BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: Rick Blanshan on May 25, 2021, 03:39:49 AM
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Hello,
I’m looking to see if anyone can help me with finding a copy of the electrical schematic drawings for our 1998 Beaver Patriot. Also, what’s the life expectancy for the solar panels? Ours are probably the original ones. Kinda new to the forum so please any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Angie and Rick Blanshan
Blanshanfamily@aol.com
503-990-2720
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Rick,
We don't have dwgs for the 98 but do have 96 Patriot wiring diagrams. They should be very close to the 98 model year. They are located in Coach Assist. Log in to the BAC website https://www.beaveramb.org/ and select the Technical tab to access Coach Assist.
Steve
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Rick, Solar panels do degrade, about 1% per year, so yours might be down to 75 or 80% of original output by now. One thing, say you have a 100 watt panel, it will produce about 5 amps of charge current for about 5 hours per day in full sun, no clouds or shading by trees. So that is really only a 1 amp trickle charger, if you take the 25 amps output over a whole day. One other rule of thumb is that you will see about 75% of panel output at your batteries in real time; this accounts for all losses, from high ambient temp, occasional high clouds or smog, wire size, etc. So your 20+ year old panels will make about 75% x 75% or for a 100 w panel that equates to about 56 watts accounting for all losses. So the long and short of it is solar panels are great but don't expect them to keep your batteries charged.