These big Class A's are always an adventure to work on and this Newmar Dutch Star was no different. With it already having a very robust inverter and battery system, the missing part of this equation was charging while off-grid. This rig was designed to be plugged in or running a generator. But with big travel plans for the future we needed to make sure those batteries stayed topped off while that big residential fridge kept all the essentials cold (beer).
BUILD DETAILS:
Despite this rig being nearly 45' long there was surprisingly little space for a solar array due to the wrap-around awning design and numerous rooftop accessories. So for this install I turned to Zamp Solar panels for their identical operating voltages across their product line. In other words, be it a 170 watt panel or a 90 watt panel, they all operate at 18 volts so they can be ran in parallel without performance issues. So with some careful mapping and planning we managed to squeeze 6 x 170 watt panels and 2 x 90 watt panels for a grand total of 1200 watts.
For good measure we added a Bluetooth-enabled Victron Battery Monitor so this customer can know what his battery health is without guessing what the voltages mean.
For a rig with as many electrical accessories as this one this array definitely isn't going to allow this customer to just run any old thing without thought, but this hefty array should keep that generator off for many extra days and make sure they aren't always keeping an eye on their batteries while that fridge is running.
Can't wait to see the adventures this amazing couple take their rig on now that they have the energy independence to leave the campgrounds behind!
Installing a hefty solar array on this Newmar Dutch Star
