Solar Charging

[Roy C Tyler]

We bought the MH in 2013 and it has always been plugged into 50 amps when in storage beside the house since then.  We moved to the Phoenix area this year and can no longer store it beside the house. It is going to a compound for storage tomorrow and it will be sitting out in the open with no plug in. My solar on the roof is about 3'x5' and is factory installed. If I turn off both master switches in the battery area and turn off the inverter, will the solar still keep the batteries charged?  I plan on going over and checking on it once a month to keep the batteries filled. All batteries (both 12 volt & 6 volt) are new this year.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Joel Ashley]

Yes.

Joel

[Bill Lampkin]

the factory solar panel in my '05 Patriot is rated at 100 watts. A 100w solar panel is a 5 amp trickle charger, in full sun. You can charge your batteries when you exercise your generator 1x/month. Start the generator and turn on one or more A/C units (or use the heat pump setting if outside temp is >50f). Run for 2 hrs or so with the a/c-heat pump load. Your inverter/charger will bulk charge the batteries to about 80% or so. You really need to be plugged in to charge that last 20%.

[Joel Ashley]

I have the same 100 watt panel, Bill, but with batteries that weren’t old, both Main switches off, and a reasonable lack of short, dark, rainy days, my panel did the job.  I only plug in to my home 30amps now because my batteries need replacing and it takes more to keep them up in a western Oregon winter. 

I’d expect Chuck’s panel to do fine in exposed Arizona storage as long as his batteries aren’t 13 years old like mine (his are brand new), any wet cells have water, his panel is clean and unobstructed nor shaded, and his mains are off.

Joel

[Bill Lampkin]

No argument here, my comment was only to say that since you have to exercise the gen 1x/month anyway, use the time to charge your batteries. Also, solar is only a trickle charger, some people think, well, I have solar so the batteries won't go dead. My experience says that for one reason or another, batteries will let you down if you are not plugged in. At our storage yard, we waited years for the one spot with an electric hook up. No battery issues now, and I check every week. We're in a covered spot, so our one solar panel won't charge the batteries. A vandal could pull out our 30a cord from the receptacle just for kicks, they used a slingshot to shatter the big window on the curbside, and someone pulled off and stole the cast Beaver emblem from the front cap-nothing to do I guess. Diligence, and a good 30a hookup, will help save your batteries.

[William Walker]

Does the solar panel charge the chassis batteries  or the coach batteries or both?

[Fred Brooks]

   William, If your coach has an "echo charger" it will. If the house batteries are all the way up and the solar charger has raised the voltage above 13.1 volts, the echo charger will latch onto the chassis batteries and trickle charge them. Keep in mind this time of year approaching the winter equinox, not a lot of direct sunlight so keep an eye on it. Fred

[William Walker]

Thank you, Is there a easy way to see if you have a Echo charger? I have just purchased my coach and am finding it is nothing like my old 5th wheel.

[Joel Ashley]

Bill, your 2006 coach is Monaco-era, when they used BIRD systems instead of Echo chargers.

BIRD:  bidirectional isolator relay delay, made by Intellitec.

When the house batteries reach about 13.3v the BIRD (possibly like ours located on the inside of your fuse access door over the batteries and between the battery Main switches) sends charging voltage to the chassis batteries.  This happens when you are plugged in, on generator power, or just on solar input.  On the road, your alternator does the charging and the BIRD does the reverse;  it charges the chassis batteries to 13.3 volts and then switches alternator input over to build up your house batteries.

You should find more information in the Forum’s Coach Assist section, and some helpful info here:
https://rvelectrical.com/product/intellitec-isolator-relay-b-i-r-d-diesel-00-00839-000/

Joel