Do solar panels burn thru batteries?

barngal wrote:
Hi, I"m so new to this that I bought my camper but haven't even picked it up yet! But I'm excited and glad to find this forum, lots of important info here.

My camper has a solar panel to keep the batteries topped off. My experienced friend recommended that solars tend to overcharge the batteries and you end up replacing your batteries more frequently than you would have to without solar. I'm not the person who will be charging my batteries EVERY 2-4 weeks (I'm assuming that would be optimal when not using the camper?)

Could you comment your experiences on this? Solar or no...
thanks!

I've noticed that when my camper is left on Solar power every day and without actually using the camper, the charger will start the morning after the sun is up by charging at 14.4 volts or higher.

I think that this higher charging rate is not really needed because the battery is not really drawn down at all over night. A simple maintenance charge would be sufficient.

Based on this experience, I can see how someone might think that it would shorten the battery life (however incremental that may be).

There may be a grain of truth in your friends admonition.