Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Built in solar plug

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Built in solar plug

Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=15649
Printed Date: 10 May 2024 at 4:44pm
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Topic: Built in solar plug

Posted By: JohnnyMac
Subject: Built in solar plug
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2023 at 2:45pm

Hi all,....I recently purchased a 2017 R-Pod 178 that has a built in solar plug near the outside rear of trailer. I have not got a clue how to use this. A few questions listed below.

1. Does the built in plug mean I also have a built in charge controller?

2. If answer to #1 is no, ...what type of charge controller do I need?

3. What kind of solar panels should I get? Portable,..or mounted on roof?

4. With the built in plug,....what kind of additional wiring must I do to utilize the system?

5. What kind of plug and wire do I need to use for this? Is is a universal type wire and plug, or something unique to the R-Pod?? As far as I know, it has never been used.

Anything at all to get me set up with solar would be helpful. Right now I am set up with two 12v RV batteries mounted on outside front behind propane tank.

Thanks!

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JonnyMac

Replies:

Posted By: EchoGale
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2023 at 4:55pm

Hi JohnnyMac,

When I first got my 172 I had the same battery setup as you. I bought the 100 watt renogy solar suitcase. It's is "plug and play" with it's own controller and fuse. I think you might be able to build your own for less money but that was beyond my skills at that point. Because I was new at all this it was great to be able to just attach it and it worked. I also like than it moves around so I can still charge if I am parked in the shade.

The plug on the outside of the camper is apparently just wired to the battery and doesn't mean you have a controller. I found it much easier to just attach my panels directly to my battery. There is some discussion here on the forum about whether the zamp outlet is reversed in its polarity and I'm afraid I don't know much about that but you can find it my searching the forum.

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Julie

Posted By: gpokluda
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2023 at 5:09pm

Hi JonnyMac. Your Zamp solar plug is wired directly to your battery. Any portable solar kit you use will need to have it's own controller. When we had our Rpod, we skipped using the Zamp plug, which is reverse polarity, and wired a pigtail directly to the battery and connected the solar panel kit to that. Most kits come with either battery post clamps and/or a pigtail. We used a GoPower 130watt kit we found on Craigslist, but there are plenty of other options out there. If you used a pigtail, make sure it has a fuse installed.

Good luck

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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023)
2022 Escape 5.0TA
2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB
Triumph T120

Posted By: JohnnyMac
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2023 at 9:12pm

Originally posted by gpokluda

Hi JonnyMac. Your Zamp solar plug is wired directly to your battery. Any portable solar kit you use will need to have it's own controller. When we had our Rpod, we skipped using the Zamp plug, which is reverse polarity, and wired a pigtail directly to the battery and connected the solar panel kit to that. Most kits come with either battery post clamps and/or a pigtail. We used a GoPower 130watt kit we found on Craigslist, but there are plenty of other options out there. If you used a pigtail, make sure it has a fuse installed.

Good luck

Okay, I am more than dumb on this topic. If the Zamp plug is "reverse polarity",...what does that mean? I'm fine with getting a Solar "kit" (with built in controller, etc;) and attaching directly to battery, but what is the proper application of the Zamp plug? Thanks for your patience. J

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JonnyMac

Posted By: hank*pod
Date Posted: 06 Apr 2023 at 8:01am

Originally posted by JohnnyMac

The Zamp plug has two pins and the positive and negative pins are swapped from what many solar components are pre-configured for (offhand I forget what polarity is on the RPod). At one point I had persuaded myself that there was a good reason for it to be the way it was, which had the effect of me not being able to remember what the polarity is without a multimeter.
No big deal, you can buy a component that connects the socket on the trailer connector to a pin and the pin to a socket to swap the polarity to suit an off-the-shelf cable. Or you can just bypass the plug on the vehicle and wire your charge controller directly to the vehicle battery. There really isn't a lot of value added in the on-vehicle wiring on the older R-Pods that don't have a pre-configured location to add a controller.

Posted By: Colt
Date Posted: 13 Apr 2023 at 4:27pm

My Zamp plug (standard SAE plug) is reversed from common automotive use, i.e. positive is uncovered/uninsulated. That does allow the solar system positive to be insulated.

Type of panel is your choice. Size it/them so 75% of their output can recharge your battery bank in less than 6 hours. Know that you should not pull your bank below 70% discharged if they are deep-cycle and even that shortens their life.

So, if your battery bank has 150 A-hr and you pull it down to 75 A-hr daily, you need 75a-h x 12.5V = 937.5 watt-hrs ÷ 6 he = 156.3 watts ÷ .75 = 208.3 panel watts. I'd call that 200, maybe 240.

About the best you'll get out of solar panels is 75% unless you have them on a 2-axis controller that optimizes the angle to the sun. Not too practical.

I probably would get 2 smaller panels and create a "portable" system.

There are 2 kinds of controllers Pulse Width Modulation and Max Power Point Tracking. Either is fine for a simple system. MPPT controllers are more efficient and will make max use of your panels if you wire them in series (~40 volts). Be sure the controller is rated above the current and voltage of your panels. This PWM controller would support 240+ panel watts either in series or parallel and is waterproof. I have the smaller one mounted to the outside of my battery box, hooked to a 100 watt panel that maintains my battery in storage. The area doesn't get many hours of sun.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07YXZMKD2?psc=1&th=1

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John
'16 R-Pod 180