costaexpress Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 Like the rest of the country my van wont be going anywhere anytime soon. I was thinking of getting a 40w portable solar panel just for the cab battery. Does anyone know if I can connect it via the + and - studs in the engine bay or do I need to connect direct to the battery (hope this isn't a blindingly obvious question). And, does anyone have experience of minimum power panel required. I assume my only drain is whatever the radio unit uses to maintain the correct time as I do not have any alarms fitted. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 I can't offhand think of any reason why you couldn't connect to studs, you will need a regulator and it won't be fully optimised if connected that way, but to be honest that's no big deal for what you want to do. I used a 40w panel (and reg) to connect straight to battery of x250 whilst in storage, and it wasn't difficult to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikefitz Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 The engine bay jump start connection points connect to the battery via heavy duty cables so there are no problems feeding a solar regulator to these points. It would be safer to fit an inline fuse, say 5 amps, as near as practical to the engine bay positive connection point, in the regulator positive cable feed. The cab battery drain is small but even a healthy battery will only last 4 to 6 weeks before falling to a low level of charge . As always with the delicate Fiat electronics, connection and disconnection of the engine battery or anything connected to it, should be made with the system in the rest state, that is with ignition key out, doors closed and waiting a short time before taking any action. The current loss with everything at rest is usually less than 0.1 amps so a small panel of around 40 watts should be enough. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costaexpress Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 Thanks to both of you for getting back, I feel happy now investing in a panel. I will also ensure I have the inline fuse connected as recommended Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 40W will require a regulator and it's probably way more than the battery requires. 5-10W would be enough. Our 2019 peugeot starter battery is having no trouble keeping its charge since early february. There's just nothing to discharge it significantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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