Beware! The term “Solar Ready” is a sales gimmick. It is nothing more than a convenient connection to the RV’s battery. You cannot simply hook up any solar panel directly to that connection. You must have a charge controller to control the charge voltage and rate. The only solar setup that can be directly wired to the Solar Ready connection is something such as a Solar Suitcase which has the controller built into it. That said, Solar Suitcases come with battery alligator clips so you can clip it directly to the RV battery.
Interesting response to a post about using solar panels to decrease shore power usage.
The 100w will be not enough to charge the batteries from a 50% depletion on a less than perfect day (I have the same setup – 100w and 2 – 12v Group 27 batteries or you may have 31 or 24..in either case…) I usually don’t connect mine when at a pedestal, and are for emergency or boondocking applications…I also have a small generator for true emergencies…rain for several days and not power…
as far as saving $$ when plugged in – probably not much if anything….it depends on what the charging parameters are on the converter (shore power) and the Solar controller are. i.e. flat vs bulk vs absorption…etc.
they won’t fight each other, but supplement each other…if the solar is set a little higher – it will provide more to the battery, as it will read the output from the controller as a lower voltage…and provide from the solar in that case…when the sun goes down, the converter will take over.
for example…if the converter is set to 14.3…and the controller to 14.4…on a super sunny day, and the sun shining….and the solar/controller is pumpunig out 14.4….the converter is not “working” as hard as it sees the voltage of the battery at 14.4 and drops to a lower voltage maintenance “mode”….when the sun goes down and the solar is not putting out the high amount of power…or there is a rainy day, or cloudy…whatever… and the converter sees that the battery is “depleting” resoures…(meaning the voltage is below the threshold and strts to charge at a certain rate) as the solar is not putting enough to “keep it there” … the converter will do its job based on the voltage detected at the battery.
Using the Furrion Solar Port – With links to where to buy the connector and uses.
2004 Montana 2955RL, 400 watt solar, 2000 watt inverter/charger, 4-6volt golf cart batteries, All LED lights,Champion Remote start, 3- fuel option 3100/3400 inverter/gen.- 2000 F-350 7.3 4×4 long bed crew cab SRW.