Jonboymentalhealth Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Hi all Does anyone have any experience with this panel I believe it is fitted in many vans. More specifically I'm interested in the accuracy of the levels from battery's. I have a 100w solar panel connected to both batteries but the levels show up at low nearly all the time except when connected to mains but lights and everything work as normal. I'm wandering if my battery is not holding charge as the readings indicate it's charging during daylight hours or the panel is just not very accurate. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 The only way you will know for certain is to check with a test meter, you can get a cheap one for around a tenner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonboymentalhealth Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share Posted December 28, 2014 Would that let me know if the battery was loosing charge tho? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 I think the control-panel fitted to a 2010 Swift Escape will be as described on this helpful video-clip. It has to be said that (on the video-clip) when the “VIEW LEVELS” button is pressed the battery charge-state readouts are very low and would normally indicate that both batteries were heavily discharged. I’ve no idea, though, whether that was indeed the case or if low battery-charge readings are representative of this model of control-panel (which, of course, is exactly what you want to know). As colin advises, the only sure way to confirm your control-panel’s accuracy would be to use a multimeter to check each battery’s voltage, comparing those readings with the ones displayed on the panel. If it’s practicable I suggest you take multimeter readings when it’s dark (when the solar-panel should not be charging the batteries), ensuring that, before you take the readings, the motorhome has not been driven or been connected to the mains for at least 4 hours. That should give you ‘base voltages’ for the batteries. You could then take further readings in daylight (say the following day) when the solar-panel should be expected to be providing charge and you should see that both of the daylight readings are higher. As your motorhome isn’t very old and everything electrical has been working OK, I suspect that the control-panel is just ‘under-reading’. It won’t be that easy to decide if your batteries are losing charge at an unusual rate as the solar-panel will tend to affect the voltage testing (unless you either disconnect the panel from the batteries or cover it temporarily). To do the job properly you’d really need to fully charge both batteries, disconnect them from any electrical load and take charge-state readings over, say, several days. First thing to do, I believe, is to check if the control-panel is lying - if it is then I wouldn’t worry too much about charge-loss. (If your batteries are the type where it’s possible to check/top-up the electrolyte level, do make sure that the electrolyte level is correct.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Jonboymentalhealth - 2014-12-28 5:50 PM Would that let me know if the battery was loosing charge tho? If you do as Derek says, and let them stand checking at intervals then yes, you can do this on and off the van so you will know if it's the batteries or the van causing any loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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