Solar Power

[antony1969]

We have had an 80 watt panel fitted . Today the leisure battery is reading 13.5 and the vehicle battery 11.9 . My question may be gormless but would these readings be watt ( little joke ) would be expected on a day like today ? . Thanks for any comments .

[dikyenfo]

Unless you put a splitter on you wont charge the service batt. They are easy to fit and charge the service when the leisure is full.

[antony1969]

Supposedly there is a splitter on it . Once the leisure is charged then the vehicle battery .

[Brambles]

Your vehicle battery, if that is volts at 11.9 is very much too low. It shows it to be well over 50% discharged which is not going to do it any good at all. You need to maintain the batteries above 12.6 volts to prevent sulphating and aging....hence why solar panels are a great idea of course.

 

 

[antony1969]

Thanks Brambles , If the solar panel was fitted to the vehicle battery then I presume this would have shown better than the 11.9

[pkc]

antony1969 - 2011-09-27 5:56 PM

 

Thanks Brambles , If the solar panel was fitted to the vehicle battery then I presume this would have shown better than the 11.9

 

Not likely in Huddersfield, Have you considered a waterwheel? (Little joke) (lol)

[antony1969]

I'll have you know the sun almost burn through the thick fog and nuclear dust cloud today in Huddsville

[Brambles]

antony1969 - 2011-09-27 5:56 PM

 

Thanks Brambles , If the solar panel was fitted to the vehicle battery then I presume this would have shown better than the 11.9

 

Yes. But , either you have something draining your vehicle battery, such as alarms etc. and you have not been keeping it charged up, or it is failing. You need to maintain a voltage when just sitting there ( no solar power connected to battery, of above 12.6 volts. On an older battrey it is common to get below but should should still be above 12.4 volts. When you apply a charge voltage then the battery voltage will rise. As it charges it should rise to 13.8 volts (or actually up to 14.4 volts) but 13.8 is sufficient to maintan a trickle charge. As you have a splitter then hopefully when leisure is fully charged the vehicle battery will start charging. If it was mine I would put a charger on it now and get it charged up.

[antony1969]

Thanks Brambles , I will do that tomorrow .

[colin]

Couple of things to sort out. How longs the panel been fitted, watt ;-) amount of power have you been using?

If it's been anything like as sunny in Huddersfield as it has here, and you have not been using any power, then by midday both batteries should be fully charged in my experiance.

[antony1969]

Colin , yes was sunny here too , the leisure was fully charged . I have nothing running from it . Was fitted last week so going to get back on to the chap today .