I was wondering if anyone has put solar panels on a 38GK model. I am wanting to do this to ours and have 2 older industrial ones with a regulator my company was going to haul off to the dump years ago. I have had these on a number of my old RV's over the years and they work great. I have always used the corner channel to send the wiring through on the outside of the coach. On my 38GK this is not possible with out messing up the body paint. So if anyone has any information or where I can go to get information please let me know. I am hoping that I might be able to come through the roof and down into the electrical and plumbing area under the shower and toilet area. On some of the other models I have been told to go through and down along the vent pipes which would be great but ours is a GK model and I don't want to just start punching holes with reckless abandon.

Thanks for the help our house batteries are going to love it! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Tom

Tom,

The wiring for my solar panels comes down from the roof into the pantry in the kitchen. It runs down a back corner into the belly then forward to the generator compartment which I use to house the batteries, inverter and charge controller.

It was a pretty long run so the wire size was a little larger than what I expected, but you can't see any of it and wasn't that much of a bother to run.

My rig is a 38FL, but maybe you could do the same thing.

Thanks Ken That sounds like a great option I posed this question on the other sight and one person mentioned the larger wire for the run. Looking at going with 8-2 wire.

Tom,

I am certainly no expert at this but from what I know the size of the cable depends on the voltage of the panels, the length of run, weight requirements, budget, the necessary voltage at where it will be consumed (i.e. charge/controller) and the all so important acceptable loss of current.

For my install I ended up at about a 75' run using 6 gauge stranded copper. Some of the interconnects I opted for aluminum but that was mostly close to the battery source which didn't pose a large budget issue. They also worked really well with my batteries so didn't mind the small upcharge on that.

Yes I still have a heat/ventilation issues that I'm working though but overall I'm very happy.....

Tom,

We have a 36FL, which is similar to Ken's 38FL. Our dealer installed our single 160W panel and routed the wires through the roof into the hollow bulkhead in the bathroom, then down to the belly. Not sure about wire sizes, as the coach is in storage.

Our inverter is secured to the front bulkhead in the basement.

Sounds a better option for the wiring. Looking to do this as well soon right after I finished installing the truck wheels and new tires on the current F150 project.

Well after some time to look at the situation and talking with a couple of different solar panel companies and the help of the great people here. I am going to run the wiring near the back corner of the pantry and into the electrical plumbing area. I should be able to complete this with 10 gauge wire since it will be about 30 foot total run. I also am going to use a MPPT controller account my panels are older and life is getting limited using all the power they can produce until it is time to change them out or add to them. Ordered the wire 10-2 50ft encased from Unlimited Solar Inc for just under 50 bucks. They were very nice and took the time to teach me what I needed to understand and also leave options where I can upgrade without changing the whole system.