I didn’t notice any photos of people going in through the roof. I would prefer doing that so i can hide the wiring underneath the panels. Do the wires interfere with closing the camper much?
No, it doesn’t interfere at all.
This is the camper I have now. Renogy wiring gland.
And this is the first time I did it on the first camper with a salvaged gland from the local RV place.
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Awesome, thanks. Thats a good idea to go far forward and sneak it on the side like that. I have a gen 1 with pre drilled hole through the fixed bed panel. I wish it was on the passenger side though, as that is where battery, fridge, etc is.
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I am planning for my upcoming camper instal in June. My goal is to build out my rig in a way that allows me to live out of it while I work as a raft guide for the summer.
I see a lot of folks on here are building out solar systems that go from panels to car/marine batteries and installing inverters etc. My question is what are the pros/cons or benefits to that verse simply buying a “solar generator” like the Goal Zero Yeti that seems to have it all built in already?
Admittedly I am a novice when it comes to anything electrical and could be missing something obvious but I would greatly appreciate any insight/thoughts/feedback.
The other thread you started has answers for you.
https://forum.gofastcampers.com/t/solar-generator-vs-solar-to-batteries-etc/20628?u=jasont
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Did you cut the wires of the renogy solar panels? I’m trying to run two flexible 100 watt solar panels and the wiring to run them in parallel is a mess. It would seem easier to cut them and join them together at different lengths.
I’ve done quite a bit of automotive wiring with butt connectors, but I’ve never worked with solar cables.
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@pablomoca I didn’t cut the panel wires; but I did cut the runs to the controller. In multiple spots actually. I have one run that comes down through the gland to connectors flush with the box floor. This allows the disconnection of the panel in the event of camper removal.
While you could ‘butt’ solder and heat shrink (probably the cheapest method). I would suggest purchasing the panel adaptors. You can run the panels either in parallel or series using these; but yes they are bulky. Personally, I’d opt for using an adhesive back zap holder and make the connections on the roof. Less visible there, then you should just have your +/- either running down the side or going through a gland. I strongly suggest using a gland on the roof. I know it’s intimidating and pigeon holes you into the cable entrance; but it is a much more elegant approach.
Then I also think, ‘Shitco’ has a Branch connector block that attaches to the extrusion. Personally I don’t think it’s the most elegant approach.
Hope that helps.
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I bought the solar plug kit off Amazon and used an extra 3 feet of my 30 ft 8 gauge wire to make my own harness
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I’ve got a question that I know I’m going to end up feeling silly asking. I’ve attached photos.
I’m installing a 100w Renogy panel on my beef bars. I bought the kit, so it has 10’ pos (red ring) and neg (black) extension cables to run into the camper and connect to the charge controller. The panel has pos (red ring) and neg (black) cables, labeled, that are to be connected to the extension cables. I also have a Renogy waterproof fuse (red ring) that came with the kit, and is intended to be placed in-line on the pos cable. So, the male/female connectors appear to be on opposite cables, reversing red and black, and the fuse connection seems to be intended for the negative connector, which is incorrect. What am I not understanding? Sorry for this simple question, but I don’t get it.
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The rings can be used as a reference; but you’re always better off to be doing this stuff with a Multimeter. Then the Color doesn’t ‘really’ matter, because you’ll know it’s hooked up in the right polarity to your charge controller. As long as positive voltage is getting to the positive terminal, the gender of the connector doesn’t discriminate.
So with the fuse it is Non-directional and actually can be used in either connector, just depends on which way you want your current to flow (UK/US) 
Electronics nerd joke
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Did you have to buy any extra hardware to piggy back the two solar panels ? If so can you share what you used?
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Yea I made a harness to connect the two from left over 8 gauge cable I cut down from the 30 fr piece I bought to run the line from the roof top to my goal zero in the bed. You can buy the plug kit from Amazon too, I think it was around $20.
It’s been running flawlessly since I installed it 2 years ago. The 2 panels are run to a 1000x goal zero, and my ICECO JL42 fridge runs constantly off it. At the end of the day I’m always at 100%, by the next morning I’m at 90%, or so. A big thing is to keep the fridge semi full so that it’s not constantly trying to keep the empty space cold.
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I solved this by making my own harness with plug oriented as I needed without crossing colored cables.
I advise against doing what I did, which was to affix a Sunflare Xplor panel directly to the composite roof panel. When this panel is getting sun, it transfers so much heat to the interior. You really do want an air gap between your panel and the camper roof.
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There really is no way to do this with flexible panels. The alternative would be mounting panels on the beef bars.
There was a thread (could he this one) where someone calculated the heat transfer with the panels.
Just invest in a fan next.
P.s. I have 2 panels like yours that I will be using for solar on my camper.
I almost did that too, but I did remember how hot it got when I laid portable panels on my roof. So I opted for beef racks with panels so I can get that air gap for better cooling.
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Yeah, I imagine the air gap + shade from panels could actually help keep the tent cooler than without anything on the roof. has anyone confirmed if that’s true?
You could mount the flexible panels on any sheet (wood, composite, metal) and then mount that to a bar/rack system. The heat transfer really made summer camping worse.
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