Can you plug into shore power while on solar?
Yes, you can. Just make sure you have a solar charge controller!
Hello Mike,
I’m new to solar on my RV and curious about plugging in your RV while the solar is on. Are there any do’s and don’t s to worry about? Barry M.
Dear Barry,
I don’t know of any problems caused by plugging your RV into shore power at the same time your solar panels are connected to your battery. A properly installed solar system will have a solar charge controller installed that converts the varying voltage from the panels into the correct voltage for your battery.
Plus it will limit the solar charging current once the batteries are fully charged. So it will play well with your converter/charger that also provides the correct voltage for battery charging. Should work without any intervention on your part….
But wait, there’s more…
However, I have seen RV battery damage caused by an improperly connected portable solar panel that didn’t have solar charge controller installed. And it didn’t care if the RV was plugged into shore power or not.
For example, while your RV may have come with a Zamp solar panel jack already installed, many times there’s only a wire run over to the battery compartment that’s just hanging there.
Don’t do this!
So don’t be temped to simply hook the wire from the Zamp inlet directly to your RV battery without installing a solar charge controller. Doing so can overcharge your RV batteries in a few weeks of sunshine, and even cause a FLA (Flooded Lead Acid) battery to boil over and cause a lot of damage to your RV floor from Sulphuric Acid. You need to install a Solar Charge Controller to protect your batteries.
What is a Solar Charge Controller?
A Solar Charge Controller is basically a DC to DC Charger that can be set for different battery chemistries. It works just like your Converter to provide the correct voltage and current for charging your battery. Victron Energy makes great solar charge controllers, and there are dozens of other brands available that should do the job.
That’s a wrap!
Let me know in the comments below if you would like me to post an article on installation of a Solar charge controller to a Zamp inlet jack. I could also add a video on my YouTube RVelectricity channel. what do you think?
Let’s play safe out there…. Mike
I have a “suitcase” style solar panel that includes a charge controller so installing one between the Zamo connector (on the RV) and the battery would be redundant and inefficient in my case. Mike or someone else might want to comment on weather having two solar charge controllers in series would cause any real problems. Another thing to watch out for is to make sure the solar charge controller is set for the proper battery chemistry (e.g., Flooded lead acid, lithium, etc.) and that the internal converter and the solar charge controller are both set to the same battery chemistry. I don’t doubt what Mike says about it being ok to run the solar panel and shore power at the same time but I have not tried it. I only have a briefcase solar panel and don’t have solar panels on my roof. I assume that roof top systems have their charge controller hard wired in so they are “on” all of the time (when the sun is out. If you add an external solar panel (because you are parked in the shade), you could end up with two charge controllers in parallel if the external panel has its own charge controller. Mike or someone else who has this setup might want to comment on how this works out in the real world.
Are charge controllers dependent on the size of one’s panels? That is, does it matter the model or size of the controller if I have a 100 amp or 200 amp panel(s)… or more?