Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 08-21-2007, 07:41 AM   #1
Winnebago Owner
 
CC38EL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: McCordsville
Posts: 216
For all of us who have the 15 watt solar charger, have any of you found a charge controller with that device?

Is a charge controller built in? Is the charged wired directly to the batteries without a charge controller?

If there is one in the system, where would it be for an Ultimate Advantage?

TIA.
__________________
Jim

2017 Cedar Creek 38EL/2015 Silverado 3500HD
CC38EL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2007, 07:41 AM   #2
Winnebago Owner
 
CC38EL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: McCordsville
Posts: 216
For all of us who have the 15 watt solar charger, have any of you found a charge controller with that device?

Is a charge controller built in? Is the charged wired directly to the batteries without a charge controller?

If there is one in the system, where would it be for an Ultimate Advantage?

TIA.
__________________
Jim

2017 Cedar Creek 38EL/2015 Silverado 3500HD
CC38EL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2007, 07:58 AM   #3
Winnebago Camper
 
Rocky Larson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 22
Here is a link that mentions smaller (15watt) panels don't usually have a controller.

http://www.campingworld.com/tLibrary...t.cfm?ID=39061

I don't know the wattage cutoff for a controller requirement but I am pretty sure you will find yours is well below it. Good Luck
__________________
04 Allegro 30DA, WH 8.1, Banks, 03 Honda CRV/2012 Jeep Liberty Jet, Brake Buddy Adv Select, 300watts Solar, 7 Group 31 Optima AGMs, 2000watt PSW inverter
"Philippians 4:11-13 KJV"
Rocky Larson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2007, 10:55 AM   #4
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 729
I have a solar charger, and my light (on the control panel wall) would blink during bright sunlight, and Winnebago replaced my "controler" under warrantee. I was thinking that it was under the wall near the status light....not sure though. I do know there is a controler though...
FrontRangeRVer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2007, 05:12 AM   #5
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Colorado
Posts: 222
Since I just fixed mine I can lend some help. I had an issue that after my first outing where my LED was showing a charge during daylight hours I stored and covered the MH. When I found my batteries going down during a visit to the storage yard, I decided to cut a hole in the cover to expose the Solar Panel. The light would not come on so I thought I had a problem with the Panel/Controller. This week I brought the MH home to prepare for a 2 week jaunt to the Black Hills and decided to look into the Solar problem.
I was told by a member on this forum that there is a board behind the "One Place" so I dropped the panel. What I found was a small board with a connector for the Solar In and Solar Out, 3 diodes/rectifiers and an LED. This is the Controller Board (about 1" square). I have a good friend who is a EE and drew a schematic of the board. Very simple operation. I disconnected the connector from the board and measured across the SI (Solar In). You should see ~20V (Solar Panel). Then measure across SO (Solar Out) and you should see ~13.5V (battery). Now the hard part, we rehooked up the connector and saw the power increase at SO to ~16V. This meant that the board was working and my issue was the LED. Went to Radio Shack, bought 2 packs of LEDs at $1.25 per pack. Took off the bad LED and soldered on the new one and wala, good to go. Reassembled everything and we are ready to go.
Hope this helps -- Frank
__________________
2006 Itasca Sunrise 35A
Niwot, Colorado
FrankO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2007, 05:19 AM   #6
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 729
Good post Frank!

I think my problem was the led also, and Winnie just replaced the whole 1" board.....problem solved also!
FrontRangeRVer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2007, 05:23 AM   #7
Winnebago Owner
 
CC38EL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: McCordsville
Posts: 216
Thanks to all for the replies. Based on what I've learned and Franks recent experience, there is some controlling going on.

Now the next question is: What is the rating of this controller board? How do we find out how much it can handle?

I'm thinking of upgrading the stock panel to a 50W or higher. It would be nice if the controlling board could handle the increase.
__________________
Jim

2017 Cedar Creek 38EL/2015 Silverado 3500HD
CC38EL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2007, 07:28 AM   #8
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Colorado
Posts: 222
ua40j:
I spoke to my buddy about upgrading the Solar Panel and using the "One Place" SP Controller and this is what he said. The board that is in the circuit behind the OP panel is simply there to prevent the current from going from the batteries to the SP. If you wanted to use the same board with more wattage one would have to modify/increase the diode size to take the heat of the increased wattage. He would make a small board that would contain three diodes but larger on heat sinks to dissipate the heat and run two leads from the original board with the diodes removed to the new board.This additional board could be mounted behind the OP, is not costly and easy to do.
Hope this helps -- Frank
__________________
2006 Itasca Sunrise 35A
Niwot, Colorado
FrankO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 02:17 AM   #9
Winnebago Owner
 
CC38EL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: McCordsville
Posts: 216
Frank..thanks for the suggestion and the offer. I'm waffling between upgrading the board and just buying a featured controller.

About the wiring....do you (or your EE friend) think the wires from the current solar panel could handle the increase in amps from a larger, say 100 watt panel (increase of 6amps)? Or do you think you'd need to upgrade the wiring?
__________________
Jim

2017 Cedar Creek 38EL/2015 Silverado 3500HD
CC38EL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 02:57 AM   #10
Winnebago Master
 
John_Canfield's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Back at the ranch
Posts: 2,041
A small panel (10-15 watts) puts out such little current that it can be safely connected directly to a couple of batteries with little danger of overcharging. The current is probably just enough to overcome the self-discharge rate of two batteries. Like somebody mentioned, there is usually a diode in series with the positive leg to prevent the solar panel from discharging the batteries. The problem with diodes is there is a 1.2 volt voltage drop across silicon diodes which is substantial in low voltage & low current situations. Schottky diodes are preferred with only a 0.6 V voltage drop.

On my coach, I think I could easily upgrade the existing 15 (or is it 10 watts) watt panel to 50 watts with little worry about the existing wiring. No way would I try 100 watts without upgrading the wiring.

In either case, I would buy a solar charge controller (inexpensive) to replace the original board.
__________________
--John

2005 Horizon 40AD, 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
John_Canfield is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 05:28 AM   #11
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Colorado
Posts: 222
John,
When I was fixing my board I found the diodes were very warm to the touch. If one was to replace the std diodes on the board to the Schottky Diodes would the board still work correctly as it lowers the current from ~20.xV to ~16.xV for charging the battery and providing about 1.5V to the LED.
The diodes seem to be the weak link in the board IMHO.
Frank
__________________
2006 Itasca Sunrise 35A
Niwot, Colorado
FrankO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 07:59 AM   #12
Winnebago Master
 
John_Canfield's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Back at the ranch
Posts: 2,041
Frank - Having a diode a little warm to the touch wouldn't be a cause for alarm, but if you can't hold it comfortably for a couple of minutes, you might want to move up in the diode's current rating.

In looking around, I think a 1N5401 silicon diode would work well. It is rated for 100 volts and 3 amps maximum current and is very common and inexpensive.

If you can find it, a suitable Schottky diode would be a 1N5822 (data sheet) which is rated for 3 amps at 40 volts. I don't think there would be any problems caused by using the Schottky.

(I assume you are using the standard Winnie solar panel.)
__________________
--John

2005 Horizon 40AD, 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
John_Canfield is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 01:48 PM   #13
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Colorado
Posts: 222
John,
Thanks for the info. I can't understand why the LED would go out after only being in use less than one year. LEDs typically last forever so I thought the board may have some how got a spike or maybe the LED was defective. I am using the std board that comes with the MH.I was just curious on how to protect against a future happening.
Thanks -- Frank
__________________
2006 Itasca Sunrise 35A
Niwot, Colorado
FrankO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 03:34 PM   #14
Winnebago Master
 
John_Canfield's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Back at the ranch
Posts: 2,041
I don't remember LEDs being particularly picky about their operating environment but they will burn out from too much voltage which I have personally demonstrated. You could have had a defective LED. I wouldn't loose sleep over this case.
__________________
--John

2005 Horizon 40AD, 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
John_Canfield is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 05:00 PM   #15
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 13
The three diodes are wired in series. Each has a voltage drop of .6 volts. Thats a total of 1.8 volts. The LED take a minimun of 1.5 volts for it to light and it is wired around the diodes. So if the Solar IN is 1.8 volts or more above the batteries the LED will light.
__________________
Tom & Sue

2007 Sunrise 35L
TB-ONE is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2007, 07:12 PM   #16
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Colorado
Posts: 222
I had a case where my batteries were close to dead when I covered to MH which is what started this whole issue. Is it possible that the Solar Cell was putting out say 20.xV and the battery was in the 9 to 10V range. Could that have burnt out the LED given what Tom/Sue said?
Thanks again for your input.
Frank
BTW John, I will not loose sleep over this issue, just my curiosity in full bloom. I like to understand all the ins and outs of the MH Systems for future troubleshooting.
__________________
2006 Itasca Sunrise 35A
Niwot, Colorado
FrankO is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Charge Controller Location jerboy Electrical | Charging, Solar and Electronics 7 10-16-2015 09:23 AM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Winnebago Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.