Solar Panel

[Jerry Pattison]

1998 Marquis Diamante has a small (app. 1 ft X 1 ft) solar panel on the roof.  Mine is damaged (hail?).  Any ideas on where I can get a replacement?

[Joel Ashley]

https://amsolar.com

[Fred Cook]

I have one on my roof and have no idea if it works. How do you check it?

[Bill Sprague]

The factory installed solar panels do so little that it may not be worth repair or checking.

The purpose of them was more for dealer convenience than anything else.   If nothing is turned on (including the propane fridges) and the sales people remembered to turn off the "coach power" switch by the door, the single rooftop panel would keep the batteries charged.  Then as you are taken from coach to coach at the dealer's lot, the lights and steps will work making the "showing" more pleasant than it would be if the batteries are dead.

Anything more that briefly turning on the lights for a showing will draw more than those single panels can produce.   Once you own it and need a little electricity you can plug in, run the Onan or buy enough solar to cover the roof. 

[Bill Lampkin]

Small solar panels may be had on ebay, Amazon, or even Harbor Freight. Panels with wattages <20 watts don't need a solar charge controller as they don't put out enough current to damage a battery. FWIW, a typical 12v, 100w panel puts out about 5 amps in full sun. Amps are proportional to the size of the panel (# of cells, actually), so a 1'x1' panel may be a 15-20w panel, putting out .8-1a.

As for checking to see if they work, find the wires from the panel, disconnect from battery and check the open circuit voltage. A 100w panel will have an open circuit (no load) voltage between 17-20v.