Alright everyone, I need electrical upgrades, time for ALL NEW! Suggestions needed!

[Dano]

Well, in order to keep things reasonably simple, keep the cost down, keep the size of this job to a reasonable project time, minimize losses and maximize the efficiency of the system, this is my suggested solution:

Mount the charge controller in the old TV opening on a panel. This is about 6 feet closer than the original is to the batteries and creating a new round trip length of less than 15 feet (down from 30 feet) at the same time, reducing length by about 12 feet round trip from not using the original location. By using 8AWG wiring, I simply have to run the wires down the interior post to the batteries. The controller will be easily read from this location as well. I can’t see upgrading what I have beyond what I am planning too much from here. Does this sound reasonable to most?

Also, if you are right on the interior panel Blue, that’s really good news!

[HoosierB]

Did this for you Hoosier...It pretty much shows about every location you could stick a panel with an extra 50 on top of the A/C unit as per Clay's great idea. Renogy makes a flexible one that appears to fit perfectly within the confines and will conform to the top.
https://www.renogy.com/renogy-50-watt-1 ... lar-panel/
Total is about 450 watts. I think I am just going to use the Renogy Z brackets but maybe the 3M tape is worth a look! I'm not too concerned with holes if everything is Dicor'ed and covered with Eternabond tape.

Dano, I hacked your illo to make a representation of what the latest thinking is for my 300w application. Three Renogy Compact Design 100w panels: one at the existing passenger side location, two (end-to-end) driver side (old antenna removed). I assumed yours was positioned further back to allow for the King Jack. I have not been able to "get up top" yet to confirm fitment, just going by your research at this stage. If this looks doable, I may order just the panels since they're now on sale. Any thoughts?

[chin_k]

HoosierB, I see they are asking $115 on their website. You may want to look at other places. Amazon, for example, I think it is $110 with free shipping.

[Blue~Go]

I will be very curious to see what the specs are on the compacts you get, specifically the Vmp. I see they list it as 17.x on their site now, but they carry the same model number as the 16 volt panels. I like the 16-volters for series, but would not want them for parallel. If you do get ones that are 17.x, I might like to buy a couple for another project where I might use them in parallel. So, I'm curious! (And if you get 17.x volts, did you get them from Amazon, Renogy, or? Buying from the same place might increase the chances of getting the same ones.)

Maybe you wouldn't mind posting a photo of that spec label that's on the back of the panels?

I'd prefer 18" wide panels, but it's sure nice to get ones that are 1.5" narrower (19.6" vs. around 21") and they are so darned cheap now. Can't complain too much.

[Dano]

Couldn't agree more Blue! Photo of the labels as soon as they arrive, fingers crossed they are 17.x. I'd love them to be 18" wide as well but I suspect this will be as close as we come for a while. Got all my stuff through Amazon Canada which surprisingly, was cheaper than the U.S. prices when I calculated our dollar exchange on almost all the items. I'll take it!

[HoosierB]

HQST has the identical "Compact Design" 100w panel (same specs/sticker/product photo) as Renogy... for $99 on Amazon. A third party seller?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L7ZGGVT/?c ... _lig_dp_it

[Dano]

Less than perfect news! You are indeed correct Blue, the sticker that you and Hoosier have both posted is correct and they are 16.x and not 17.x as they said on the phone! GEEZ!! In any event, I've chosen not to care and will roll with these. They are going to be perfect or as close to it anyways as I can get, especially for the price of my system. I love the fact that they are narrower. Stay tuned for the complete 948 photo install!

[chin_k]

I think you should call the rep and give them an earful about the wrong info. It is not a big deal for you (you are way to easy going!), but it would make me mad to curse.

[Dano]

I would but it was a 30 minute wait last time! In all fairness, I went back and looked at the Amazon listing and the info there was correct, I'm just not sure why it was different. In any event, they are going to great and 1,000 times better than what was there. I'm excited!

[HoosierB]

Now I'm confused! Attached screen shot of Renogy's website description of their Compact Design panel # RNG-100D-SS.

Renogy website description of Compact Design panel