trouble with solar February 13, 2008, 03:56:21 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89407I had two new house batteries installed and was told they were fully charged. When I went in the LD a week later they were not charged. I ran the generator for an hour and charged them up and they stayed charged for 10 days. I have a solar panel and I figure that even if there was a drain on the batteries the panel should have maintained them. After all I am in Florida! I took it into a repair place and they told me that the panel is actually draining the batteries though it is producing electricity. The LD did get covered in snow before I got it here. I wonder what is going on. The repair shop does not deal with solar panels so I don't want them to learn on my dime! Any ideas? Please remember I am not mechanically inclined, I just need to know what to tell the techinician when I take it into another repair shop. Any ideas where I can take it? Judy in Florida
Re: trouble with solar Reply #1 – February 13, 2008, 05:17:27 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89410"I had two new house batteries installed and was told they were fully charged."But they may not have been."I ran the generator for an hour and charged them up..."The converters in most LDs--especially those built before 2002--put very little juice into the batteries. If the batteries were really run down, an hour of generator operation would probably not be enough to bring them to full charge. "I have a solar panel and I figure that even if there was a drain on the batteries the panel should have maintained them."If as the power drains inside the rig don't exceed the power coming from your panel, that's true. But that's a big "if." How many watts is the panel? Is it clean? Not shaded by trees? Have you checked to make sure that there were no lights or appliances left on in the rig?"I took it into a repair place and they told me that the panel is actually draining the batteries though it is producing electricity." They're mistaken. All solar panels have "blocking diodes" to prevent that from happening. "The repair shop does not deal with solar panels so I don't want them to learn on my dime!" Good idea, especially since they are so obviously clueless about the fundamentals!Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
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