Empty Nest, Soon wrote:
grizzzman wrote:
. . .
It seems odd to me to at least in my eyes to waste 100 watts as a float charger for the chassis battery. . .
Good point. But while it is nominally 100 watts, with the unreasonably long cable run to the front of the coach and back, I seem to be getting only a fraction of that output to the batteries.
I suppose I could move the existing controller back near the batteries to improve these panels’ effectiveness, but that means pulling a second new set of wires. I hate thinking of maybe mixing these old panels on the same controller as new panels. I would probably just buy another new 110 watt panel rather than sort out compatibility questions for a 20 year old panel.
Wayne
I agree you dont want to use the old panels with the new ones. Perhaps a test of the old panels are in order? A short curcuit amps test on a sunny day around 12 and 1 mid day. I would expect to see 4ish to 6ish amps between the two panels using the ten amps setting on your multi meter. This is on the roof close to the panels. If it passes move the controller and redo the wiring and if it fails chassis battery charger it is. What are your thoughts?
