Battery and Solar woes
Long read, so grab a coffee... Rockwood Mini-Lite 2306. We’ve had this generic 100W flexible solar panel which has served us well for several years now. I hate drilling holes in the roof of my RV to...
Forum Discussion
StirCrazy wrote:
100 watts on a PWM controler will give you a little more time but normaly won't keep your batteries charged unless your usage is verry low.
so the questions becomes, how low do you let your batteries get typicly when your camping. if you routeenly are using more than 50% of the capacity it will lead to shorter battery life, and if you run them dead you could fluke out and have no issues or you could kill the battery. also did you check every cell on the battery or just one with the hygrometer?
Steve
Hello Kamloops...coming to you from the Fraser Valley! :D
I've tested the panel and its maximum output is about 4.5 amps...more than enough to keep a charge on batteries. Typically, it is about 2.2 a on a sunny day, so that should be sufficient to maintain FULL status.
The usage is low...the odd light now and then, maybe the water pump for a few seconds, but there is always the parasitic loads for the fridge and hot water tank.
All cells were tested and all had the same type of readings; 1225 - 1230.
