Question about solar panel on a journey

[pine tree]

Does anyone know what the 12" x 24" solar panel on the roof of our 2001 Journey supplies power to? So far all I know for sure is that the SP lghts the little red LED on the control board. Little light is off at night and on during the day.

I supect the SP is set up to keep the chasis bateries charged when the rig is in storage. If this is true, can the SP keep up with the natural parasitic drain on the chasis batteries when the house batteries are shut off at the dash board? Is there anyway to test if the SP is working?

Need some help here

Pine Tree

[brownmotor]

the solar panel goes to a regulator then on to the batteries you could disconnect the input to the regulator and use a volt meter set on dc volts to read any output from panel

[John Hilley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brownmotor the solar panel goes to a regulator then on to the batteries you could disconnect the input to the regulator and use a volt meter set on dc volts to read any output from panel

It really only goes through a diode to keep the panel from discharging the battery when dark. It probably won't keep up with the parasitic drain.

[Grimesy]

I agree it boils down to pretty useless when you consider the resistance between the panel and the battery etc. I also think it only charges the house batteries. Prior to putting a trickle charger on the chassis battery they would go dead in about a week.

Don WIT 70041

[SCVJeff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Hilley It really only goes through a diode to keep the panel from discharging the battery when dark. It probably won't keep up with the parasitic drain.

Thats true, it doesn't. Took about 3 weeks for my batteries to die even with the solar "charger" working. Made that problem go away with an additional 400W next to it.

[RCtime]

You know, I hear this little solar panel we have is useless and wont do the job etc. But, somehow, mine works.
IF,I store it with fully charged batteries and completly disconnect the house batteries via the disconnect switch on the dash it WILL maintain my batteries.
During the winter months I do supplement it with an additional 10W portable solar connected to the house batteries if flop up on the roof.
It sits between trips and is ready to go when needed. It has been about 3 week now since our last outing, next week we are gone again. I checked the batteries yesterday, they flashed at 13.4 and fell immediatly to 12.7, chassis at 12.6

[RCtime]

Pine tree

Here is an item you should considerUltra TRIK-L-START Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer
It is called a TrikLstart
It came standard on later model Winnies. I installed one on mine and thats why I am also able to maintain my chassis batteries.
The wiring diagram it shows for Winnies, you must have your ON/OFF disconnect switch on, however a simple wire change on the battery isolator solonoid and it will work with your switch OFF.
This is a must if you do not have supplemental 110 AC available when in storage.
You also must have sunshine, In the winter during prolonged periods of bad weather I have watched TV for a couple hours while running the genny and I do just fine with the set up I mentioned inn my previous post.
Most of the complaints are about maintaining chassis batteries, not the house batteries.

[SCVJeff]

I should have qualified that. I kill the coach, but not the chassis. My concern was the Allison forgetting how I drive and having to have it learn everytime I drive it again. I've had this happen on my Exploder and it's a totally different machine until it re- learns