battery charging & solar panel
Hello. New RVer here. Thanks for looking at my question. Have a new TT and it does have a solar panel, although it is minimal..thinking 20w. I've had the unit for about a month and only used it ...
Forum Discussion
As Ed said.
It will be even worse if you had it sitting with the frig on gas. My rig just sitting with the frig on and everything else basically turned off will consume about 1.6 amps per hour. 1.6 x 24 hours = 38.4 amp hours. To put that back in with 20 watts or about 1 or 1.2 amps at it's very best in noon sun it would take 32 hours.
So lets say you have your rig stored in full sun and get 6 hours of charging you will produce about 6 amp hours of energy. 6 ah hours divided by 24 = .25 amps available per hour plus you need to keep up with the normal self discharge of the battery. That is with ideal conditions.
I cant remember my bare minimum drain with just the led tank light panel and propane sniffer and radio but I'm guessing its more than that .25 amps. Other guys know more about solar but I'd guess 50 to 100 watts would do it. If you get to that point stop and consider your future camping possibilities and wire it and add a worthwhile controller for more solar that you may add down the road. You can add good wire and controller and depending on those components start with say 100 watts and later add panels without redoing everything.
It gets deep and gets into generators, running the ac, wanting to invert and on and on. You have come to the right place as some of these guys have been doing this stuff a very long time.
So you basically need to plug it in and then keep an eye on the battery water usage. It wont need constant watering but you will need to check it monthly or whatever until you get a handle on it. Use distilled water and fill to the proper level. You are basically safe as long as electrolyte is over the plates all the time. You can fill until the liquid touches the bottom of the vent area side channels. As you slowly add water it will suddenly look like what they call a cats eye. That's as high as I ever run it. To fill it more you will start getting a lot of corrosion and filth on top of the battery.
Wear safety goggles and have an eye flush bottle on hand when working with batteries. NEVER create a spark of any sort near the battery as hydrogen gas is produced during charging and discharging.
It will be even worse if you had it sitting with the frig on gas. My rig just sitting with the frig on and everything else basically turned off will consume about 1.6 amps per hour. 1.6 x 24 hours = 38.4 amp hours. To put that back in with 20 watts or about 1 or 1.2 amps at it's very best in noon sun it would take 32 hours.
So lets say you have your rig stored in full sun and get 6 hours of charging you will produce about 6 amp hours of energy. 6 ah hours divided by 24 = .25 amps available per hour plus you need to keep up with the normal self discharge of the battery. That is with ideal conditions.
I cant remember my bare minimum drain with just the led tank light panel and propane sniffer and radio but I'm guessing its more than that .25 amps. Other guys know more about solar but I'd guess 50 to 100 watts would do it. If you get to that point stop and consider your future camping possibilities and wire it and add a worthwhile controller for more solar that you may add down the road. You can add good wire and controller and depending on those components start with say 100 watts and later add panels without redoing everything.
It gets deep and gets into generators, running the ac, wanting to invert and on and on. You have come to the right place as some of these guys have been doing this stuff a very long time.
So you basically need to plug it in and then keep an eye on the battery water usage. It wont need constant watering but you will need to check it monthly or whatever until you get a handle on it. Use distilled water and fill to the proper level. You are basically safe as long as electrolyte is over the plates all the time. You can fill until the liquid touches the bottom of the vent area side channels. As you slowly add water it will suddenly look like what they call a cats eye. That's as high as I ever run it. To fill it more you will start getting a lot of corrosion and filth on top of the battery.
Wear safety goggles and have an eye flush bottle on hand when working with batteries. NEVER create a spark of any sort near the battery as hydrogen gas is produced during charging and discharging.
