My advice is to remove the battery completely and charge it by mains power via a smart charger which will prolong the life of the battery. Leisure batteries are not cheap to replace so keeping it charged effectively will save money in the long term. The problem with solar panels is that they only effectively work during daylight hours and on dull days will produce very little power at all so during the time that the battery is NOT being charged it is slowly sulphating thus reducing the life of the battery.
I had a small unmarked panel on the dash of my old van. permanently connected to the leisure battery, the battery was always fully charged, summer and winter
No reason not to connect solar panel ASAP. Check if any 12v sockets remain live with systems shut down if intending to simply plug the usual cigarette lighter type plug in as you solar panel connection source, wont be doing any good if they aren't permanently live! Otherwise Croc clips direct to battery terminals is best option.
Only thing to remember is probably wise to disconnect it first if any other charging system in use, ie engine started, or EHU connected, the higher charging voltage can be damaging to the panel.
I've got a 6W solar panel sited inside my caravan skylight, that I use to maintain my 100Ah leisure battery. It just about does the job in the summer months of keeping battery fully topped up, but doesn't work well enough during the winter for me not to have to give the battery a proper charge every 2-3 months. But I do have a permanent drain on the battery from the caravan alarm, so the solar panel is doing more than just maintaining an idle battery.
I don't really have the ideal option of removing the battery to keep at home on a trickle charger, as it's required to power the alarm which is an insurance requirement, and caravan in remote storage without any EHU.
After over 4 years, my battery still tests (with a decent analytical capacity tester, not just voltage/charge level) as being in 100% healthy condition, so appears that the solar panel is doing it's job of stopping sulphation.
Have to say, position of solar panel makes a LOT of difference as to effectiveness, mine is positioned in skylight to capture as much SUNLIGHT (not just daylight) as possible, one fitted in a window or on a dashboard may only capture limited sunlight or even only daylight if facing anything but south, and perform quite poorly.
I used to have a 1.5W panel on the dashboard of my previous car which was only used occasionally, that kept a weakening battery going for a rather amazing 11 years! Without the solar panel, it'd be too flat in a week to reliably start the car. So got to say they do work.
We have a solar panel (10 watt - not 5 or 20, the 2 other options at Halfords) which keeps the Škoda car battery topped up, plugged into the cigarette socket & facing south. However, it doesn’t work in my VW or the MH because their sockets aren’t live when the ignition is off (tested using the phone charger). Didn’t break the bank because we joined Halfords car club for nothing & the welcome voucher covered most of it.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Trickle Charge Battery solar
via mobile 04/5/2022 at 12:50pm
