How to power a fan only when solar is charging.
I want to run an exhaust fan from my battery compartment to vent out hydrogen during charging cycles but I don't want it to run 24/7 as I do now. I tried powering a computer fan off my panels before the charge controller but the charge controller allows power back to the panels when they aren't charging, like at night.
The reasons I want to do this are:
-battery compartment is not that air tight and will be hard to make it so-I don't want the off gasses getting into the trailer.
-it is just a small draw..but watts are watts
-I like to do tiny tinker jobs like this one (I just installed thermostatically controlled fans in my fridge chimney)
One way would be a separate tiny panel just for the fan-expensive. Or some kind of voltage controlled switch (panels run at +17 volts when charging).
I'm running 200 watts on the roof and another 100 watts on an umbilical. Batteries are 2x225 amp golf cart bats. We almost exclusively dry camp. We do not have an inverter and run the genny once a month or less.
Any input or ideas would be welcome.
The reasons I want to do this are:
-battery compartment is not that air tight and will be hard to make it so-I don't want the off gasses getting into the trailer.
-it is just a small draw..but watts are watts
-I like to do tiny tinker jobs like this one (I just installed thermostatically controlled fans in my fridge chimney)
One way would be a separate tiny panel just for the fan-expensive. Or some kind of voltage controlled switch (panels run at +17 volts when charging).
I'm running 200 watts on the roof and another 100 watts on an umbilical. Batteries are 2x225 amp golf cart bats. We almost exclusively dry camp. We do not have an inverter and run the genny once a month or less.
Any input or ideas would be welcome.
