I'm new to the world of solar panels. I noticed that when I took my batteries off the trailer, the interior display showing the current coming from the solar panel went crazy. Is this normal? As the trailer is no longer connected to the battery and/or the solar panel, I'm assuming that it won't be damaging anything. I guess I should probably cover the cable leads from the panels though. Another thought; I have an old battery that doesn't hold a charge. Can I just attach it so that I have some power for lights during the winter? What do other folks do?
We had a DP that was too large to fit in our barn, so it spent all its time outside. Even in the winter at our northern latitude, the solar panel kept the 4 golf cart batteries properly charged.
OTOH, our trailer fits in the barn nicely, but then the solar panel doesn't get enough light to accomplish anything. Even though we have 30A shore power in the barn and our coach as a high end controller with an excellent maintenance cycle, we leave the coach disconnected except for 1-2 days/month. BTW, I've installed marine-type battery switches on the battery bank so we can easily disconnect the batteries from the coach. We also have a separate battery switch for the inverter so we can absolutely disconnect the inverter if we wish. Mostly we use that for removing all trace loads for those times when we're dry camping for days/weeks at a time.
NOTE: IMHO, an inexpensive solar controller or converter/charger can easily overcharge the batteries if left on for extended periods.
Steve & C. J.
"Gracie" the Rough Collie & "Bo'sun" the Bichon Frise
2009 Arctic Fox 24-5N
2007 Ford F350 4X4 Crewcab LB 11.5K GVWR
PullRite 18K SuperGlide
Ummm, one of the advantages of solar panels is that you don't need to remove the batteries? Is there a reason you did so?
How many watts of solar and how many amp-hours of battery bank?
afraid of bears wrote: I'm new to the world of solar panels. I noticed that when I took my batteries off the trailer, the interior display showing the current coming from the solar panel went crazy. Is this normal? As the trailer is no longer connected to the battery and/or the solar panel, I'm assuming that it won't be damaging anything. I guess I should probably cover the cable leads from the panels though. Another thought; I have an old battery that doesn't hold a charge. Can I just attach it so that I have some power for lights during the winter? What do other folks do?
Regards, Don
Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" 256 watts solar, 875 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries 2500 watt inverter.
If the batteries stay full of power, then there is not a danger of it freezing until -75F.
Many solar controllers are simple and turn on when the output voltage is below 13.3 volts and shut off at over 13.5 volts. Without a battery connected your controller might turn on for a second, and then reach 14 volts, and then go off, reach 0 volts, and go back on.
My controller just shuts off if there is no input voltage from the batteries.
I would not think there is a reason to take the batteries off, unless you have theft concerns. The solar panels should keep the batteries full unless there is a long time with snow on top of them. If they get tilted, then normally they will stay snow free, and they get fairly warm because they are dark color.
afraid of bears wrote: Another thought; I have an old battery that doesn't hold a charge. Can I just attach it so that I have some power for lights during the winter? What do other folks do?
By all means hook it up. After a few months of solar it may do better than you think.
-40 degrees is pretty common here. I didn't realize that batteries would take that. However, we also get a lot of snow which means that the solar panel would not be as efficient as it should be. Thanks for the responses. I think I'll throw the old battery on there and see what it does. That way, when the DW sends me out to shovel snow, I'll have light when I'm hiding.
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