400 watt solar install on Northstar TC800

[ripperj]

Just few pics of my solar install, a bit fuzzy because it was through the screen

Four 100 watt Renogy Mono panels , two panels in series , then the two sets parallel. 24v at 12 amps

I used 2” 1/16” aluminum angle and 1/4”x1” stainless lags into the roof, with 1/4” aluminum pop rivets into the panels. I couldn’t bolt the panels because I couldn’t get to the backside. I didn’t want to mount the angles ahead of time because the roof is not flat.

The angles are bedded to the roof with 3m 4200

I used a Blue Sea cable clam for the 10awg. I ran them down the same soft wall tube that the marker lights use from the factory.

All the cables are from Amazon “Igreely” brand, really nice quality and thick insulation. Inexpensive too.

Victron 100/30 smart controller and two 12v 100aH Renogy AGM batteries.
I have a Magnum mms 1012 pure sine inverter/charger.

I need to play around with the settings , when the batteries were mostly charged , and both chargers were in Float mode, the Victron would from cycle from 0 to 5.28 amps and back slowly- I have a video but don’t know how to post it here.

The screen shot was late in the day with the sun pretty low. The right hand meter is the solar controller(12.5 amps) I had all my DC loads energized and the power hungry fridge running off the inverter to load things up. I really need to get my ARB installed, but don’t really want to hack up the cabinets, it’s twice the size and uses 1/4 the DC as the Dometic 3 way

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[ripperj]

Still a bit cloudy, should definitely get 400+ in full sun


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[ripperj]

I’m done posting these now


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[seeNik48]

We had 400 watts of solar power installed in 2019 plus 2 Battleborn LiIon batteries. Before we had 140 watts and 2 AGM batteries. What a difference. We decided to get the new system as our batteries weren’t holding a charge as long and were getting old (7 years). DH is happy as he can now reheat his coffee, soup and pizza.

 

[beef tits]

400 watts is a lot, are you in the midwest where it's cloudy 500 days a year? Running a 55" TV in that thing?

 

[kerry]

What do the two inside aluminum angles bolt to? Our Northstar roof is nothing but foam and an 1/8” panel of plywood on the inside apart from a 3” rim of wood around the outside

 

[ripperj]

That’s pretty much it… gravity and 4200.
There are 7 lags into the plywood on each outside edge. Definitely not going to fall off.
It’s how Northstar recommend doing it, it’s really all you can do without making some kind of rack that spans the roof.


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[schmugboy]

Not to be a nagging nelly, and you may have already addressed it and just shown a picture part way through the build. But having loose wires laying on your roof and especially over sharpish brackets without conduit or protection may set yourself up for potential problems in the future as the wind will whip those suckers around. Looks super nice, it will be interesting to see how long the 3M holds, I'm not very familiar with adhesives, most of the stuff I've tried never works (probably operator error), and I am envious of your monitoring setup.
And if you have found room to mount that 55" TV let me know how it is done, because my kids want one in our camper.