Table of Contents
Factory Configuration
The 2023 Rockwood Signature comes standard with a solar package which consists of a solar panel, charge controller, battery, and inverter. The dealer installs the battery and ours it was a deep cycle lead acid rated at 85 amp hours. You can only discharge 50% of a lead acid so this had a usable capacity of 42.5 amp hours. The solar is made up of a GoPower 190 watt panel and GoPower GP-PWM-30-UL solar charge controller. The inverter is WFCO’s WF-5110RS rated at 1000 watts and can be turned on/off remotely via the GP-PWM-30-UL solar controller.
Battery Upgrade
The unit includes a 12 volt refrigerator and from what I can tell would consume upwards of 75 ah in one day. This would not even operate for 24 hours on the installed battery so I replaced the deep cycle with a Eco-Worthy LiFePO4 12v 100 ah battery. The LiFePO4 battery can be depleted 100%, last 3 times longer than lead acid, and are much lighter. This is a simple upgrade as it is small enough to fit into one of the included battery boxes in the Rockwood Signature Fifth Wheels. The factory power converter is already LiFePO4 ready and detects the new battery automatically. The only change I had to make was to switch the GP-PWM-30-UL solar controller to LFP (LiFePO4) as the charge profile and voltages are different.
The battery upgrade will make sure our refrigerator has power but the single panel on the Rockwood is not enough if you plan to boondock at all. Just adding the kitchen lights for 3 hours per day (3 X 3 ah), would have our battery depleted by day 5 of camping. If we added the water pump, vent fan, and water heater, we would be lucky to make it for a weekend out.
Time For More Upgrades?
I know we need to upgrade and I have spent hours researching to see what we really need. I’ve seen folks online camping with a couple of panels all the way up to units with a roof full of solar and 1000 ah of Battleborn batteries capable of running their AC. We mainly stay in state or federal parks but would like to be able to boondock or stay at a random Harvest Host spot from time to time.
We plan to go with an additional 3- 200 watt panels on the roof and one portable 200 watt to supplement or put out if we are in a shaded location. The stock solar controller is going to be scrapped since it is PWM and MPPT controllers will be put in place to maximize solar output. We will not be running our AC or anything large so we will stay with our current 1000 watt inverter for now.
Victron Energy Components
I see so many people with RV’s with Victron Energy components so I did my research to see if they lived up to the hype and I believe they do. Here are what I have ordered so far for our system.
Victron Energy MPPT 75/15 – This unit will be used to control our portable panels. I don’t foresee any more than 200 watts of portable solar so this should be enough . The unit will be tied to our SAE solar connection on the front of the coach.
Victron Energy MPPT 100/50 – This will be our main charge controller handling the panels from the roof. We plan to add 3 more panels to the roof giving us around 800 watts total. Our current panel is 20 volts so we can wire all 4 in series and still be below the 100 volt capacity of the controller.
Victron Energy Smart Shunt – This is a 500 amp smart shunt that you tie in to the battery terminal to give you more precise data on charge state and energy consumptions from your battery bank.
Victron Energy Cerbo GX – This is the brains of the system and ties all the components together for easier monitoring. It links to the charge controllers and the smart shunt and displays the data on the Cerbo GX 50 touch screen shown below. The Cerbo GX can also be tied to holding tank and propane tank sensors to display usage data in one convenient location.
Victron Energy Cerbo GX Touch 50 – This is the 5 inch touch display that allows you to see or configure system variables through the Cerbo GX.
More to Come!
I still need to order additional panels, batteries, and other hardware to complete the install which we plan to do early in the spring of 2024. Please check back later for updates.
Check out why we bought our 2023 Rockwood 2622RK Fifth Wheel.