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Do RV Solar Panels Need to Be Grounded?

do rv solar panels need to be grounded

Solar panels on an RV don’t need to be grounded for a few reasons. You can fuse both polarities and, with a frame made of conductive material, being mounted to the roof of your RV would ground them either way.

Besides knowing how to ground your RV’s solar panels, you might also want to know what it means to find an RV sold as “solar ready” or what else on your RV you may be interested in grounding.

If you want to know where to attach your ground wires or how to ground a solar system when you’re off-grid, which means understanding load requirements and different grounds, you’ve come to the right place!

What Does it Mean When an RV is “Solar Ready?”

If you’re shopping for an RV in recent years, you’ve probably seen the phrase “solar ready” or “solar prepped” associated with it and wondered what that is. They mean the same thing, which is that the RV comes with a built-in plug for certain solar panels to be hooked up easily.

The most common brand of solar panel that works with this plug is Zamp while several RV manufacturers are getting on board with the idea of putting out “solar ready” RV’s, like Airstream and Pleasure Way.

While the RV may be “prepped” for solar panels, though, it doesn’t mean that the plug-in will work for yours because the plug only works with certain polarities. This is an easy wiring fix if you know an electrician that can flip the polarity of the built-in plug.

Once you do that, you can use almost any solar panel on top of your RV and be converting energy in no time!

How Do You Ground RV Solar Panels?

While you don’t need to ground your RV solar panels, you still might want to just to have peace of mind so here are the steps. Keep in mind that most RV owners install up to 3 or 4 12-volt solar panels that add up to between 4- and 600 watts of electricity.

  • You’ll first want your solar panels to be on a conductive frame, like steel or aluminum, and attach a ground wire to the back of that frame. 

This ground wire is 50 ft., 10 Gauge Solid Copper, is Heat, Moisture, Gas, and Oil Resistant. It’s very flexible and is great for grounding a solar panel, as well as many other appliances.

  • If you have enough cables, you might consider using a combiner box somewhere close to your panels to keep things neat. Either way, the most-efficient method to ground your solar panels starts with running your ground wire down through the roof, into your RV, and through a small hole in the floor.
  • You’ll want that small hole to lead into the sub-bay where the charge controller is located.  From here, you can either go to the next step or run the ground wire across to the next sub-bay but that’s up to you.
  • Drill another small hole into the back of whichever sub-bay you decide on and run your ground wire through the hole to the chassis of your RV.
  • The last step is simple, because all you have to do is attach your ground wire to the chassis. This will make the entire frame of your RV a grounding component for the solar panels.

A quick housekeeping tip would be to use a conduit cable, PVC, or electric tape to keep your cables and wires running as close to the wall as possible. For added safety, a conduit cable would prevent an accident if you do run your ground wire through the battery sub-bay.

Should I Ground Anything Else?

If you’re paranoid about an electric surge or just want to ground everything, you’ll want all of your ground wires to follow a similar track as the solar panels. Wherever the ground starts from, it should end up through the hole in a sub-bay and attach to your RV’s chassis.

As far as what else you might want to ground, the charge controller itself can be grounded and that wire doesn’t have far to travel. If you have an inverter inside your RV, you can run a ground wire through the floor where you already drilled a hole into the sub-bay and so on.

For both the charge controller and the inverter, simply follow the instruction manual for both on grounding and you shouldn’t have any problems. The last thing you might want to ground is the battery bank.

If you do ground the battery bank, the best method is to use a shunt. There are several tutorials to make one, but if you decide against it just make sure you connect your ground wire to the negative post of the battery.

How Do You Ground an Off-Grid Solar System?

When it comes to grounding your RV’s solar panels in an off-grid situation, there are 2 options: Electrical ground or an earth ground. However, you also need to understand your load requirements before implementing a ground.

Load Requirements

The solar system of your RV refers to all of the different wiring and electric needs within your RV, so there can be multiple grounding needs in the same system. Because of that, you might want to invest in a DC/DC converter which can invert the voltage from more than one load.

This converter box is useful for a number of situations within your RV, but the best use for grounding is that it generates rails of both polarities. This ensures the safe grounding of numerous loads or even a second system if need-be.

Electrical Ground

The electrical ground is basically what was discussed earlier in grounding your RV, because the chassis acts as a massive grounding point. However, it’s important to only connect your electrical ground to one point.

Attaching your ground wire to multiple points on the chassis or earth would create a ground loop, which can be dangerous and throw off the current regulation. If you use the DC/DC converter above it will make the whole ordeal simpler.

Earth Ground

While an electric or system ground means attaching your ground wires to the chassis of your RV in most cases, an earth ground has to be created. There are numerous ways to make an earth ground, but the most common are to use a ground rod or a copper wire.

To put it simply, all you do is put the rod in the dirt close to your RV and attach the ground wire to it. A mounting pole can be installed into the ground to make your earth ground easy to drop down, but you might also want to use a resistance meter.

This will basically measure the amount of electric current you’re getting from the earth to your solar system. If the amount is too low, you might have to install multiple earth grounds for the desired resistance.

However, remember not to attach any single load to multiple grounds. Any ground wire should only connect from one source to one ground rod or whatever form of earth ground you utilize.

Final Thoughts

To recap, you don’t need to ground the solar panels in your RV but you absolutely have the option. Just run a ground wire from the solar panel frame to the chassis of your RV as close to the battery sub-bay as possible.

While you’re at it you can also ground other loads, like the charge controller or battery bank, to the same point. Just remember to follow the instruction manual or attach the ground wire to the negative post, respectively. With the solar panels, follow the steps written earlier.

You should also know what a “solar ready” RV is and how to ground your RV when you’re off-grid, both with a chassis ground and an earth ground. Pay attention to the load requirements and you’ll be enjoying solar energy!

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