Wiring ac mounted solar panel

[Groovecutter]

2004 Fleetwood 32vs Southwind , need help with the AC mounted Solar panel that feeds the red light in the motorhome, that reads LIGHT IS ONLY ON WHEN BATTERIES ARE ACCEPTING A CHARGE !
It’s worked for years and just quit!
I’ve taken the red light out to find out it was bad ! But there was some issues with the wiring , found one black wire that was cut and the ends were tinned from factory but were not connected to anything they had shrink tubing on them but the tubing was not shrunk , I’m wondering if there was supposed to be a resistor or diode on it to connect them together or loose like they are?
A picture or wiring diagram would be great and of course a good explanation!
Thanks, Groovecutter

[Jim_HiTek]

If it's that small 8W or 10W A/C mounted solar panel, those are virtually worthless. The 10 W only puts out 0.7 amps. Far too low to be much help with RVs now days (including back to my '94). They're nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

So, what wattage is your solar panel? If it's under 100 Watts (some newer models offer that size panel but I've not seen any offered with lower wattage other than the 8W & 10W) then I'd say don't bother to fix it. Before I knew how worthless they were for a Class A I had the same problem. The LED burnt out...I replaced that and than a few weeks later the controller died. I found generic 10 W solar panel controllers at eBay and the one I bought came with a sufficient wiring diagram so that I was able to reason it out and get it installed. Now of course I wouldn't bother. My '02 Winnebago came with the 10 Watt solar panel with the controller on the backside of the power panel where the LED is inside the RV. But it just doesn't put out enough amperage to come close to what the vampire draws on the batteries use.

I'll check my drawings and see if I can find something about the wiring. They are fairly standard.

[Groovecutter]

Thanks Jim ,
Mine is :
5.1 watts @ 17.5v 290Ma
Thanks ,
Groovecutter

[Jim_HiTek]

I didn't know they put that small of a solar panel on RVs. Wow. That's 0.29 amps. Worthless. Given the year of your RV, I'm wondering if you wanting to get the solar charger working is related to the chassis batteries dying on you after 3-5 days of being on shore power? If that's the case, you may have one of the millions of RVs that don't have a auxiliary charging system for the chassis batts when parked (other than that wimpy solar panel)?

For that situation, you would be better off either adding a new 100 Watt solar system (heavier wiring, plus a solar controller designed for 100 Watts) OR you can add a Trik-L-Start device which takes some of the charging current provided by the converter (which is a 120 Vac to 14 Vdc charger and keeps your house batteries charged up) going to the house batts to keep the chassis batts topped off when on shore power.

What I did with my '94 Fleetwood was to add a common float charger from Walmart ($25) plugged into an outlet in the basement compartment next to the batteries (the outlet for the engine heater was handy for that), drilled a hole between the compartments and wired it directly to the chassis batts. Whenever I'd park and plug into shore power, that would keep the chassis batteries charged.

In this '02 Winnebago I didn't have a handy outlet nearby so I went with the Trik-L-Start device. They also make an Amp-L-Start which has a higher current rating. My 2X 12 volt chassis batts only needed the lower amperage of the Trik-L-Start.

Here's a link to a set of drawings for the Trik-L-Start.

If you're thinking of going full solar, that is doable, but will take some planning and new equipment & wiring replacing the existing panel.

WELL...darnit, seems like they don't make the Trik-L-Start any more. Can't find a supplier. That's too bad as it was handy. Here's a link to another thread where there are subs listed: Trik-L-Start thread...

[dano1955]

I just saw this thread. I have 2016 Exposition 40x with Freightliner chasiss and had noticed that little solar panel on the front AC unit when I purchased it. Asked the seller about it he had no idea. Haven't seen anything about it in the docs, I've pretty much ignored it. Now I know it could fail and cause an issue, so where would I go to find out about it?

[Jim_HiTek]

Originally Posted by dano1955

I just saw this thread. I have 2016 Exposition 40x with Freightliner chasiss and had noticed that little solar panel on the front AC unit when I purchased it. Asked the seller about it he had no idea. Haven't seen anything about it in the docs, I've pretty much ignored it. Now I know it could fail and cause an issue, so where would I go to find out about it?

About the only issue it could cause is it won't send any charge to the chassis batts, I suppose they could short internally and cause a draw on the chassis batts but that's doubtful. But they are so wimpy for charging that just disconnecting the outgoing wires and wire nutting them is the only precaution you need take as you wouldn't be losing much by disconnecting it even if it's working.

[Groovecutter]

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

I didn't know they put that small of a solar panel on RVs. Wow. That's 0.29 amps. Worthless. Given the year of your RV, I'm wondering if you wanting to get the solar charger working is related to the chassis batteries dying on you after 3-5 days of being on shore power? If that's the case, you may have one of the millions of RVs that don't have a auxiliary charging system for the chassis batts when parked (other than that wimpy solar panel)?

For that situation, you would be better off either adding a new 100 Watt solar system (heavier wiring, plus a solar controller designed for 100 Watts) OR you can add a Trik-L-Start device which takes some of the charging current provided by the converter (which is a 120 Vac to 14 Vdc charger and keeps your house batteries charged up) going to the house batts to keep the chassis batts topped off when on shore power.

What I did with my '94 Fleetwood was to add a common float charger from Walmart ($25) plugged into an outlet in the basement compartment next to the batteries (the outlet for the engine heater was handy for that), drilled a hole between the compartments and wired it directly to the chassis batts. Whenever I'd park and plug into shore power, that would keep the chassis batteries charged.

In this '02 Winnebago I didn't have a handy outlet nearby so I went with the Trik-L-Start device. They also make an Amp-L-Start which has a higher current rating. My 2X 12 volt chassis batts only needed the lower amperage of the Trik-L-Start.

Here's a link to a set of drawings for the Trik-L-Start.

If you're thinking of going full solar, that is doable, but will take some planning and new equipment & wiring replacing the existing panel.

WELL...darnit, seems like they don't make the Trik-L-Start any more. Can't find a supplier. That's too bad as it was handy. Here's a link to another thread where there are subs listed: Trik-L-Start thread...

Thanks Jim_HiTek
I just hate having something that doesn’t work !
Thanks for all your help !
Groovecutter