I purchased a basic Windynation solar panel kit and installed it on my 26ft trailer this spring. It came with a basic controller with LED light showing if the current coming from the panel is good and if the current to the batteries is good. on the 3rd day of our trip the power started dropping in the batteries and that night the batteries were completely dead. The next day the controller showed output to the battery was cutoff and the input from the panel was good. Also around the mid part of the day the battery display in the trailer showed completely charged and the solar panel showed good for panel input and battery output. One hour after sunset the batteries are dead again. I checked every connection and fuse from the controller to the batteries and they are good. I switched batteries with the same result. I'm beginning to think the controller is bad. Please help.

Solar panels do not produce a lot of DC CURRENT. A typical 120WATT SOLAR PANEL will only produce 5-6AMPS DC CURRENT. This is probably pretty close to your PARASITIC DRAIN of your specific RV UNIT.It takes 14.4VDC with the capacity of 20AMPD DC current to charge a single RV 12VDC Battery to its 90% charge state in a three hour time period. One must always need to have a working multimeter around to keep tabs on what is happening around your batteries... When you are charging the batteries with solar panels you should see either 14.4VDC across the battery terminals at beginning of the charge period and this then will drop back to 13.6VDC until the battery reaches 90% charge state.A typical battery that is fully charged when read in its sitting state should read 12.6-7VDC across the terminals...The SOLAR REGULATOR should work just like your on-board converter/charger unit when charging your batteries...Sounds like the batteries were fully charged on the first day and you was not putting back enough solar power to overcome the draws the batteries was seeing. If you only have one typical 100watt to 120Watts solar panel you will only be producing 5-6AMPS DC current as long as the panels are aligned in the high sun. Once the battery starts going down in capacity this is not enough DC CURRENT to do you much good except for keeping the battery topped off...The solar panels are NOT much good for you unless you store the solar energy in the battery banks where you can use after the sun goes down... Just my thoughtsRoy Ken

RoyB wrote:One must always need to have a working multimeter around to keep tabs on what is happening around your batteries...Yep.

Without more data it's hard to say what is wrong. Could be bad controller, too long/too thin wiring run from controller to battery, bad battery, not enough sun (shadow on the panel?), maybe something else. Is the controller routed directly to battery or does it go through the trailer's converter?You should have your battery checked to see if it's ok. If it is, use a meter to see what your battery voltage is reaching after a day of solar charge. Make sure no shadows are cast on your panel by nearby objects; one small shaded patch will cut solar panel output to almost nothing. If all else checks out, you may need a clamp meter to check actual current flow in various parts of the circuit.I had no trouble keeping my battery topped up with a 70W panel and Morningstar controller feeding into my trailer's 12V pigtail. I don't think your parasitic load should be very high (normally), but we don't know what all you're running, either.

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Solar panel battery problems | Good Sam Community

NinerBikes
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
KJINTF wrote:
Where in Montana?
Happy to help if you are near

LOL! Rare is the day that anything has been "near" while in Big Sky Country. "Near" is a relative term in MT.
KJINTF
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
Where in Montana?
Happy to help if you are near
JiminDenver
Explorer II
Aug 10, 2015
So what I see is that the solar isn't keeping up with usage. The LED lights for the battery and tanks are not acceptable for showing battery charge, useless is more like it.

If you did discharge your battery a single flat mounted 100w panel isn't going to be enough to recharge it especially if you are still using power. The next time turn the truck around and use the jumper cables to do some bulk charging for a hour or so and give the solar a chance to finish it up. Many do it with a generator in the morning when the sun is low and little comes in from the solar.

It would be a hassle but you could pull the panel down and track the sun with it. This would pretty much double your harvest in a day.

More info is needed like type of batteries and more info on the solar and loads.
NinerBikes
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
rexlion wrote:
RJsfishin wrote:
Quote:
I had no trouble keeping my battery topped up with a 70W panel and Morningstar controller feeding into my trailer's 12V pigtail.
-------------------------------------------------------
If this really does work for you, I'd hardly consider it camping, using todays standards.
And a statement like this sure doesn't help the OP, leading him to believe that a 100 watt panel will surely be plenty to keep a 27, or even a 24 battery charged. We'll assume he installed a 100 watt kit, which is little more than a joke to think that will support any kind of an average camper's camping lifestyle.

...said the guy in the big MH with the genny. ;) It really does work for me, with a small trailer that needs little more than a couple of LED lights, a vent fan and occasional water pump use. In a bigger rig like yours, I'm sure 70W would not fare so well.

It also depends if you do or don't bring the little lady with you... Women can be huge conspicuous consumers of everything, even utilities. I was flat out blown away how much my electric, water and gas bill dropped when I had to ask the first live in girlfriend I ever had to move out. That was many years ago...

The GF of 16 years refuses to go camping with me, not unless I can guarantee a 25 minute shower in hot water...physically impossible, my water heater only holds 6 gallons.

Keep in mind, there is Old School camping, and then there's Glamping.
rexlion
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
RJsfishin wrote:
Quote:
I had no trouble keeping my battery topped up with a 70W panel and Morningstar controller feeding into my trailer's 12V pigtail.
-------------------------------------------------------
If this really does work for you, I'd hardly consider it camping, using todays standards.
And a statement like this sure doesn't help the OP, leading him to believe that a 100 watt panel will surely be plenty to keep a 27, or even a 24 battery charged. We'll assume he installed a 100 watt kit, which is little more than a joke to think that will support any kind of an average camper's camping lifestyle.

...said the guy in the big MH with the genny. ;) It really does work for me, with a small trailer that needs little more than a couple of LED lights, a vent fan and occasional water pump use. In a bigger rig like yours, I'm sure 70W would not fare so well.
NinerBikes
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
RJsfishin wrote:
Quote:
Third is if you have a group 24 or 27 or 29 or 31 battery or two for you power supply, and they say "Deep Cycle" on the fancy labels, be prepared for them to die quickly, they are not true deep cycle batteries for dry camping...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a bunch of BS!
My cheap 27 Exides are 5 yrs old now, doing great as new, and they have been heavily used, and were abused before I got them. Only time will tell their true total longevity.

He's already drained them flat once, how much longer do you think they will last with that mistreatment?
RJsfishin
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
Quote:
Third is if you have a group 24 or 27 or 29 or 31 battery or two for you power supply, and they say "Deep Cycle" on the fancy labels, be prepared for them to die quickly, they are not true deep cycle batteries for dry camping...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a bunch of BS!
My cheap 27 Exides are 5 yrs old now, doing great as new, and they have been heavily used, and were abused before I got them. Only time will tell their true total longevity.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
Quote:
I had no trouble keeping my battery topped up with a 70W panel and Morningstar controller feeding into my trailer's 12V pigtail.
-------------------------------------------------------
If this really does work for you, I'd hardly consider it camping, using todays standards.
And a statement like this sure doesn't help the OP, leading him to believe that a 100 watt panel will surely be plenty to keep a 27, or even a 24 battery charged. We'll assume he installed a 100 watt kit, which is little more than a joke to think that will support any kind of an average camper's camping lifestyle.
Muddydogs
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
Depending on what the OP purchased Windynation sells a 30 watt kit or kits with panels in 100 watt multiples. A single 100 watt panel isn't much and if he has the 30 watt panels well.
time2roll
Nomad
Aug 10, 2015
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
This is a dopperganger view of me and this smart phone. Whomever created the term Plug N Play should be surgery modified so his genes are obliterated and cannot be passed to offspring...
I have a feeling the solar never got plugged in so no 'play' for the OP.
Or he is just using too much power.

OP supplying voltage at the output is not the same as providing to the battery. Need to verify battery voltage matches the controller output. Otherwise need more power or less usage.

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