1993 Itasca questions

[ali]

Hello everyone,

 

I recently bought a 1993 Toyota Itasca and I had a few questions, maybe some people around here would know the answers.

 

1. I want to install a solar panel, but I have no idea how the wires should run. I would like to be able to unscrew the panel and place it outside the shade when parked, so I was thinking of running the wire from the panel to the battery through the exterior, but I'm not sure if that's ideal, also where would I put the controller ? Also the coach battery container seems to only fit a single battery, how would I go about adding a 2nd battery ? I'm guessing the inverter would go next to the electric breaker box under the couch, but I'm not sure which cable is the one coming from the battery, how can I find out ?

 

2. I ripped the carpet out and now I'm going to put floating vinyl planks after leveling using the premixed patch and level from home depot, any pitfalls I should be aware of ?

 

3. I'm going to remove the fading and cracked decals using the eraser wheel, repaint just the decal locations and repair the whole fiberglass, any pitfalls I should know beforehand ? Also if I want to sell it later on, would people think that it was in an accident because it was painted ? Should I film the video of before just as a proof ?

 

Thanks a lot.

[zero]

One solar panel has very low amperage so the wires don't have to be very big.  Just mount the controller inside the RV and have it permanently hooked to the "house" battery.  Then run the wires from it to the outside with a quick disconnect plug that hooks to the solar panel.  A 120 watt panel is only going to make around 6 amps max and usually less.   You could run 30 feet of wires with 10 gauge cable and be fine.  Only a 2.2% voltage drop at max current.  Note - you can buy special premade cables just for purpose cheap on Ebay with the MC4 quick disconnects on them. I posted an Amazon add but . .  It seems lately that anything I find on Amazon, I can then find cheaper with free shipping on Ebay.

[Back East Don]

6 hours ago, ali said:

I ripped the carpet out and now I'm going to put floating vinyl planks after leveling using the premixed patch and level from home depot, any pitfalls I should be aware of ?

Weight.  The the flooring is heavy enough.  The patching cement is going to add even more weight.

[BobBeery]

The cable from the battery will end in the electric breaker box on the circuit board that has the 12V fuses.  Some boards have printing to label the lugs, such as BATT or NEG or COMM.  And some boards have lugs on the back as well as the front.

[ali]

Thanks a lot for all the information.

So now, I'm thinking of putting the controller next to the breaker box, it seems like there would be back and forth going from the controller to the battery and back to the breaker, but I think it's okay because I don't want to put the batteries inside or move them elsewhere. Then I wonder

1. Can I plug the shore power to one of the inverter's outlets using a 30A to 15A adapter and have all the outlets inside the RV working or would that cause any problems ?

2. Also the roof of the RV is metal, I'm not sure how I would go about screwing the panels ? Some people say they used 3M double sided tapes, but that doesn't seem like it would hold very well. What's the best way of holding these panels with minimal damage to the roof ?

5 hours ago, Back East Don said:

Weight.  The the flooring is heavy enough.  The patching cement is going to add even more weight.

I'll be using very little of the cement actually, I have the layout where the "living room" is in the back, and the floor between the kitchen and the bathroom has like less than a quarter of inch edge, I'll be using the patch only for that part. I even considered just leaving it as is (as in don't add vinyl flooring), but it doesn't look too good, also I'm not sure if it's going to cause damage it in the long term.

Also, I was considering flat mounting a 25" monitor on the roof of the cabover part of the RV, it looks like it's fiberglass, I wonder if it would cause damage to the roof in the long term ? The monitor itself is 15 pounds.

And does anybody have a trick for getting to the roof of the RV when there's no ladder ?

Thanks.

[zero]

I've got two solar panels on the roof of my roof. Only one way I would do it.   I drilled holes all the way through to the inside and fastened the panel-mounts with stainless-steel bolts and lock-nuts.  Lock-nuts are kind of a must since you cannot tighten the nuts very much or they crush the ceiling.   Lock-nuts keep tension without being real tight.  The only exception is if you can hit an actual cross-beam support to screw into.  There aren't many and the chances of finding one where you need it are slim.

If you have no attached ladder on back, just use a typical household ladder to get up there.  I did that many times because my original ladder was loose. I finally fixed it.

I've got a brand-new universal RV ladder kit I'd sell cheap. I bought it new and never used it. Just been sitting here for three years in the box.