I just finished my latest solar upgrade.
My 2005 TK was ordered with ut solar panels. Shortly after I bought it from the original owner I added Gopower flexible panels. I went with flexible because of the ease of mounting. I started with 2 -100w panels and added 3 more, then added 5- 190 w for 1450w of flexible Panels when I upgraded to 12v air and a 12v fridge.
Long story short short, the 1450 W flexible panels weren't enough to keep my 800amps of lithium up, their efficiency wasn't great, time to upgrade.
I have 8 Battleborn 100 amp batteries in my passenger side rear compartment, I used the original Battery compartment as an electrical room and I added 9 -250w ridged panels on an aluminum Unistrut rack, for a total of 2250 W on a 23 foot coach.
I attached two main runs of High profile Unistrut on either side of the coach using 3m Marine adhesive with a few screws to hold it in place. I then used 6 cross members of Unistrut and attached the panels to them giving a 7 inch clearance and enough room to open the vents.
Wow, and I thought my TK was maxed out at 850 watts and 400ah!
Is your entire passenger rear bay dedicated to batteries?
Yikes, that IS a lot of solar! Do you have interior photos? Regarding the batteries, have you seen this thread about the potential Battleborn battery issues?
Possible issues with Battle Born batteries (https://www.lazydazeowners.com/index.php?topic=40597.0)
How much weight did that add ?....
Jody
No only the front half of the rear compartment is dedicated to the battery. I still have the rear half, when the hatch door is open, you only see the 2x4 box that holds the batters . I use that compartment to hold my large camp chef two burner grill. I access the battery from inside the coach, but honestly after I set them up, I have never had to look at them again.
I have never had an issue with my batteries and if I did, they have a great warranty and the tech support from battle born is fantastic.
as far as weight goes, not much, everything is aluminum and I tow a 5,000 pound trailer Featherlite car trailer, a few extra pounds on the roof doesn't mean much too me
Very nice. I’ll bookmark this for future reference. Thanks.
Hi Jay; In light of the recent discovery of internal connection issues of the BattleBorn batteries; your reported shortcomings of power, "1450 W flexible panels weren't enough to keep my 800amps of lithium up, their efficiency wasn't great..." might be a result of some batteries 'not being all there'.
My older T/K on the E350 chassis really doesn't have the weight capacity for as much solar as you have. So 510 Watts is my limit. 412W Lithium (two SOK 206's). RonB
edit: To be clear, my E350 GVRW is 11,500#, so your higher rated E450 chassis is rated for 2550 pounds (over a ton) more. You can carry lot's more weight than my motorhome, which is why Lazy Daze switched all of their production over to E450 chassis in 2003. I'm just jealous! My rig was only 3 years old, so I wasn't in a position to change over then, and it would be difficult to do that now, so I just have to watch the weight that I add more carefully.
Since people seem to be worried about weight I did some calculations.
the panels Weight 25 pound times 9 = 225 lbs
the unit strut is 1 pound per lnf x 80 = 80 lbs
total 235 pound
Now that doesn't account for the little tings like copper wire and connectors and that weight is in the worst place possible but I have friends who weigh more than that and I bring them along, I just don't make them ride on the roof
I have never had an issue with my batteries and if I did, they have a great warranty and the tech support from battle born is fantastic.
I’m glad to hear you haven’t had any problem with your batteries as of yet; hopefully that continues. In regards to Battleborn’s warranty, it’s reported to be great on paper but not so great in reality. This guy had problems and thought that “great” warranty would take care of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3aySTut7Vs
I have never had an issue with my batteries and if I did, they have a great warranty and the tech support from battle born is fantastic.
You win the contest for having more solar on a 24' rig than anyone else. winner, winner, winner.
I guess you want to be able to run the roof A/C on hot days when hookups are not available. I hope you resealed everything before installing the panels, getting to the roof for repairs is going to be an involved project
As for Batteborn having a great warranty, you may be mistaken. i know I am.
The weight on the roof is spread out, I doubt you will feel much; your rig has plenty of CCC.
When carrying our large kayaks, the roof had around 300+ lbs of load, and I could not feel the difference while driving, unlike our old 1983 LD.
Larry
I use my rig as a support vehicle for my race car. The paddocks that we camp in rarely have power and I hate running a generator, I hate my neighbors running a generator more. You are right my goal is to be able to run the 12v air all day and not have to worry about my batteries.
Jay demonstrates that big is better! Really well done. What a rig!!!
jor