This installation was completed in March of 2025.  The owner of this 5th wheel is the neighbor of another customer of mine and was referred to me by that customer.  The 5th wheel had one 200 watt solar panel and a small Victron 75/15 MPPT Solar Controller installed.  It also had two LiTime 200 amp hour lithium batteries and a Victron BMV 712 installed by the customer.  The customer wanted additional solar  capacity, an inverter and a Cerbo GX to monitor everything.  He wanted similar equipment to his neighbor’s system, but with more capacity.  We discussed his needs and I put together three estimates with system schematics for him to review.  The only significant differences in the estimates were the amount of solar capacity and infrastructure present in the system.  The customer ultimately chose the system with the most solar capacity and we set an installation appointment.

The installation took just over four days to complete.  I installed a Multiplus II 3kva 2×120 UL rated inverter charger to provide power to the RV.   The inerter was installed in the front storage compartment next to the batteries, but the main AC input from the power cord and the AC breaker panel were near the rear of the RV.  This required running new AC wiring from the back of the RV to the inverter at the front of the RV and then back to the main breaker panel.  This way,  the inverter was in line in the AC wiring between the power cord connection and the main breaker panel.  Running the new wire was not difficult, but it required a lot of work to drop the coroplast covering under the RV on one side and fish the wiring through access holes in the frame crossmembers.  I had to remove one wheel from the RV to gain proper access for the wire run as well.

I replaced the existing 75/15 MPPT with a SmartSolar 150/100 MPPT solar charge controller.  I replaced the existing 200 watt solar panel with eight Newpowa 200 watt pro series solar panels.  These panels were wired in a 4S2P series/parallel configuration to take advantage of the small gauge OEM solar wiring run from the roof to the front storage compartment.   

The customer supplied his own batteries for the installation.  He had already installed two LiTime 12 volt 200 amp hour lithium batteries.  I replaced all the existing battery cabling with custom built 4/0 cables to handle the loads of the inverter charger. 

I finished off the system with a Cerbo GX MKII and GX Touch 70 display.  The customer  had two existing Mopeka Pro Check LPG tank sensors, which I integrated into the Cerbo to monitor the on board propane tanks.  The customer asked me to add additional Mopeka tank sensors for the onboard fresh and waste water tanks.  I did this by cutting holes in the coroplast under each tank for access to install the sensors.  I then covered these holes with six inch round marine style inspection hatches.  These hatches have a cover that screws off to allow access to the sensors when needed.  I also add three Ruuvi Bluetooth temperature sensors and integrated them into the Cerbo.

After the installation, I spent some time with the owner going over all the equipment and the Victron Connect App to interact with the equipment.  I also went over the VRM portal and how that monitored and controlled the system.  I sent him an invitation to join the VRM portal for his system so he could easily add it to his free VRM account.  We also set up a VRM widget on the owner’s phone to monitor the system.