump tanks at some facility in the area as we move. As for grey water, we are very fastidious about how this is used in the desert. Either we use paper plates or wipe hard plates clean and then wash, same with pots. No solids into the tank. The result is a very clean tank. Here is what I have found, it is the first, less than a gallon that is grey with stuff in it so I collect that and dump back into the black tank. The remaining is virtually clear and that I use to water the surrounding vegetation. As for fresh water replentishment, I carry 4,  hard side 7 gallon Reliable containers. I have a 5 gallon a minute pump as a coach house spare mounted in the water department set up  to pull water from the containers into the storage system. These containers are stored in the toad and each time we are out we get water as needed. It takes less that 8 minutes to add that to the system. It is far better than moving the coach.