Solar panels or not? Reply #25 – February 14, 2001, 07:17:10 am Yahoo Message Number: 2013Steve,I thought there was some kind of doohicky that only let one charging source at the batteries at a time. For example, the alternator source would supercede any trickle coming from the solar panel. Is that not so?? Thanks for your valuable insights..Ron
Solar panels or not? Reply #26 – February 14, 2001, 08:46:09 am Yahoo Message Number: 2014Ron, the solar panels charge through a charge controller, which by default has a diode at its output. The diode acts as a one-way switch - as do the diodes on your battery isolator attached to the alternator output - so no further switching is required between it and the battery. The same is essentially true with your converter. You could have the engne idling while the shorepower is plugged in and the sun is beating on your solar panels, and your batteries will be charging from the sum of the currents.Now, once your battery voltage rises above about 13.5V, the converter will stop contributing, and when the voltage rises to about 14.3V, the solar charging will switch off. The alternator charging will be reduced to a trickle. There are some variations in this depending on actual equipment, but this is the common scenario.Steve
Topic: Solar panels or not? (Read 15 times)
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Topic: Solar panels or not? (Read 15 times)
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