10 watt solar charger, where dost thou connect?

[reilersjr]

Hi All,

On the 2001 Winnebago Journey I have a 10 Watt solar cell on the roof which somehow trickle charges the house batteries. I've followed the wiring diagrams but can't seem to figure out where the solar panel actually connects to a charging circuit...

Thanks in advance,
Rick

[rgvtexan]

Your wiring digrams are here

Wiring Diagrams

[cbeierl]

There isn't any charge controller or anything like that as would be needed for a larger solar panel. Looking at the Body, 12 Volt Wiring Diagram for your coach wires 'HS' and 'HT' come from the solar panel to pins 7 and 8 of a connector over the wardrobe. From there they go to pins 6 and 7 of a connector below the galley cabinet. From there they connect to the charging indicator light in the OnePlace panel. That's all I see on that diagram.

However, I suspect that it ties into the 12v system at the OnePlace panel. Here's a picture of the portion of the circuit board for the solar charging light:


The Holding Tank Monitor Panel diagram shows 4 wires which appears to match the picture above.

[reilersjr]

Thanks Chris. That's exactly what I had traced as well. Somehow, I completely overlooked the panel drawing! However, now with further testing, I'm only getting 1.6v across the LED. SOUT to ground is 12.5v and the SIN to ground is 16.9v. I shorted SOUT to ground and voila! the LED lit up. Yesterday was 100% full sun and no LED... Just trying to figure out what I'm missing here.

Thanks again!
Rick

[Wizard]

Actual LED should not have 12 volts across its terminals, there will be a dropping resister somewhere in the line feeding it. Trying to think back to my old ET days and I think 1.6 volts is about right.

[reilersjr]

My setup is almost the same as what Chris posted in the picture with the exception of the resistor... There are the 3 diodes and that is all. with 1.6v applied to the LED, it does not light. With ~12v applied to the legs of the LED, it lights proper.

I wish there were a schematic showing where the solar-in and solar-out lines trace to...

[cbeierl]

I doubt that that circuit board is multi-layer, so it should be possible to trace the circuit on the board by inspection of both sides of the board. I know that this circuit is confined to that corner of the board. Since Winnebago labels each wire you should be able to get the labels off the other two wires (other than HS and HT) on that connector. Given those we should be able to determine where they go.