Factory Solar Question

80 watt may not be enough to keep your battery charged against vampire draws like the detector. An 80 watt panel getting 6 hours of sun should make 30 amps or so of power a day. The vampire draw is probably in the 24 amp/day range or less. Not always good sun though. I wouldn't want to rely on that in case of a couple cloudy days.

Depending on how the system is wired you may be able to use the battery disconnect switch and have the solar still charging. If they have the SCC wired directly to the battery and not through the switch you can charge without the draw of the CO detector.

Yeah, I've learned that whatever they tell you, double it....

I've the feeling that 'Solar' belongs in the 'Black Arts' category..
No person likes the previous set up... and they have their own idea of what YOU need and how to set it up...again, double it... especially the wiring gauge...

You need to figure out what you need and future use possibilities... or you end up rewiring, moving things around or running outta room...

So, while the good ones, installers etc, might be and probably are expensive, they're more likely to set it up with something you can use...

Good luck, may the "Force be with you..." hehehhh, fun in the Sun as they say..

“My factory 80W solar has never kept the battery charged when the camper sits for a couple of weeks.”

My 30 watt solar system keeps the two T125s full indefinitely while in storage but the TT is completely cutoff. If all your loads are cut there’s something wrong with your solar system. Times two on fpoole’s “double” the size of the wire.

I'm less worried about it draining the batteries when it sits (because it stays plugged in now) and more concerned with it dying while camping. Granted I can always just fire up the generator, but that kinda ruins the serenity. I'm glad to hear that what I'm experiencing isn't abnormal, I just need to beef up the panel and wiring aspect of it all. Chances are technology has moved forward and the space that my 80W panel from 2007 takes up likely can provide a bit more with today's panels.

Two hundred solar watts is about the lowest I see on the road. Three hundred works for me. General rule is one solar watt per battery amp hour.

You will need a minimum of 160 watt panel.

This series of articles may help:

https://freecampsites.net/adding-solar/

work2much wrote:
. An 80 watt panel getting 6 hours of sun should make 30 amps or so of power a day. The vampire draw is probably in the 24 amp/day range or less..

No way an 80 Watt panel will provide 30Ah in a six hour sun day.....even under ideal conditions. Between clouds, sun angle, etc. he will be lucky to get 10 or 12 Ah......which a measly 1 Ah vampire draw will exceed over night.....and I would bet his vampire draw exceeds that. Yes, 160 Watts would probably be minimum he needs.

Ed_Gee wrote:

work2much wrote:
. An 80 watt panel getting 6 hours of sun should make 30 amps or so of power a day. The vampire draw is probably in the 24 amp/day range or less..

No way an 80 Watt panel will provide 30Ah in a six hour sun day.....even under ideal conditions. Between clouds, sun angle, etc. he will be lucky to get 10 or 12 Ah......which a measly 1 Ah vampire draw will exceed over night.....and I would bet his vampire draw exceeds that. Yes, 160 Watts would probably be minimum he needs.

Ideal conditions do not include clouds or obscure angles. This would be the prime 6 hours a day with sun fully on the panel, no shading, no clouds, in the south when the sun is high on cool day. In those conditions an 80 watt panel 80w/13v = 6.15 amp. 6.15x6 = 37 amps. My figure was 15% less than what should be an absolute max. I have never seen absolute max but I have seen over 1000 watts on our 1080 watt system under good conditions or over 90% of rated panel rating.

If your 80 watt panel is only producing 10-12 amps in 6 hours on a sunny day with good exposure you have an issue with something in your system. That is terrible production.

Also I noticed you left this part out of my quote which qualified the section you clipped. My message was that while an 80 watt panel could keep top under the right conditions, those conditions don't always exist nor should be relied on.

"80 watt may not be enough to keep your battery charged against vampire draws like the detector. The vampire draw is probably in the 24 amp/day range or less. Not always good sun though. I wouldn't want to rely on that in case of a couple cloudy days"

In the summer, we have good sun angles and little cloud cover. That said, how can a guy record what a panel is putting out? We get beat hard with UV rays here, I have to wonder if the top of the skin isn't beat up and shielding some of those precious UV rays from creating useful electrons?