Pre-Wired RV Solar Upgrade - Arctic Fox 27-5L
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- In this video we show the changes we had to make to the pre-wired solar package in the Arctic Fox 27-5L to allow for many more watts of solar. This was required to keep our Battle Born batteries charged when boondocking.
We would be better served as consumers where “Solar Prepped” means a large weatherproof junction box and some standard mounting rail system installed and all factory sealed. Leave the component parts to us. Great system overview!
Thank you for sharing, very informative. I would put a plastic sleeve were your wires come through the metal wall. Vibration from traveling could rub a cut in the wire and ground it out through the metal wall. Just a thought and thank you for the video 👍
Great tip! Thanks!
I just added 4 panels to our 29.5t wich also said solar ready. Ordered the Zamp kit and was able to hook them all together and plug them in to the roof plug. The little panel that came with the unit I threw away and used the wires to power a backup camera wich I traced to a cabinet behind the stereo. I also put my batteries/controller where you did and replaced the 10amp remote with the upgraded Zamp one that came in kit.
Took me about 4-6 hrs to do the whole job. You did a nice job.
Thanks for watching! I had not considered using the wiring for other things. Very good idea to use it for a backup camera. Which brand of camera did you go with?
Chickery's Travels we purchased the Haloveiw camera. I used the wiring to the old panel to power the camera head thru a switch inside behind the stereo. That way I only turn on the camera when we want to use it (under way)
We leave our home in Juneau Alaska this Friday on our tour of the states so looking forward to a couple years of exciting travels.
Thanks. Safe travels. Maybe we will see you on the road!
Great information to know for someone interested purchasing a rig that claims solar ready. Good job on the video.
Thanks for watching. I am sure that solar ready will be good for some, but if you want an extensive solar system, it is good to do some checking before hooking panels up.
We put our 4ea batteries behind that panel where you mounted your charge controller. We also made a new wall to take advantage of the empty space behind the water panel area and were able to mount our charge controller there. Now we have all the space in front plus the original battery space for more stuff!!
Terrific idea! Thanks for sharing that!
If you have picture of this battery installation I would be grateful to see them. I have the same model and I am making plans to add solar. Thanks
We added solar panels to our 29 5T Arctic Fox too. Slight Segway here, something you might want to check is whether or not the manufacturer added the cold weather kit for your refrigerator. We have a 2019 Arctic Fox 5th wheel and recently experienced temperatures in the 20 degree range during the night and the refrigerator stopped working. Our brand new rig was sold to us as 4 season ready but the Norcold refrigerators, unless the cold weather kit has been added, do not seem to be equipped for temps below freezing. Now the entire cooling unit has to be replaced. No fun, we are going on two weeks without the refrigerator.
Wow, thanks for letting us know. We are going to have to check and install the cold weather kit if it was not already done. Thank you!
Glad to share, we’d hate to see anyone else go through what we’ve been experiencing. We assumed all season ready meant just that and whether or not a cold weather kit had been added isn’t a question the average purchaser would even know to ask. We sure didn’t!
Great upgrade guys! I love this 5th wheel and seriously thinking of upgrading from our TT next spring.
Excellent job ! Perfect I know just where you took the wire down. Handy dandy. Sure would love to see you guys again. I hooked ours up different cause we’re stationary at camp. Our controller and inverter are where you batteries are. I did not run my readout panel in. Now I want to. Great! Love from Ken and Jane! 🤠👍
We hope to see you guys again soon too. The way you routed the wiring is also good. There is plenty of space up there in the front.I should have a video soon with the rest of what I want to install. Need to get the inverter mounted and wired. Hope Jane is continuing to improve!
Thank you for this very clear and informative description of your solar setup.
As always, we are grateful for you watching!
This was helpful to see. Our Holiday Rambler has a GoPower prewired connection with a MC4 connector. It looks like it will not support our long term goals. The video is helpful from looking at the problem and how you approached the solution.
Thanks for watching and the kind words! Glad it was helpful.
You sound like a very nice couple.. Enjoying your videos. Thank you
Thank you! We think we’re pretty nice. 😊
Great video and the way you planed all of wiring out .
Thanks for watching!!
Thanks for this very informative and educational video. We plan to do solar in the future once we are on the road full timers like you guys. Until then, we can only dream. LOL! Thanks for sharing some wonderful solar info with us. Much appreciated!
Peace & Love!
Have a Glamperrific Day!
👍😀🌈🤪🌈😎🌈😍
Thanks guys! If you need help when you start on the travel journey, let us know :)
Glad that you could be give me some insight on coming events!! Our AF is suppose to reach the dealership sometime today. I am assuming that you ran all panels in parallel vs any type of higher voltage back to the solar controller. My original thoughts were to place the batteries in the under bed area where the temperatures were more controlled. I have to assume that you don't think that temperature will be any battery issue in the front storage that could be subject to both hot and cold extremes. Were you figuring on any type of insulation around the batteries?? Good video!!! I was very much anticipating your battery and solar install. Thank you very much, Sean!!!
Thank, Eddie. Congrats on the AF! We love it so far. Yes, they are considered in parallel. I do know that a lot of people are going for the under the bed placement of the batteries. We had our batteries in the same spot (front storage bay) in our Cyclone and never had a temperature issue. We did experience some temps in the teens, but the front compartment & batteries never got cold enough to stop charging or discharging. I hope this helps.
Have you noticed much difference in interior temperature swings in your AF vs your older Cyclone?? Can you see any major differences in the insulation package in the short time that you have lived in the AF?
One thing that I would add to your system is a rubber grommet in the steel wall that comes into your battery storage. Road vibration could rub the insulation off of the wires and create a short!
@@eddiearmacost7649 huge difference. The climate control in the AF is much easier than the Cyclone. Our air conditioner in the AF actually cycles on and off. Even in cooler temps than we are in now (mid-90s), the Cyclone Acs would never stop running. I would have to say the construction and insulation in the AF is much better than the Cyclone.
@@eddiearmacost7649 it is on my list of things to get next time I am at the store. thanks!
Great information, thanks for sharing
Glad it was helpful!
Great video!!
Thanks for this video. It - unfortunately - confirms what I've found on many RV's. The solar prep isn't much more than a marketing scheme. The prep supports what Zamp can provide and nothing more. It's like providing USB A outlets when everyone is moving to or has already moved to USB C.
Great video. Thank you!
Fellow 27-5 L owner. Liked your solar set up - did you get the inverter installed? I would love to hear how that went. We hav3 had our AF 4 years and love it.
Darrel
Hi Darrel - I did install it. I was fortunate that I did not have an onboard generator, but had the wiring. So, I used that wiring to wire the inverter to the panel. It was fairly easy. I can send you photos. Just go to the contact us page on Chickerystravels.com and send us a message so we can send them to your email.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to make this video. We're looking at the AF 27-5L and I was wondering about the 'solar prewire', I suspected it would be a bit too under engineered for us. I wonder if North Wood would be open to the idea of prewiring with bigger gauge wire? as well as more batteries and an inverter? It's always soooo much easier to run wire during construction.
Thanks again and safe travels.
It never hurts to ask. I would think they could do it for a cost. If not, the dealer you purchase from would probably do it as well. I have to agree 100% that either adding heavier gauge wiring or having the ability to run the heavier gauge wiring where the existing wiring is would be huge for those of us that want to put up more than a couple of hundred watts. Thanks for watching!
Northwood will not deviate or change wiring or equipment while building. They will add or delete listed options on the trailer. I recently went thru that. You or the dealer need to make any other changes.
@@eddiearmacost7649
That's a real shame, but thanks for letting us know.
So the only way to have this done at the factory is if they added the extra wiring to the list of available options?
Humm, wonder if they have a 'suggestion box'!? ;)
Thanks for that information. I think the dealers would be able to do it...for a price
In Northwood’s defense, they are a relatively small company. They don’t make all models all the time! Our unit was 1 of 1000 units scheduled to be built in a 4 week period from the end of March to the 20th of April this year. That model won’t be built again for months!! When you think about building a 1000 in a month, any deviation from the norm would have to drastically slow the manufacturing process and increase the chance of more errors in production!! They have a good record because they don’t accept request for changes knowing that opens the door for screw ups and lack of uniformity. I was pissed when they wouldn’t switch converters for me with one that was designed for lithium instead of lead acid. After reflection, I realized that this wasn’t there first rodeo and that they had good reason for not bending the rules. Just my thoughts!!!
I don't mean to be picky but did you know the title of this video says "Arctic Fox 25-5L" when in fact it should say "Arctic Fox 27-5L"?
PS, still a great video with lots of good information, thanks! :)
Oops, didn't realize that. I fixed it. Thanks!
Comes with 80w solar ready, hahaha. Did it have a 500w converter too?
Sean, with the 27-5 L being generator ready, is there anyway that wiring can be used in conjunction with a pass though inverter installation?? It would seem that there may be a way to use the same wiring. Any thoughts??
It is possible, but I have never done it. The one thing you would have to worry about is turning off your converter if you were running of the inverter. That would quickly deplete your batteries. As long as the automatic transfer switch is installed/working, it should be possible. Here is a link with some interesting info. www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-inverter-install-diy/ maybe I will explore mine before I do it the way I had originally planned and let you know what I find.
Great video. I also have a 27-5l. What route did you use to route the wires from the inverter to the distribution panel under the stove?
It’s hard to explain, but I’ll make another video showing it. You’re not the first person who has asked.
Haha I have spent all day today looking through the rig and coming up with possible paths and I completely believe you when you say, “it’s hard to explain”. I have 3 options I’m considering: 1. Go through the storage bay into storage underneath stairs then try and snake my way to the opening in the fresh water inlet/water pump area and keep going until I get to the area behind the distribution pannel. 2. Follow the same path but on the outside along the propane line that leads to stove. 2. Run along the outside of coach on the same side as shore power plug and pop up by transfer switch and then work toward the ac panel via kitchen sink and drawers. One of the downside to the fantastic insulation on the AF is it’s very tricky to run wires. Can’t wait to see how you did it.
OMG!! Ferrari batteries and a model T charge controller?!
I actually have a Victron charge controller that I need to install.
Zamp is not good to deal with on the phone either!... Especially if you let them know you have no intention of buying their high dollar panels! ...Also you need to change the hookup if using other solar because theirs is wired opposite
I had no problems talking with them on the phone and the gentleman who answered was very talkative and friendly. Sorry you had a bad experience. I have heard that about the connections. I actually had a friend that fried the controller because of that. A good reason to do plenty of research before deciding on the best system for your situation. Thanks for the comments and thanks for watching the video.
I understand your point but you bought zamp solar.. I called with with questions about the RV I purchased because it’s pre wired by zamp... I told him I simply wanted to know if it was in fact wired in reverse polarity and then he turned defensive and hushed so all I know is I will never do business with zamp again, I was simply trying to keep from burning my RV to the ground... besides their solar is 4 times higher than competitive market prices.. I just say this in conversation, not trying to be argumentative, 😄
Thanks. Adding these comments helps others make the right decision. We appreciate your input.
Good video! I'm interested in weather it runs A/C or not.
We can run A/C with our lithium batteries for about an hour or so at a time. If you have lead acid batteries, you’d need to watch them very closely as you shouldn’t take them below a 50% charge.
@@ChickerysTravels We did this in our 5th wheel. A three level unit on the drivers side of the 5th wheel.
So you've been using this for a little while... Is your setup big enough to run the A/C while boondocking as well as a few other small items? Or would you need a few more batteries?
We can run our AC for about in the batteries if there is no sun.
@@ChickerysTravels Whaaaat? :-) I think you forgot xx hours on the batteries if there is no sun!
@@grumpyshorts1056 Yes, meant to say we can run the AC for about 1 hour on the batteries if we aren't generating any solar power. Sorry about that.
Did you put soft start on both A/C’s? Can you actually run the ac off battery, or will you use the portable generator?
We only put it on the front AC. We have run it off the batteries for about an hour to cool things down in the rig. Otherwise, if we need it longer, we use the generator.
How did the EasyStart fit into the power equation?
Great question. Since we will be installing our 3000 watt inverter charger and will be using our 2 2000 watt portable generators (only when necessary), we wanted a way to run our AC using as little startup amperage as possible. The easy start will do that and allow us to run for a short time on the inverter and batteries.
With the amount of 760 watts soalr panels and 4 batteries, do you still require a generator when boondocking?
The answer really is "it depends." If we are in the sun, we can go without using the generator for days unless we are using a lot of electricity (instant pot, microwave, AC, etc). One time we were boondocking in Tennessee and encountered rain for a few days, we needed the generator then. We do not have an on board generator. We have two 2000 watt WEN generators that we connect. They charge the batteries quickly and are very quiet. You can take a look at them on Amazon.
@@ChickerysTravels thanks for the insights...informative. That is the problem, if you don't have any sun for days...Take care. I will take a look at the WEN gens...
What size Inverter are you going with and will you need a separate battery charger for shore/generator power use?
We have a 3000 watt inverter/charger so we don’t need a separate charger although we do have a converter as a back up.
@@ChickerysTravels Did you use the Victron again?
Yes. We actually took the components out of the previous RV and moved them over for the new one. The only thing we left behind was the wiring and solar panels.
How much $$? To upgrade the solar? Do u guys fulltime live in ur artic fox? Thx
We full-timed in a toyhauler for 4 years and in our Arctic Fox for 2 years, but are currently in a home to be near our first grandchild. Our solar system was larger than many, but here is a break out of the costs.www.chickerystravels.com/diy-rv-solar-power/
@Chickery's Travels thank you for taking time to reply! We r kinda looking for a new fifthwheel. I kinda like the 27-5 AF, Montana and maybe cougar. Definitely wanna stay small. Anyways its alot of information to process.
Decent video but you may want to consider trimming the beard. Thank you for you service, I noticed the USAF hat.
Spent more than 20 years in the military shaving every single day. I'm entitled to let it grow for awhile.
Amps
I will not be anything close to a full timer but even for me that solar prewire looks like a joke. I have not yet taken delivery on my “solar prewired” Grand Design so I still have hope it may be a little better than your Arctic Fox. I don’t need a system as robust as your but what you were set up with there was not very useable. The hype does not match the reality.
It was an eye opener.
Just gut the whole existing AF. No MPPT so what pre wired for solar. Don't buy into it.
Comes with 80w solar ready, hahaha. Did it have a 500w converter too?