Hi all, I have just bought a 6 watt solar panel battery maintainer (trickle charger) to help keep my leisure battery topped up in my Bailey Advance m/h. Does anyone know if this will help charge my leisure battery if I plug into the cigarette lighter or will I have to connect directly to the battery?
Hello bootlucy, if your cigar lighter works without the ignition key inserted, then the trickle charging from the solar panel when the sunshines on it, will work.
What happens when the solar panel is in darkness, is another matter
Regards James
------------- In the beginning there was darkness.
Then I bought a tent.
I'm not destitute, I'm just poor.
The cigarlighter is most likely fed from the 'starter' battery. The 'Leisure' battery gets its charge from the alternator, therefore only when the engine is running.
Therefore, in order to top up the 'Leisure' battery, you need to feed the solar energy into it.
That's beyond my expertise, so hopefully someone with more specific knowledge can assist.
The easy feed would be through a light socket, that is fed from the 'leisure' battery.
Just ensure you remove it before starting the engine.
Regards James
------------- In the beginning there was darkness.
Then I bought a tent.
I'm not destitute, I'm just poor.
Sorry Lucy but I feel that the leisure battery on your Bailey will not be impressed with a 6 watt solar panel! (This will give out barely 1/4 amp at 12 volts at this time of the year.)
Few thoughts:
1) We have a 100 watt panel to top up the normal engine battery and a 100Ah leisure battery via an appropriate controller which shares the current between the 2 batteries. (Currently set for 60/40 % in favour of the engine battery) Works well in the summer but does struggle in these darker months - November to February - especially this winter with record amounts of cloud here in Devon!(We connect to mains power anyway at this time - especially as we also have some heating on in van ...)
2) Bear in mind the rated output is a maximum figure which would probably only apply when the panel is pointed directly at the sun in say southern Spain in midsummer!
3) Ref the 2 dashboard (Fiat fitted) 12v sockets - these are normally wired to the engine battery and even then will only work when the ignition is on.
4) With a correctly designed and installed 'solar panel system' there is no need to disconnect anything when the engine is running. (and alternator will be charging both batteries - common on recent Motorhomes)
Hope this helps!
------------- The older I get the better I used to be.
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Topic: solar panel
