soler panels for battery charging

[tommy0121]

i have a autotrail motorhome, two leisure batteries each of 85 amp. then the main battery of some 120 amp, in total some 290 amps.

can any one advice me the ideal soler panel to place in the front window when i leave the van in storage? in the past i have disconnected the main and taken out the fuses on the leisure, however i dont like to leave this for longer than a month or two months.

i have been told that a 4 amp panel would be adequate, i would be happy to put a 4 amp connected to the main by crocodile clips, and another directly into the cigarrette lighter. this would give me a total of 8 amps.

i was told-by the shop-- that a 4amp panel will take 500 hours to charge one 85 amp battery? by my reckoning that is 10 days.

the batteries will be left fully charged, i just need a adequate trickle charge solar panel -or two-- to keep them charged. can you guys advice me? any comments or advice will be appreciated, my knowledge is zilch. cheers tom.

 

[rickboy]

Is it live?

Check to see if your cigarette lighter socket is live with the ignition off.Most are not.
I have a small solar panel but don't rate them £ for amp.I would remove any batteries that you can and look after them at home with a proper charging regime.
You can use one with an inverter if you have it to power a mains charger for the starter battery which is usually more difficult to remove.Don,t try to put too many (4/5 amps should be o.k.) amps into the starter battery when it is connected to the alternator or it is possible to damage the diodes(expensive mistake).People will tell you "Oh I put 15amps in and never had a probem" They were lucky you may not be.Check out alternator prices !!
Good luck

 

[tommy0121]

Check to see if your cigarette lighter socket is live with the ignition off.Most are not.
I have a small solar panel but don't rate them £ for amp.I would remove any batteries that you can and look after them at home with a proper charging regime.
You can use one with an inverter if you have it to power a mains charger for the starter battery which is usually more difficult to remove.Don,t try to put too many (4/5 amps should be o.k.) amps into the starter battery when it is connected to the alternator or it is possible to damage the diodes(expensive mistake).People will tell you "Oh I put 15amps in and never had a probem" They were lucky you may not be.Check out alternator prices !!
Good luck

hi rickboy, the main cigarrette lighter to front is dead when ign is of, as you say, the lighter socket in the cabin is live, that would be fed of the leisure battery i presume? that is why i thought a 4 amp direct to main battery via croc clips, then plugging another 4 amp into the cabin socket. im not quite with you on the reason for the inverter, are you saying to charge the main battery via the inverter? its a lot of hassle to take the two leisure batteries out, as i stated, the batteries will be left fully charged from say site use, i just need the simplist way to keep them topped up. will the trickle charge from two four amps be adequate?. cheers tom.

 

[maingate]

You will need a minimum of an 8 watt solar charger in my experience for each battery setup.

I use one for my engine battery. It does the job quickly at this time of year but remember that it will not do so well in winter.

If your cigar lighter is not live, it is an easy fix to make it permanently live. I did this with mine. You need to find the right fuse and fit an inline fuseholder, connect one end to a permanent live and the other end to the bottom side of the correct fuse position.

For your leisure batteries, disconnect them and fit an 8 watt (minimum) solar panel with crocodile clips.

If your panel leads are long enough, you could put them on the roof and feed the wiring in through a rooflight. I do this for my engine battery but there again, mine is parked on my drive.

 

[rickboy]

Inverter/charger

hi rickboy, the main cigarrette lighter to front is dead when ign is of, as you say, the lighter socket in the cabin is live, that would be fed of the leisure battery i presume? that is why i thought a 4 amp direct to main battery via croc clips, then plugging another 4 amp into the cabin socket. im not quite with you on the reason for the inverter, are you saying to charge the main battery via the inverter? its a lot of hassle to take the two leisure batteries out, as i stated, the batteries will be left fully charged from say site use, i just need the simplist way to keep them topped up. will the trickle charge from two four amps be adequate?. cheers tom.

Hi Tommy.The inverter is for use if you had no mains power available.
If You have mains power use an intelligent charger.
Maplins N73AU will split the charge to each battery as required.
I would fix a fly lead to each battery,with decent guage cable.