01/22/2026
This '23 Renegade Classic electrical system just hasn't preformed since new. So along with a solar & battery upgrade we jumped into the inverters and figured some issues out.
First we removed the existing 3 - 200 watt panels that were just randomly placed, filled and patched the mounting holes and repositioned the OE panels along with adding 6 - 250 watt
RICH SOLAR MEGA 250 PRO panels to create a 2100 watt array, ALL glued down - No holes put in the roof other then where the wires pass thru. Each system is controlled with a Victron charge controller, 100/50 for the 600 watt array and a 150/85 for the 1500 watt array.
Next was taking out the 3 8D AGM batteries with 495 usable AH's and replacing with 2 Epoch 460 V2 lithium batteries (920 usable AH's) along with communicating with the Victron system under external control.
Lastly we dug into the wiring and found some interesting points. These inverters are set up split phase and investigating found the wiring size was undersized to & from the inverters for full potential. Thus some of the issues the owner was experiencing with breakers randomly tripping. 10AWG to the inverters and 8AWG from the inverters along with single pole circuit breakers for a split phase system with a 30amp to and a 40 amp from inverters is what factory installed. We pulled out that wiring and installed 6AWG both ways along with correct double pole 50 amp breakers protecting in & out of the main and sub panel.
During testing we found the balance was way off putting almost everything on Leg 1 and pretty much nothing on Leg 2. Only 1 roof top heat pump unit (center) was previously on the sub-panel (Inverter panel) and during testing was noticing that one unit would flash overload for a split second. Making sure no other loads were on, just turning the center AC unit on for cool I'd get a quick overload flash of the LED. Then switched to HP and oh boy the overload would stay on for IDK 2-3 seconds but worse yet the inverters would go into a really loud grunt, pop, bang! Whoa - no good. Jumped up on the roof and holy SH*T there's no soft starter on the unit!!! Pulled some easy starts off the shelf and installed one in each unit! Afterwards we added the bedroom into the sub-panel on the other leg and now turning on both units at the same time there is no overload flash, no grunting and definitely no pop or bang!!
All of this is how the coach came from factory, no modifications where made before we got our hands on this coach.