Built in solar connection

[spokedintheeye]

I have a 2016 Bullet 247BHSWE. The TT came with a built in solar connection for portable panels. The dealer didn't offer much info and there is nothing in the manuals for it. Anyone here have the same. If so I will have further questions.

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[chuckster57]

Is it Zamp by chance? If so I can tell you the plug is proprietary, but you can get adapter plugs for other brands.
Sometimes the wiring is hooked up at the converter and you don't have to do anything, other times the charge wires are just sitting by the battery.

[spokedintheeye]

The plug is just like zamps from what I can tell. I plugged in a different brand panel with charge controller without the batteries connected. Using an amp meter I got the following results:

Panels not connected to trailer or charge controller 21 volts.

Panels connected to charge controller but not trailer 14v.

Those results seemed normal.

Panels connected to trailer with charge controĺler: the volt meter fluctuated and was changing quickly from 10 volts to 1v to about 6v and so on. I didn't check the panels directly into the trailer without the charge controller.

Videos I've seen of trailers with zamp wiring show the portable charge controller still required. I'm assuming g this might be zamp. No stickers, or documents telling me what it is or how to use

The good news is that I wasn't told about the solar wiring on the trailer until our walk through. So it wasn't a selling gnpkint for me and I can still hook up my panels directly to the batteries. Now I know it's there I would like to use it.

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[bill-e]

I'm pretty sure that all portables come with a controller mounted somewhere on the panels, certainly my Zamp did as did every one I looked at when shopping.

My TT was not pre wired so I installed a Zamp connector on one of my battery boxes.

[spokedintheeye]

I'm pretty sure that all portables come with a controller mounted somewhere on the panels, certainly my Zamp did as did every one I looked at when shopping.

My TT was not pre wired so I installed a Zamp connector on one of my battery boxes.
Yes that's exactly how I connect my current panels. This built in hook up would be an easy set up...if it actually worked or if I had a manual to explain the fluctuations. I just picked up another 75w panel. I guess that built in solar wiring is a waste of effort for Keystone. Or mine doesn't work. I just don't know.


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[bill-e]

Did you connects the panels to the trailer with the charge controller and the batteries connected? If the batteries were not connected the charge controller might act that way since it senses the battery voltage and applies the correct charging current depending on what it's reading from the batteries.

My Zamp panels wont actually put out anything until the batteries are connected, until then the controller shows an error message saying that there is no load.

[spokedintheeye]

Did you connects the panels to the trailer with the charge controller and the batteries connected? If the batteries were not connected the charge controller might act that way since it senses the battery voltage and applies the correct charging current depending on what it's reading from the batteries.

My Zamp panels wont actually put out anything until the batteries are connected, until then the controller shows an error message saying that there is no load.
Yes, I fid it both ways. The charge controller worked perfectly when attached directly to the batteries. I also tested the leads on rhe controller when not connected to the batteries and it still put out the correct power. It just doest work through the prewired connection in the trailer. There is a RV show on this weekend nearby. I'm going to ask there and hopefully get some answers. Keystone never got back to me.

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[bill-e]

Sorry for the questions, I'm now curious. Did you trace the wires and to they go directly to the batteries or is it possible that they terminate somewhere and are not actually connected on the battery end?

[spokedintheeye]

Questions are good it makes me think more about what I could have missed. I can't trace the wires back (that I can see) because the solar wiring is built into the wall. There is some power going through but the reading is not steady. The volt reading at the battery connection changes every second with the solar controller plugged into the sidewall of the trailer.

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[bill-e]

I just had a thought. Zamp wires differently than others. On the bulkhead connector, the male pin is Positive. Zamp used red for positive and black for negative.

[spokedintheeye]

Yes. Luckily for me, I checked the polarity first since I was able to use a volt meter on the solar connection on the side of the trailer to check battery volts. It matched my panels.

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[spokedintheeye]

I just came back from the RV show and spoke to the RV dealer carrying KEYSTONE. Is some non keystone trailers had zamp stickers on the connection. The keystone trailers had an after market sticker that said solar ready. I talked to two different reps from the dealer. One told me, I don't need a charge controller until I'm over 80 watts of panels hooked up. I asked another rep same company. He said...charge controller required no matter what. Bang my head against a wall!

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[bill-e]

Google it and you will get varying answers but all of them state that you need a charge controller to prevent overcharging.

One rule of thumb I found was to take the AH rating of the battery and divide by 10 and that will tell you the maximum wattage of a solar cell without a charge controller....using that logic an 80w panel would only be acceptable without the controller on an 800ah battery pack.

Personally I think you need the controller or risk damage to your batteries.

[spokedintheeye]

Google it and you will get varying answers but all of them state that you need a charge controller to prevent overcharging.

One rule of thumb I found was to take the AH rating of the battery and divide by 10 and that will tell you the maximum wattage of a solar cell without a charge controller....using that logic an 80w panel would only be acceptable without the controller on an 800ah battery pack.

Personally I think you need the controller or risk damage to your batteries.
Thanks for all the help everyone...but I still don't have any info on the solar connection or why it doesn't seem to work properly. I guess I will have to bring it in and get the dealership to figure it out with Keystone.

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[chuckster57]

FWIW, I've seen the plug have two leads laying in the front compartment and in others, the leads were connected to the battery charge leads at the converter.

[spokedintheeye]

FWIW, I've seen the plug have two leads laying in the front compartment and in others, the leads were connected to the battery charge leads at the converter.
If it was connected to the leads at the converter could that explain the wierd power readings when I hook up the controller and panels?

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[chuckster57]

I suppose anything is possible. I can't say our dealership has had much experience with pre wired solar. We do a lot of system installs with permanent panels on the roof.

[spokedintheeye]

Gotcha. For now I'm going to keep hooking the panels directly to the battery. Might be better anyway with less power loss that way. Too bad for me though. I like the idea of just plugging into the side of the trailer.

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[chuckster57]

Next trailer I PDI that has it, I will try to investigate further, and post what I find.

[spokedintheeye]

Next trailer I PDI that has it, I will try to investigate further, and post what I find.
That would be great! Thanks!

[bill-e]

I like the idea of just plugging into the side of the trailer.

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Simple to wire into the battery box

https://www.amazon.com/Zamp-Solar-RVROOFSIDE-Sidewall-Port/dp/B00T36YVI4/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1475239776&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=zamp+bulkhead

[spokedintheeye]

Simple to wire into the battery box

https://www.amazon.com/Zamp-Solar-RVROOFSIDE-Sidewall-Port/dp/B00T36YVI4/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1475239776&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=zamp+bulkhead
That's exactly what is built into the side of my trailer. And a cheap piece of equipment. Good idea maybe I will just buy one and move it to the battery boxes. The new Jayco have those installed on the frame just below the batteries. Still too bad that my set up feels like such a waste.

[bill-e]

have you measured it with the shore power disconnected with the panels plugged into the jack?

[spokedintheeye]

Yesterday I opened my electric slide, electric awning and had used the electric jack on battery power. I didn't check the voltage in the batteries then. I removed the fuse near the batteries thinking that would separate the batteries from shore power. Then used shore power for the night. This morning I checked and the batteries were showing 13.6 volts. And this also showed at the built in solar connection. My previous trailer would have been disconnected from shore power by removing this fuse and no power would get from the batteries to anything in the TT. I turned off shore power this morning. Fuse is still out, but batteries are still powering the trailer. I've been using a TT for a long time and feel like a newbie with these differences. I'm trying to attach a picture of the fuse so everyone can see what I'm talking about. Can anyone tell me if this fuse should separate the batteries from powering my TT? http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160930/6c81d0b242dad98057342f1045b1e288.jpg

[spokedintheeye]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160930/5dea5a57ac591c479c6b14d2099c9002.jpg

[bill-e]

I have no idea, maybe chuckster can answer that but that looks like a fuse to a slide or something, not to the 12v battery connection to the camper which I believe is on the frame in the lower right of the pic.. Does your camper not have a battery cut out switch in the passthrough?

[spokedintheeye]

I have no idea, maybe chuckster can answer that but that looks like a fuse to a slide or something, not to the 12v battery connection to the camper which I believe is on the frame in the lower right of the pic.. Does your camper not have a battery cut out switch in the passthrough?
Good info. Now that I take close look at it. The truck connection enters one side and the fuse is on the wires coming out the other. I don't have a cut off in the pass through.

[chuckster57]

Slide motor fuses are usually in the fuse panel inside. Fuses at the tongue can be for the electric tongue jack. I have seen a fuse in the main feed from the battery too.

[SFGiantsFan925]

I am a huge fan of having solar on my RV. I had a 200 watt system on my last TT. I was excited to see the "wired for solar" connection on my new Keystone. It seemed impossible to find any information about that the connection meant. What size wire? Controller? Fuse? Its not written in the manual, and nobody seems to have an answer. I cant follow the wores from the connection since they are in my wall of my thru compartment in the front. I have no idea where the wires go.

After all this, I just bypassed and setup my own quick connect system with a direct connection to the battery, to a controller, to my panel. I highly suggest this as it has worked great and is a much better solution and probably get a better charge than through some random connection.

Until I can find a definitive explanation of what is in the wall and connected to this connection I will continue to use my own setup.

If anyone want to know, RENOGY makes a great folding, portable solar solution that you don't have to permanently connect to the roof. After using this I like it a lot more than my previous TT that had a permanent system on the roof. This gives you flexibility to move the panels into sun when they would normally be in the shade.