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wthoms2000 View Drop Down
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Joined: 06 May 2017
Location: Costa Mesa, CA
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Posts: 44 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Solar question
    Posted: 01 Aug 2019 at 1:09am
I don't think you would want to go camping without a battery.

12 volts is the same from a battery or solar panels.

Porta Poddy
Wil and Luz, Orange County, CA
2017.5 179 HRE
2021 Ranger XLT FX4
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Tars Tarkas View Drop Down
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Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Location: Near Nashville
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Posts: 1446 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jul 2019 at 6:53pm
Maybe I'm being too nerdy, and this  may not be perfectly true, but you can't run anything with solar.  Solar is to keep your battery charged.  Everything that runs on 12v will continue to work from the battery and will work longer because of the solar, but without a battery in the equation you won't be able to do much at all.

TT
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jul 2019 at 11:17am
That port is just a port connected to the battery. You will need a charge controller and a solar module to connect to it, you don't need a control panel in the trailer.    The Zamp port uses an SAE  plug but with the polarity reversed from normal (Zamp did that to try to get you to buy their solar kits). But you can buy any solar kit you want, just reverse the polarity of the output of the charge controller in the kit. Or you can connect a solar kit directly to the battery and not use the Zamp port. For safety, you should also add an inline fuse at the + terminal of the battery, either to the + wire going to the Zamp port or to your kit directly. A 15A fuse will be fine.

There are lots of choices in portable solar modules. If you get around a 100 watt kit (pretty common) you can run most most 12V things in the trailer as long as you're frugal in your energy use, the weather is sunny and the solar module isn't shaded at all. Get a long cable so you can place the solar module in a sunny location. You won't be able to run either the fan or the heater for long periods, and of course your ac appliances won't run. The slide is fine, it only runs for a few seconds so doesn't use much energy. 
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1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
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Me and Red View Drop Down
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Joined: 27 Jul 2019
Location: CO
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Posts: 2 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jul 2019 at 9:04am
Hey there -

We are brand new owners of a 2014 179.  We have a sticker near the door that says Zamp Solar ready and a plug in on the bottom back side near the door.   Does this directly connect to battery for charging using a portable solar panel?  Does this work without a control panel installed in the camper?  What can run on the solar panel if this is plugged in (slide out) ?  Any help with this would be appreciated as there is little direction in the owners manual we received.  Thanks Ken and Leeanne.
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