Question on Solar Power
I am considering installing the solar power kit from harbor freight 45 watt, 3 panel with charge controller. My question is, can I use the coach battery power while the solar power is charging the bat...
Forum Discussion
Those HF panels are good for 'carry out' battery chargers, (15w each) just put a charge controller on them and set them on top of a truck, tractor, or whatever. They have a nice molded edge on the ones that I have. But for solar power on the rv, and my remote camp, I bought at least 150w panels and MPPT controllers.
I use two of them to keep a bulldozer 24v system ready to go. If they get smashed on top of the ROPS canopy by a branch, they are cheap to replace, about $45 locally, ($145 for 3 on sale). They are a little bit of overkill for just maintaining batteries, but they will run a 12v attic fan pretty fast in direct sun, with no controller, and bring up a low battery at 1.2 amps/hour. They come with a very weird controller that is better than nothing, but I use the little Morningstar outdoor controllers, so they can just be left out in the weather.
But, you guys are right about not being enough for the RV system.
I use two of them to keep a bulldozer 24v system ready to go. If they get smashed on top of the ROPS canopy by a branch, they are cheap to replace, about $45 locally, ($145 for 3 on sale). They are a little bit of overkill for just maintaining batteries, but they will run a 12v attic fan pretty fast in direct sun, with no controller, and bring up a low battery at 1.2 amps/hour. They come with a very weird controller that is better than nothing, but I use the little Morningstar outdoor controllers, so they can just be left out in the weather.
But, you guys are right about not being enough for the RV system.
