Question Solar Panels

[Rbjewell]

Does anyone have any insight into the effectiveness of the solar panel on the roof of a 2020 Newmar Baystar 3616. It came standard with a panel on the roof, anyone know what it does and how effective it is. Will it keep the refrigerator running? I keep trying to plug the unit into 110 just to keep the refer going and it keeps clicking the gfi off. I have everything turned off except the refer and it still trips the gfi. does the solar panel keep it running?

 

[Neal]

The small panel on the roof is for charging the chassis (starter) batteries. You would need solar panels that are wired into a charge controller and further the house battery bank.

 

[Rbjewell]

Thanks Neal!

 

[Rich W.]

x2 on what Neal said. The little panel is to keep your engine start batteries up and will do nothing for the house system. On the refer and tripping your GFI, you can’t really expect to plug the rig in to a 15 amp circuit and have everything work. The fridge, being electrical resistance heating on 120v, is probably beyond the GFI tolerance levels. Try plugging in to a heavier or non-gfi protected circuit and see what happens. You should be able to run the fridge. But it is also incredibly inefficient on 120v and running it on propane costs almost nothing, so that would be my recommendatio.

 

[Jabber Jaw]

When living in Virginia, I kept my 2020 Canyon Star plugged into a 110 Volt 20 amp circuit, with no issues.
Matter of fact, as a test, I started the front A/C; it went to 19amps, but did not trip the circuit breaker.
The point being, you can run your residential fridge off of a 15 or 20 amp circuit, without anything else plugged in.
Something else must be causing a "draw" for it to kick off the GFI.
Good Luck!

 

[Rob180]

x2 on what Neal said. The little panel is to keep your engine start batteries up and will do nothing for the house system. On the refer and tripping your GFI, you can’t really expect to plug the rig in to a 15 amp circuit and have everything work. The fridge, being electrical resistance heating on 120v, is probably beyond the GFI tolerance levels. Try plugging in to a heavier or non-gfi protected circuit and see what happens. You should be able to run the fridge. But it is also incredibly inefficient on 120v and running it on propane costs almost nothing, so that would be my recommendatio.

GFCI receptacles are not overcurrent devices. They only compare line and neutral and open if the relative current is out of spec. They do not care if the load is 20A. If the GFCI is tripping, you likely have a ground fault or the device is faulty.

 

[Rich W.]

GFCI receptacles are not overcurrent devices. They only compare line and neutral and open if the relative current is out of spec. They do not care if the load is 20A. If the GFCI is tripping, you likely have a ground fault or the device is faulty.

right - should have thought about that. It’s probably the latter.