I have a 2016 Eriba Troll 540 Touring and am about to fit a solar panel (or two).

With regard to the initial routing of the wires from the panel, I'm considering three options: -

Option 1; Drill a hole in the pop-top near the wardrobe (the Schaudt charger unit and Schaudt solar unit are in the wardrobe). Cover the hole with a gland-box and route the wires though this box and then down the back of the wardrobe. This has the advantage of the shortest cable run but the disadvantage of having to cut a hole in the pop-top.

Option 2; Route the solar panel wires over the side of the pop-top and drill a hole in the roof of the main caravan near the chimney. Again using a gland-box to make the hole watertight. This has the advantage of getting the wires closer to the back of the wardrobe but two major disadvantages; first, there is a long run of unsecured cables on the roof of the caravan that could flap and chafe in the wind when towing and secondly, the hole is drilled into the main body which increases the chances of damp creeping in.

Option 3; Fit a solar panel on the solid roof behind the pop-top. This has the advantage that a more efficient mono-crystalline rigid panel could be fitted (rather than a flexible one on the pop-top). However, the space available is quite small, therefore limiting the power output of the panel and also there is the same thorny problem of where to route the cables!

Does anyone have any advice or experience of fitting solar panels to an Eriba?

Thank you

Thanks everyone for the advice and also the wealth of information and photos on the various Eriba Facebook forums. I've decided to fit the solar panel on top of the pop-top and drill through the roof to get the wires inside (my initial option 1). This is the kit: -

Solar Panel: - Monocrystaline as they are more efficient than polycrystaline panels. ETFE coated, again to increase efficiency and they are easier to clean. Flexible to fit the slight curve of the pop-top and also lightweight. High wattage so that there will still be some output on the more overcast days. Also, high wattage allows a bit of future-proofing should I decide to run an inverter at some later stage. I opted for a Renogy 160 watt flexible monocrystaline panel. Anything larger got very expensive so the watt/£ ratio became uneconomic.

Adhesive: - Sikaflex 252. I don't want to take any chances of the panel pealing off under the aerodynamic load.

Roof Gland and Wiring: - I opted for the double entry, slightly aerodynamic roof gland to cover the 12mm hole in the pop-top with a normal ceiling rose on the inside. Wiring will be 6mm solar panel cable all the way to the solar panel controller. I did like the neatness of using coiled flex between the ceiling rose and the top of the wardrobe to cater for the raising and lowering of the pop-top. In the end I decided against it though as they are only 1.5mm 13A cable, it would have added, along with the extra joints, greater resistance compared to a single run of 6mm cable.

Solar Panel Controller: - Schaudt LR1218. It plugs directly into the Schaudt electrical control box in the Eriba with a supplied wiring harness, very easy to connect.

I start fitting next week so I'll add some more photos when the job is finished