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Rodger A · 05-31-2015, 06:36 PM

Just purchased a 2012 Allegro bus. Went thru the walkthru @ Lazy Days. Left Florida glass eyed and completely stuffed with info on the coach.
Anyhow, got home and decided because I had no electrical power where coach is stored , to cut off house batteries and chassis batteries using the appropriate switches. Found that the residential refrigerator and microwave still had power, so shut the individual 110 Volt breakers. That shut things down. The coach has a solar panel . Have found no information on solar panel in the various owner manuals. Would the solar panel supply power thru the inverter to power those 110 Volt appliances? Should I worry about this? Is this the proper procedure for shutting down the coach for extended or brief periods? Should I cover solar panels to stop electrical generation?
Thanks,

Skip426 · 06-01-2015, 12:12 AM

Welcome to iRV2.

There may have been modifications done to the coach by a previous owner, so the manuals you have may not cover everything.
How large is the solar panel ? 2'X3' ?, more than one ?
Some small panels around a foot square, operate without a charge rate controller , larger unit require the controller to protect the batteries from over charging. If you can post a size of the panel and any name you find maybe we can track down an owners manual for you.

RV solar panels produce 12 volt power to charge the batteries , and the inverter uses battery power to produce 110volt power. But unless you have a very large battery bank there won't be power produced for long.
If the residential fridge was added by the PO, then there may have been a dedicated inverter added too.

Rodger A · 06-01-2015, 06:58 PM

The solar panels and residential refer are all original options . The solar panel is a 125 watt panel.I misspoke, I really don't need the owners manual for the solar panel but more info about how it ties in with the coach electrical system. Do the panels charge both coach and house batteries? If the batteries are disconnected from the electrical system do they still get charged via the solar ?I'm trying to get in touch with Tiffin but so far no luck. They should be able to straighten me out.
Thanks

BobGed · 06-01-2015, 08:27 PM

While there are many knowledgeable members on this forum, Tiffin has a reputation of doing things much different than the industry norm, and sometimes different even on their own coaches.

My suggestion, if you're not already a member, is to register on the Tiffin RV Network (no affiliation with Tiffin Motorhomes) TiffinRVNetwork and pose your question on their forum.

travelmonkey · 06-02-2015, 01:50 PM

Since you are in a bus....I am assuming your fridge is a residential fridge.

If it had power while not plugged up....the logical conclusion is it has an inverter supplying power off the batteries.

Solar panels typically charge batteries and power is supplied from batteries.

If you turned off the 12v House Battery switch...that in theory should kill the power to anything operating off 12 volts except for those items tied to the chassis/engine batteries. I.e. slides, jacks, etc.

It sounds like the inverters are tied directly to the batteries...bypassing the 12 volt disconnect switch. Not sure why that would be a factory setup...but I have never owned a diesel motorhome. The same would apply to the microwave....it must be on the inverter too.

Well...there is always the possibility the relay the 12 volt disconnect switch is tied is bad. Is the fridge and microwave the only thing with power? If so, then the relay is fine but if your lights are coming on still along with other 12 volt items....I would check out the relay.

The solar panel should be wired directly to the battery and would....or should....be isolated from all appliances when the 12 volt house battery disconnect switch is off.

You shouldn't have to cover panels....it defeats their purpose.

I would find the Tiffin manual...can download from their website under the owners club tab....should have the normal procedure in the manual for shutting coach down. And if that procedure doesn't shut everything off...then someone likely made a modification.