Re: Solar Panel question?
Posted: September 1st, 2018, 9:36 pm
Resurrecting the thread (why not? not much else is happening) I have a flexible, plastic-encapsulated panel glued onto the roof of my Suntrekker. I suspect the 12S installation was not properly done, and the battery doesn't seem to charge much from the alternator, but the cable does get warm. I think the auto-electrician used very cheap, thin cable that won't supply the voltage all the way from the alternator to the back of the truck and not have significant voltage drop.
Anyway, I got fed up with constantly having to plug a cable in at home for a night before I went anywhere with the camper to charge the battery, and the batteries got fed up with it too: I was having to replace them every year. They can't take that kind of repeated deep cycling. And there's little more annoying than a battery that hasn't got the grunt to fire up the heater on a cold morning! So I put the solar panel on, with, as I recall, Sikaflex. I didn't think I needed to squeeze optimum performance in hot weather from the panel - after all, it's most needed in winter when I'm running lights all evening and the heater. So having it glued flat to the roof is fine, and I really didn't want to drill holes in the roof of the camper. The cable runs through a small notch cut in the side of the skylight frame, which is all plastered over with sealant, and then in through the same opening as the skylight itself. Then there's a voltage regulator on the wall inside the upper locker on the left-hand side, and from there, cables to the battery.
I haven't replaced the batter in around eight years now! The voltage regulator is 'dumb' - no lights, no digital displays, but I reckon it's doing the doing, as there's zero or negligible charge from the running truck engine, and everything electrical works just fine.
(I did accidentally drill a hole in the battery casing while fitting an inverter the other day. It's plastered up with hot glue and seems to be working okay, but it did lose a teacupful or so of electrolyte, so its days may be numbered. Hey ho. It doesn't owe me anything).
Anyway, I got fed up with constantly having to plug a cable in at home for a night before I went anywhere with the camper to charge the battery, and the batteries got fed up with it too: I was having to replace them every year. They can't take that kind of repeated deep cycling. And there's little more annoying than a battery that hasn't got the grunt to fire up the heater on a cold morning! So I put the solar panel on, with, as I recall, Sikaflex. I didn't think I needed to squeeze optimum performance in hot weather from the panel - after all, it's most needed in winter when I'm running lights all evening and the heater. So having it glued flat to the roof is fine, and I really didn't want to drill holes in the roof of the camper. The cable runs through a small notch cut in the side of the skylight frame, which is all plastered over with sealant, and then in through the same opening as the skylight itself. Then there's a voltage regulator on the wall inside the upper locker on the left-hand side, and from there, cables to the battery.
I haven't replaced the batter in around eight years now! The voltage regulator is 'dumb' - no lights, no digital displays, but I reckon it's doing the doing, as there's zero or negligible charge from the running truck engine, and everything electrical works just fine.
(I did accidentally drill a hole in the battery casing while fitting an inverter the other day. It's plastered up with hot glue and seems to be working okay, but it did lose a teacupful or so of electrolyte, so its days may be numbered. Hey ho. It doesn't owe me anything).