Adding Portable Solar to a 2026 Navion 24R

[HRYSER]

In an earlier post I have addressed the unsatisfactory situation with the factory original solar system (2x 120W PV panels, Xantex MPPT 30A, Lithionix 320AH) performance.

I have decided to install a MC4 exterior auxiliary PV receptacle to connect my portable solar array:
max power STC 450W
max Voltage STC 38.3V
open circuit voltage STC 45.9V
short circuit current STC 12.4A
A separate MPPT Victron 100/50 controller with two DC breakers, on the output and PV input.

I would leave the original factory installed solar system untouched, and operable as is, but parallel to the original system install the above described setup. The output of the Victron controller runs via a 60A DC-breaker directly to the Lithionix battery's pos and neg terminals.

But before I flip the two breakers to the on position I would like to hear from you if you think my solar addition as described should work fine.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[creativepart]

That should work. the Victron 100/50 is more than you need but maybe you want to expand in the future. With 450w of external solar the Victron 100/30 controller would be just fine.

You're not alone in being disappointed in the OEM Solar install of your RV. Other owners new View/Navion 24T. 24R and the 24D have found an issue with the charge settings in the Xantrex Solar Controller 30. It seems that when you set the controller to LFP battery type it stops charging at 13.2v. So, the stock Controller can only charge your battery to ~70% SOC or so.

I know of a few owners that have replaced the OEM Xantrex controller with a Victron 100/30. Of course, when you do that you no longer show solar performance on the Connect screens or app.

As an alternative, you could add another 240w or more to the roof of your RV and change out the Controller to the Victron 100/30 and achieve some of the same results without the hassle of dealing with portable panels. Portable panels are great because you can move them into an optimal position to track the sum. But many find that they are also a hassle to store, move, and position, etc.

 

[HRYSER]

I meant to add in the post above that the reasoning for employing an additional controller is that the Xantrex could not handle the max open circuit voltage and wattage combined. I think the Xantrex controller is maxing out at about 580W input wattage which would not allow using the second PV input on the Xantrex since my total wattage could be as high as 690W!

Also, I wanted to attach of a picture showing the newly installed, external MC4 solar receptacle.

 

[HRYSER]

Thank you kindly for your great comment, Creativepart. The described issue is exactly what I am experiencing. I must assume that there is no deeper setting parameter that could be changed to make the OEM system work as is?.

 

[HRYSER]

and here is the picture. Sorry.

 

[creativepart]

I must assume that there is no deeper setting parameter that could be changed to make the OEM system work as is?.

The owner's manual says there are Custom charging settings in the menu, but I've heard from other owners that those settings are not available in the controllers installed in our coaches. I haven't test this yet but plan to do so and to contact Xantrex about this in the next week or so.

Looks like a really good job of adding the MC4 connectors.

 

[HRYSER]

Thanks Creativeparts for this information. I sure would appreciate hearing back from you in case you are able to get a good response from Xantrex.
Have a great evening!

 

[HRYSER]

I just got our Motorhome back from the RV service place to work on the roof water leak. Am not sure if it is sealed yet as it hasn't rained yet
However, I have been working on the solar expansion to connect my portable four-panel 450 W to the Victron 100/50 controller. Unfortunately, this exercise didn't end as I had hoped:

Here is what I did:
- As I mentioned in an earlier post, I planned to set up an independent (from the existing 2-120W-panel Xantrex solar system) system , charging the same Lithionix battery.
- This independent system utilizes a Victron 100/50 charge controller.
- I am also utilizing separate breakers, one for the PV to the controller and one for the 12V from the battery to the controller.
- I laid out the solar array, connected the panels' output to the dedicated breaker and connected the battery's 12V to the other braker.
- I first turned on the breaker battery-controller and observed and waited for a blinking blue light (blinking about every 3-4 seconds).
- then, I turned on the PV breaker.
- Nothing happened. The controller's output did not increase and more surprisingly was the PV voltage into the controller was 0.00V!
- Thereafter, I verified that all the cable connections were correct and conductive. All checked fine.
- Then, I checked the voltage from the PV 4 panels. The open circuit voltage was 46V ( according to specs).
- However, as soon as I connected it to the Victron controller, the voltage went down to 0.00V.

The controller's battery type rotary selector is in position 7 which refers to the LFP type battery.

Do you have an idea what might be going on here? Is the problem my solar array or is it the Victron controller acting strangely?

Thanks for your thoughts!!!!

 

[creativepart]

What state of charge is your battery? If it's already full, your controller is smart enough to not attempt to put any more current into the battery. This sometimes surprises people.

If that's not the case, then seems like something is wrong with your wiring or less likely the Victron controller has a problem??? Hard to tell.

 

[HRYSER]

Thank you Creativepart.
Well yes, the battery is just about fully charged. Therefore, I would assume that the controller would NOT send an additional current to the battery. But why would the PV output go down to zero? Wouldn't the controller simply avoid charging the (full) battery but not grounding the PV's output?

I am pretty certain that the wiring is good as I made up an entire new wire connection just to make sure.

 

[HRYSER]

At what battery-charge level SHOULD the controller charge the battery?

 

[creativepart]

Usually you would see a few watts and voltage.

And this assumes you’ve set up the Victron for your battery configuration, too.

 

[creativepart]

At what battery-charge level SHOULD the controller charge the battery?

It’s based on state of charge and if there are any other devices adding charge at the same time or not. In other words… need.

But there’s only so much help we can provide without being there. If I was in your situation I would simplify everything, and measure every connection. It’s usually the simplest thing possible.

 

[HRYSER]

Thank you Paul. So, I will drain the battery to a +/- 50% charge level and hook up the external solar panels and would assume that the Victron will charge the battery, right?

 

[creativepart]

Double check polarity and connections between the battery and the controller and the controller and the panels. If you are feeding battery output to the panels, diodes in the battery will break the circuit. They act like a check valve does on a water line. If that happened then that can require diode replacements to allow power to flow.

That doesn’t sound like it based on what you’ve said. I’m just commenting.

 

[creativepart]

Wait you have a 2026R, I lost site of that. How did you connect the controller to the battery? And the readings you are talking about are on the Victron app, correct? Not on Winnebago Connect?

 

[HRYSER]

Yes Creativepart, I have a 2026 Navion 24R. The same vehicle I see on your profile picture.
To the setup:
The external, portable solar array connects to the MC4 receptacle

10 AWG cables run from the MC4 receptacle to the 50Amp DC-breaker inside the righthand compartment. From the DC-breaker, 10 AWG cables are connected to the Victron 100/50 SmartSolar MPPT's PV-plus and PV-minus inputs

Then, 10AWG cables are running from the controller's "Battery" plus and minus outputs to the 320 A/h Lithium battery compartment. In there, the minus (black) cable connects directly to the minus terminal of the battery whereas the plus (red) cable connects to the 60 Amp DC-breaker and from the breaker output to the plus terminal of the battery.

Please let me know if my explanation isn't clear. Thank you.

 

[creativepart]

Have you tested the voltage at each and every connection point? Before the PV circuit breaker, after the PV circuit breaker, at the Controller PV input, at the Controller battery output. At the positive wire cutoff breaker and then aft of that breaker. At the positive battery connector and at the negative battery connector.

If there is proper voltage at EVERY in/out connection than you have some other error such as a Victron app error?????

 

[HRYSER]

I am realizing that I didn't mention the points where I checked the voltages with my Fluke digital voltmeter. However, I didn't use the Victron App. I checked the PV voltage first directly at:
- the PV's pigtail MC4 connectors: 45 VDC
- at the end of the extension cable: 45VDC
- at the output of the breaker (with cables disconnected from the controller): 45 VDC
- turned the breaker off and connected the cables to the controller, measured voltage at the breaker's input: 45VDC
- Turned the PV breaker on and the PV voltages at all measuring points was 0.00 V
+ 12V Power was always applied to the controller and the blue LED on the controller was always blinking slowly which means that the controller is ready.
The LFP voltage stayed at 13.2VDC, regardless whether the PVs were attached or not.

 

[Miami Bluebird]

I have a 2025 View 24T and have experienced the same issue with the installed 2x120w solar panels providing virtually no charge, even on a very sunny day in Florida with the batteries partially discharged (<85%). However, I get very good results from plugging in a portable 450W panel directly into the external solar port in the garage, which is also connected to the Xantrex Solar Charger.

This leads me to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with the solar charger, or its settings, right?

I plan to install another 200-400w of solar panels on the roof, connected into the spare port up there. If that also works, surely this means that the original Xantrex Solar panels are broken/useless, right? If the new roof solar panels add no extra charge there must be some issue with the wiring from the roof solar ports to the charger?