solar panel drained my batteries?

[ozzie_thousand_]

I installed my solar kit bought from lance.plugged the panel in on reefer vent and the 2 wires black and rd turn to blue and white which I hooked up as directed thr blue wire is looped and white is the same so lance company said just pick one blue and one white and run it to controller then to my batteries .I took my camper off the truck and 6 days later both batteries are dead! whats up anyone know?

[Almot]

westend wrote:
there is no difference between East coast and West coast solar production if the modules are situated at the same latitude.

Unless it's a Seattle latitude. Sorry, couldn't resist 😉
Liquid sun, he he....

Oh yeah, they charge after sunset for a while. In my 500W system the current dies completely when it's getting almost dark.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Do you have a friend hat could help you? They way you wrote the description of the circuit is a tad fuzzy

[westend]

Typically the solar panels put out the higher DC current in a six hour high sun time... The rest of the time is low DC current and of course after the high sun goes down you will get zero DC current from them...

Roy, I've mentioned to you at least three times that typical polycrystalline solar modules don't just charge for 6 hrs a day. Yes, you may get the highest output during that time but it's not like a switch turns them off. It may be that if you have an array that outputs 20 amps at 1 PM, that at 4 PM it is still giving you 19 amps. In Summer a typical insolation duration is 16 hrs. You are disregarding the 10 hrs of solar harvest that can be significant. Some of us find that solar can recharge a battery bank by noon.

Also, there is no difference between East coast and West coast solar production if the modules are situated at the same latitude.

As a dedicated off-gridder, you really need to get a couple of panels mounted and see what they can do. I think you will be surprised.
FWIW, my poly module produces power after sunset, not much, but there is a trickle.

[red31]

ozzie thousand oaks wrote:
Thanks Roy I went over to my camper at the yard and checked the voltage from the solar and of course it clouded up but I still checked it no volts i'll go back when its sunny you would think lance would sell you the correct panel for you're model camper

measure the voltage of the blue and white wires where they attach to the controller. The Blue is + and the white is -. The loop was to provide slack so the controller could be installed.

If you disconnect them and measure, you should see near 20v (18+) in almost any daytime light conditions.

You should be able to measure battery voltage at the controller, the wires that connect to the battery.

[deeje1]

At night, the panel uses stored current to return it to sunlight again-no wasted energy ! Going Green:B

[RJsfishin]

Nothing more simple than connecting a few solar panels and controller to a battery bank
If its connected correctly, and its running your batteries down, the panel/s are junk,....and/or possibly the controller too.

[Almot]

Sam Spade wrote:
blue, white, black, red "looped" ???????
...

Typically the solar "kit" has it's own controller and you run two wires directly to the battery.

Yeah, messy :)...

Sounds like his "kit" has a controller. Kits marketed as "portable" often have controllers already wired to the panel, so you only have to run the controller wires to battery. Some other kits come in a box with separate panel, controller and mounting brackets, - same stuff, just not connected - so he has to wire controller to both battery and panel, and do this properly.

[Almot]

Boon Docker wrote:
If your voltage reading was zero right from the solar panel (not after the charge controller) then your solar panel is defective.

... and if voltage is zero after the controller, then controller is defective or panel is not connected to correct terminals, or meter is not connected to correct terminals. Plenty of possibilities 🙂

One thing to remember is that controller should be connected to battery BEFORE connecting it to the panel, otherwise it could burn out.

[red31]

dupe

[red31]

ozzie thousand oaks wrote:
no volts

wrong wires

[Boon_Docker]

If your voltage reading was zero right from the solar panel (not after the charge controller) then your solar panel is defective. My panels read 17-18 volts when it is totally overcast.

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[RoyB]

a typical 120WATT SOLAR PANEL will only produce 5-6 AMPS DC Current when in high sun. This then is even more dropped by the PWN Controller when it produces the smart mode DC Voltages of 14.4-13.6-13.2... This is not alot of DC Charging current coming from a single panel in high sun. You parasitic drains associated with your trailer battery setup is usually higher then 2-3 AMPS DC current. Then just leaving one lamp on all night does you in...

A typical deep cycle battery requires the correct sequence of smart mode DC charging voltage and have the capacity of 17-20AMPS DC current if you want the battery to recharge from its 50% charge state to its 90% charge state. This is based on the smart mode DC Voltages listed above. A lower DC Current will still work but it will take much much longer.

You need to look at the Lance provided solar panel and tell us what its WATTAGE is and model number so we can tell how much DC VOLTAGE and DC Current it will produce when in high sun.

Then you will want to know what your battery load is so that you don't draw more current then the solar panel is producing.

Solar panels are not the great thing alot of folks make them out to be. For us they would only be used to keep a battery bank topped off with no or very low parasitic current drain.

You will need several panels in parallel to come up with the 17Amps-20Amps of DC Current for each battery in your battery bank if you want to get recharged in a typical three hour time frame.

Typically the solar panels put out the higher DC current in a six hour high sun time... The rest of the time is low DC current and of course after the high sun goes down you will get zero DC current from them...

This is somewhat different for each install but basically correct on what to expect...

I am still learning how to live off my battery bank and haven't got to the solar panels yet to keep them topped off... My first goal was to beef up my battery bank and make my trailer as GREEN as possible then go for the solar panels. Since we have a pretty high DC current usage our biggest solar panel bank would not produce enough DC current based on the roof size area. This requires me to run a 2KW generator doing the first initial high current demand until it starts its normal tapering off. Then the solar panels would complete my charging during the rest of the available high sun day.

Kinda depends on where you camp on the east side of the US or the West side. slightly different rules apply...

Its all a learning process...

Typically two wires from the solar panel feeds the solar controller and then two DC OUTPUT wires feeds the battery bank. The controller takes the generated solar DC OUTPUT and sends smart mode DC charging voltages to the battery bank. Using the lower DC Voltages from the solar panels will eat into the output current when developing the correct charging volages from the controll... You will find solar panels are not as efficient as one might expect. using a PWN controller I think the 120WATT panels only really give you around 80WATTs of smart mode control voltages when in the high sun.

Hope some of this helps...

Lots of info on GOOGLE SEARCH on how all of this is suppose to work - also lots of diagrams as well...

Roy Ken

[ozzie_thousand_]

Thanks Roy I went over to my camper at the yard and checked the voltage from the solar and of course it clouded up but I still checked it no volts i'll go back when its sunny you would think lance would sell you the correct panel for you're model camper

[Sam_Spade]

blue, white, black, red "looped" ???????

You need a meter and someone who understands how to use it.

Typically the solar "kit" has it's own controller and you run two wires directly to the battery.

NOW you need to disconnect all of the wiring you have added and test out the original stuff to be sure it is all working OK before you try again.