Solar power

[TIH211]

I just purchased a 2008 Hi-lo 24T with a push out. There is a solar panel installed on the right rear and it's wired in. The dealer in California didn't tell us that it was there or how to operate it. Is there anyone out there who KNOWS!!! Also, it has several coxas cable connections. Which one is for TV reception.
Thanks Bill & Kathy LOVE THIS CAMPER.

 

[retiredcamper47]

Welcome to the forum and to the world of HiLo. The coax hookup with the little pushbutton and led light mounted on the cover is for the tv. This is the power amp. When you have the tv hooked up here, push in the little button so that the light comes on. What this does is to amplify the tv signal from the antenna. When done with watching the tv, push the button in again and the light goes off. This turns off the power amp. As far as the solar panel, I leave mine on all the time. I have an off/on switch in my monitor panel on my 2001. Usually the solar panels used are the 15 watt variety.

Bob

 

[JMDoering]

On our Hi-Lo, our solar panel is connected all the time. We don't have the option of disconnecting it...no switch! Ours has an electronic regulator between the solar panel and the battery that also serves as an isolator to protect the solar panel from the battery. I don't even think about the thing!

Bob's solar panel is a nice one at 15 amps. Ours is a meager 7.5 amps and really only serves as a trickle charger to keep the batteries charged when our trailer is stored.

Jim

 

[JMDoering]

Bill and Kathy,
Going off the topic of this thread, I noticed you folks are from Colo. Springs. you should look into saddling up with the Rocky Mountain Hi-Lo Club. Their membership epicenter is Colorado Springs, with most other members along the frontal range. Club POC can be be found elsewhere in the HTF. Its a terrific group and they have great rallies!

Welcome to the Forum!
Jim

 

[TIH211]

Thanks to all for the quick imput. It has help me beter understand the systems in the trailer. Jim, thanks for the hookup on Rocky Mountain Club.
We're looking forward to enjoying this forum.
Thanks again,
Bill&Kathy

 

[cptmoney]

I just purchased a 2008 Hi-lo 24T with a push out. There is a solar panel installed on the right rear and it's wired in. The dealer in California didn't tell us that it was there or how to operate it. Is there anyone out there who KNOWS!!! Also, it has several coxas cable connections. Which one is for TV reception.
Thanks Bill & Kathy LOVE THIS CAMPER.

Hello Bill & Kathy -

Welcome to the forum; I just hauled our Funlite over to the western slope from your area. Would love to catch up sometime this summer.

 

[sam-HILO]

New forum members

Bill and Kathy welcome to the forum..Our members are very friendly and experienced. We love questions. Take picturesd when you gety a chance. If you havent already done so look back over old posts. They contain lots of good information.

 

[dgsloat]

Hello from a 2008 28ft Hi Lo Classic

We are having trouble with our children using the camper without our truck. The battery seems to be discharging even when plugged into shore. We have solar, and are wondering if we should have them keep the solar on all of the time. Seems to need to be plugged into shore to keep solar on?

Right now, the power went out in the middle of the night with air condition/heater on. They lost all power later. They could not lower the camper. We are 200 miles away and trying to fix it with the camp ground owner. Any ideas?
Cheri

I just purchased a 2008 Hi-lo 24T with a push out. There is a solar panel installed on the right rear and it's wired in. The dealer in California didn't tell us that it was there or how to operate it. Is there anyone out there who KNOWS!!! Also, it has several coxas cable connections. Which one is for TV reception.
Thanks Bill & Kathy LOVE THIS CAMPER.

 

[sting32]

Dgsloat,

Since I dont know where you are, or where they are, this is a guess and assumptions... Im gonna assume it is COLD at night where they are at, and not needing the Air Conditioner, other wise it would been redily apparent that the 120v source might not be working? IE the campground plugin.

My guess is they are plugged into 120vAC power, but there is not power on the box they plugged into, shoud be asy fix.

And unless they use the 120vAC appliances, they might not have noticed such? Happens all the time at campgrounds I go to, the weak breaker fails under load... I went 1 whole day before I bothered to notice that my campspot breaker was blown before I even plugged in I think, because I didnt use the Air Conditioner or any appliances (micro, or TV), & because most everything runs off battery, Furnace, waterpump, LIGHTS etc. At least in mine.

So you need to find out, what IS working, (any appliances or AC) if not it is the source, if YES they do work, there is more trouble shooting to do.

They can probably hook up jumper-Cables to charge battery for 20 minutes with the TOW VEHICLE ENGINE RUNNING, then have enough juice to raise and lower top a few times. As you know, to let the roof down, got to lift it up off the safety ya know, then let it down. so if they are ready to just get home, have them shut EVERYTHING OFF, hook tow vehicle with jumpercables to camper battery and charge it for a little while. It could be bad battery, or could be your inverter has something wrong & not charging battery.

Lastly, If they have an 8way plug with factory wiring to charge battery, I ALMOST guarantee it will blow that fuse, for that power wire, if they dont get the battery charged up a little, IMHO.

 

[Elaine and Bill]

Bob,
Is your solar monitor button illuminated when on? We had our cable replace years ago and ever since the light for solar on the monitor does not light. This never bothered us, but now I wonder if there is a way to know if it does or doesn't work??

 

[retiredcamper47]

Elaine & Bill,

Sorry about the late response. I haven't replaced my "non-lit" switch yet, but the switch is working. The easiest way to check if the solar panel is working is at the switch on the control panel. Remove the 4 screws and gently pull the switch panel forward, being careful that none of the wires pull off any of the switches. My solar panel switch is the top right switch on the panel. Looking down on the switch there are 3 tabs with wires attached. The left tab is a white wire, the middle tab a red wire, and the right tab a red wire. The middle red wire tab is the voltage coming in from the solar panel. The right red tab is the voltage going out from the solar panel switch. Using a voltage meter, place the negative probe (black) on the white wire tab and the positive probe (red) on the middle red wire tab. If the solar panel is working, you will show voltage on the middle red wire tab with the switch turned on or off. Place the positive probe on the right red wire tab. With the switch turned on, you will show voltage on this tab. With the switch turned off, you should show no voltage. If you do show voltage on the right red tab with the switch turned off, your switch is bad. I have tried to trace the red wire (voltage from the switch) to see where it goes. So far no luck. That gives me something to do later in my spare time. Hope this helps you out.

Bob

 

[Johnnie-HILO]

Does anyone know what kind of solar panel Hilo used? I just purchased a 2008 and the owner said it was prepped for a solar panel. On the rear right corner of the roof there is a coil of wire with a connector and a cap on it. I removed the cap and it looks similar to a coax. I took a picture and went to Camping World to see if they had a solar panel that would connect to my wire. The Camping World guy didn't recognize the connector. Any information would be appreciated.

Thank You

 

[PopRichie77]

The solar panels from Hi-Lo were small and were only to maintain the battery when the trailer wasn't being used or connected to 110 AC power. The largest I believe was 30 watts. Also the factory put the regulator in the back of the fridge in the bottom section, it is accessed by removing the lower vent cover. My 2209 was set up for the solar panel also but the wires were 2 regular wires inside the cloth bundle in the back. I bought a 100 watt panel which puts out 5 amps in bright sun light, haven't got it mounted yet, but I did set it up and connect it while we were in FL last winter , worked great.

 

[Johnnie-HILO]

Thanks for the reply. I found the 10 amp Sunsei controller in the refer box behind the the refrigerator. It was wired in but just laying there. I mounted it.
I also found out that the solar panels used were Sunsei. They are not making solar panels anymore. They used a MC 4 connector which is a standard solar panel connector. The solar panels sold by Camping World do not use the MC 4 connector but there are plenty of panel sources on Ebay that use the MC 4 connector. The prep that I have used the MC 4 connector. I would rather not cut and splice a new connector. I think I would like to go with a 100 watt panel but I am trying to figure out how I would mount it. I don't want to put more holes in my roof.

Johnnie

 

[campthewestcoast]

Johnnie,

You may want to take a look at this thread with pictures of the solar mounting job I did on my 97 21ft.

http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f16/installing-solar-panel-without-roof-penetration-255/

I tied it into the metal curbs of the vents. If you have plastic curbs around your vents, they won't be strong enough to hold the solar panel.

 

[Elaine and Bill]

Thanks Bob. We will look into this next spring as we had our last outing (Alum Creek, Columbus) last weekend. Thanks for your help!

 

[campthewestcoast]

My 06 came with a solar panel from the factory, 15 watt battery mantainer style. The problem is that the charge controller indicator lights are not on either charging or charged. I'm hoping to check the panel and charge controller today with a volt meter to see if one of the items are bad. Has anyone had this problem?
I also noticed that the factory used different gauges of wire for this curcuit. I plan to run new wiring to 10 gauge and a 33 watt panel (that I already have from my other towlite) to the 15 watt panel so I don't have a volt drop in the length of wire and mount the charge controller closer to the battery. This will make a stronger battery maintainer.

 

[PopRichie77]

Les,
When you refer to the charge lights do you mean the ones on the charge controller?
My 2209 also has the controller and the wire to the cloth covered bundle in the rear, the wire looks like # 14, haven't checked it yet, I also plan on increasing the size to #10 for less voltage drop. The really weird part is all the mounting points are on the roof and filled in with sealer, but no panel. I bought a 100 watt panel but haven't got it mounted yet.. To many other things to do and at 74 things don't happen very fast.

 

[campthewestcoast]

Les,
When you refer to the charge lights do you mean the ones on the charge controller?
My 2209 also has the controller and the wire to the cloth covered bundle in the rear, the wire looks like # 14, haven't checked it yet, I also plan on increasing the size to #10 for less voltage drop. The really weird part is all the mounting points are on the roof and filled in with sealer, but no panel. I bought a 100 watt panel but haven't got it mounted yet.. To many other things to do and at 74 things don't happen very fast.

Yes, the charge lights on the charge controller.

 

[PopRichie77]

Thanks Les,
I thought that maybe you had an inside light panel.
Rich