Adding Portable Panels to 2021 View

[Harrison-WO]

We have a 2021 View and Zamp solar controller with 200 watts of solar on the roof. We want to buy a portable solar panel and plug into to our Zamp solar auxiliary plug that is located inside one of the outside compartments. But we are unsure of what brand to get and if it has to be regulated or unregulated.
Thank you

 

[creativepart]

Generally the brand of panel does not matter all that much, especially with portable panels. What you do want is panels of the same nominal voltage. For your 2021 View you have 12v nominal panels on the roof. Be aware that nominal voltage is different than the actual open circuit voltage that you'll see on the portable panel spec sheet. A 12v nominal panel will have an open circuit voltage of 17 to 22 volts. Just concentrate on the "nominal voltage" being 12v.

You will want a portable kit with SAE connectors and in ZAMP configuration. Zamp uses their own wiring scheme. So, just make sure the panel kit you buy are compatible with Zamp plugs. If you get the wrong ones there are adapters to change the polarity available on Amazon. You want a plug with the positive lead on the female side of the SAE connector.

The only other consideration is where the external Zamp port is connected and I'm pretty sure it's directly to the battery. This is important to know for the portable you will be buying. If the external panel port on your View is connected to the battery you need a portable panel with a built in charge controller. If your external port is wired into the Zamp solar Charge controller and not the battery you'd want a portable kit without a solar charge controller.

Most external panel kits come with the solar charge controller built in. The other kind are available and described as being suitable for "solar generators."

 

[fanrgs]

The solar port in the utility bay of our 2020 Navion 24V is connected to the solar controller, just as are the factory rooftop panels, not directly to rhe battery. But, yes, the Zamp has backward polarity, so an adapter is required for the SAE plug in the bay. But the only thing connected to the batteries is the Xantrex inverter-charger. All power input--alternator, shore cable, solar controller, generator--is routed through the Xantrex.

I first bought a rigid, aluminum-framed, 100w portable panel from Harbor Freight that came with legs to support it and an HF SAE cable-adapter kit to connect it to the RV. When I first tested that panel at optimum sun angle on a cloudless, cool April afternoon, it produced nearly 8A. Pretty good number four years ago for an $89 panel.

Used that HF panel for 2 years when dry camping and boondocking. By then, I had 350w of rooftop panels, but, when snowbirding in AZ, the portable panel nearly doubled the daily amp input due to being set at the optimum sun angle for January. I later replaced the single 100w portable panel with two rigid, aluminum-framed Renogy 50w panels that were on sale. Smaller, not any heavier, so easier to find a place to store them. Finally, when I replaced the Zamp with a Victron 24v controller, the two 50w panels were wired in series. So they were still able to be used as portable panels, but now supply 24v power instead of 12v.

PS--When I had a fifth wheel 10 years ago, I replaced my single 12v deep-cycle battery with two 6v 215A-h AGM batteries wired in series. That gave me 215 A-h of 12v power, but I could only regularly use 50% of it. With the two 105A-h LiFePO4 batteries in the 24V, I have 210A-h of 12v power and have routinely used 90-95% of it wiithout a problem (100% once meant running the generator to fix breakfast, but that's another story!). The biggest benefit in the Navion, however, is the weight. My AGM batteries weighed 85# each, the two Li batteries weigh 35# each. That extra 90# is really needed for the CCC of any Sprinter-based Class C! Maybe one of these days, I will replace the generator with Li batteries and gain another couple of 100# of CCC!

 

[Skibum-FRF]

I bought the Renogy rigid panels from Bezos. I couldn’t make up my mind if I was gonna bother to mount them on top and 2 two years later I still haven’t done it. I prop them up in the sun and move them around. It works. Most of the portable units had poor test results back then. Maybe they are better now.

 

[Riverbend]

The Zamp controller on your View is rated for up to 500W of solar in combination with your rooftop and auxiliary inputs. I added 100W to my rooftop, giving me 300W up top, and use a Renogy 200W suitcase in my auxiliary input. This setup has served me well in my 2023 View. I also leave a pigtail connector plugged into the auxiliary port, which saves me from having to reach way into the back of the storage bay every time I want to connect the suitcase. And I did need adapters going from Renogy to Zamp, as Zamp uses "Polarity protected" plugs. They're not reverse polarity as many suggest, but they're different in that they shield the positive pin for safety. Adapters are quite common and reasonably priced.

 

[creativepart]

The thing about SAE plugs is that there is no official standard for wiring polarity. Though historically they are commonly wired with the positive wire on the male side of the plug. Zamp puts the positive on the female side because it is covered and less prone to shorting. This Zamp-standard is used by some other companies but not all.

Hence the need for adapters to correct for polarity “sometimes” but not always, and for the description of Zamp plugs as reverse polarity - as in reverse from common practice.