Community Forums

barney_g · 05-29-2013, 08:09 PM

Hi Everyone,

I have the factory solar panel and it doesn't seem to do much in keeping the house batteries charged. At least I presume that it is somehow connected to them since I have all the available wiring diagrams from Winnebago and cannot for the life of me find how this thing is wired up.

I'd like to remove it and connect at least a 100w panel with controller in it's place.

Does anyone know how this solar panel is connected. I know that it goes through the red LED on the "control panel" but that's about all I can figure out.

Thank you,
Barney

amanda_h · 05-29-2013, 09:13 PM

Many Winnebagos come with that standard factory 10w solar panel. We agree, ours doesn't really do much and I haven't really even thought about its function much or upgrading it.

Here's an old thread in the iRV2 Winnebago owners' forum started by a guy who did try to upgrade his and some cautionary advice he had that might help you out a bit as you wait on more responses on this:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f101/upgr...ing-52054.html

-harry

LandKinaMoho · 05-29-2013, 10:29 PM

The 10w is a chassis battery trickle charger.......

barney_g · 05-29-2013, 10:49 PM

Thanks for the replies. I guess there isn't any kind of controller, just diodes.

It would be nice to know where the wiring went.

amanda_h · 05-29-2013, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LandKinaMoho

The 10w is a chassis battery trickle charger.......

I believe on our Winnebagos (Itascas), it's to the house battery bank. That's what I always thought, anyway.

-harry

amanda_h · 05-30-2013, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barney_g

Thanks for the replies. I guess there isn't any kind of controller, just diodes.

It would be nice to know where the wiring went.

Here's a link to wiring book to the 1999 Suncruiser (34H) ...maybe you'll be able to garner some information there. I haven't looked through each PDF so I'm not sure if any of them will show the wiring to the solar panel or not.

1999 Adventurer/Suncruiser G34H Wiring Diagram Book

-harry

rumrunnerxx · 05-30-2013, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barney_g

Thanks for the replies. I guess there isn't any kind of controller, just diodes.

It would be nice to know where the wiring went.

With all loads turned off and no other external sources connected to the MH, measure the voltage across your battery bank and across the chassis battery while the sun is shining. Note the readings. The one that reads over 13 volts probably is the one the solar panel is connected to. After dark measure the voltage across them again and they should be more or less even around 12.5 volts. The one that the reading dropped on has to be the one being charged by your solar panel.