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Old 09-24-2021, 12:49 PM   #1
Cimriver
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Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Montrose
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Solar Upgrade Complete (Almost)

Our 2021 Cougar 22RBS came with solar pre-installed. The coach was originally equipped with one 170 Watt Zamp solar panel, one Zamp 30 Amp PWM Solar Charger, one 12 VDC Lead Acid battery, and a Zantrex Freedom 2000 Watt inverter. This was a system screaming to be upgraded.
The first thing I took on was the battery bank. I replaced the single Interstate lead acid battery with 3 100 Ah SOK Lithium Batteries. Went back and forth on Battleborn vs SOK batteries, but as the costs were building I decided to go with the SOKs. Keystone had wired the Zantrex inverter with 2/0 wire between the inverter and the battery, so I used 2/0 to wire the batteries together in parallel maintaining my 12 VDC system.
After the battery bank was complete and working, I took on the solar panels on the roof. I removed the 170 W Zamp panel and replaced it with 3 180 W Newpowa panels giving me 540 Watts on the roof. To keep the amperage down I installed the panels in series. This so that the 8 Awg Keystone installed from the roof to the battery bank could handle the amperage. This necessitated replacing the Zamp PWM solar charger as it is rated for 25 Vda from the solar array. I replaced it with a Rich Solar 40 Amp MPPT charger. This charger is rated for up to 100 Vdc from the solar array. It has a battery temperature probe to avoid charging at too high or too low battery temperature.
Today I replaced the converter on my WFCO power center with a WF-8900-Lis converter. This converter has the right charging profile to charge the Lithium batteries quickly and fully. I also installed the remote panel for the Zantrex inverter mainly so I could power it off when not in use without going outside into the pass thru storage.
Almost done. I need to do some cleanup on the wiring paths to make it pretty.
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Old 09-24-2021, 01:22 PM   #2
jxnbbl
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I just purchased a Bullet 330bhs that was prewired for zamp. The short story is before taking this home I wanted to at least add the panel/controller to have piece of mind for the 12V fridge (without propane). In talking with zamp and the dealer separately I decided to hold off on the inverter installation (will probably do this myself) but I just changed the batteries to 2 group 27 AGM batteries and just max out the zamp panels with their preconfigured 170W expansion kit. So in the end it will have 510W total.

So my question - why did you change out the 170W panel for a 180 (x3). Is it that the total cost of the 3 new ones were similar to the cost of 2 zamp panels?
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Old 09-24-2021, 01:54 PM   #3
Cimriver
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jxnbbl View Post
So my question - why did you change out the 170W panel for a 180 (x3). Is it that the total cost of the 3 new ones were similar to the cost of 2 zamp panels?
The cost for 3 180W panel wasn't a whole lot more than a single 170W panel from Zamp. As I recall I paid about $175 for each of the 180W panels.
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Old 10-03-2021, 06:33 PM   #4
mikec557
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Location: Wandering the Country
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cimriver View Post
Our 2021 Cougar 22RBS came with solar pre-installed. The coach was originally equipped with one 170 Watt Zamp solar panel, one Zamp 30 Amp PWM Solar Charger, one 12 VDC Lead Acid battery, and a Zantrex Freedom 2000 Watt inverter. This was a system screaming to be upgraded.
The first thing I took on was the battery bank. I replaced the single Interstate lead acid battery with 3 100 Ah SOK Lithium Batteries. Went back and forth on Battleborn vs SOK batteries, but as the costs were building I decided to go with the SOKs. Keystone had wired the Zantrex inverter with 2/0 wire between the inverter and the battery, so I used 2/0 to wire the batteries together in parallel maintaining my 12 VDC system.
After the battery bank was complete and working, I took on the solar panels on the roof. I removed the 170 W Zamp panel and replaced it with 3 180 W Newpowa panels giving me 540 Watts on the roof. To keep the amperage down I installed the panels in series. This so that the 8 Awg Keystone installed from the roof to the battery bank could handle the amperage. This necessitated replacing the Zamp PWM solar charger as it is rated for 25 Vda from the solar array. I replaced it with a Rich Solar 40 Amp MPPT charger. This charger is rated for up to 100 Vdc from the solar array. It has a battery temperature probe to avoid charging at too high or too low battery temperature.
Today I replaced the converter on my WFCO power center with a WF-8900-Lis converter. This converter has the right charging profile to charge the Lithium batteries quickly and fully. I also installed the remote panel for the Zantrex inverter mainly so I could power it off when not in use without going outside into the pass thru storage.
Almost done. I need to do some cleanup on the wiring paths to make it pretty.
Sounds like a nice setup. But you know, this is the internet. It ain't real until you see pictures. 😂😂😂
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Old 10-04-2021, 05:22 AM   #5
roadglide
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Will you system allow you to run everything in the rv? I’m seeing the 40 amp mppt controller is good for 500 watts .
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500 watts of solar enough power for boon docking.
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