Quote:
Originally Posted by Low_Bridge
2001 35U 8.1 Adventurer Workhorse
My solar panel to my knowledge has never been replaced so It's likely original.
Discussing with my wife we don't ever recall the "solar charging when lit" to be have ever been on~
So those who have replaced or upgraded & diagnosed this, your help would be appreciated.
Question? :
What do I have to keep in mind when replacing / upgrading the solar panel to be compatable with the rest of the system?
What is the simplest test to qualify my panel is bad or good!
Thanks Gang!!
I'm sure there's been alot of advances in solar panels in the last 20+ years
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Well first. Those early solar panels weren't much. I have what I believe is the same setup on my 2006 Winnebago.
I've been through my manuals and wiring diagrams to try and figure out exactly what it does and how it works.
That panel on mine is about 18" x 24" in 2001 was probably a $500 panel in 2006 and put out on a good day 25-50 watts. Looking through my wiring diagrams it does not appear there is any type of external charge controller at all. Just some wiring that comes down to that panel and a small circuit board of some type. It appears its purpose was to produce a small trickle charge to keep the chassis batteries up to voltage. The max voltage output according to the diagram is 13.5 volts and it looks like it is just wired to the chassis batteries with some diodes to keep from reverse current flow. So really. You have nothing.
Mine does work. I've not tried to trace the wires physically to see where they are all connected but have read the schematic. The only diagnosis I did was to take the indicator panel out. There are two wires that go to that red LED light that is an indicator. With a VOM I measured the volts going into the light and got readings of 11.5v to 13.7 depending on the sunlight.
As far as upgrading. Ignore it. If you want to replace the existing panel you can take it off the roof and cut the wires. Tape them up. Your LED indicator will do nothing for a new panel.
If you just want 100-watt panel or something like that to keep the chassis batteries up for storage you'll need a new panel, a small charge controller, and decide where you want to wire it to. You may be able to figure out where the wires go with a couple of guys using VOMs but the wires are really small and I'm not sure I would trust any of it to be wired for a modern configuration. Consider it like you are starting from scratch.
I helped a guy replace one. Not sure if his old panel was doing anything or not. We put a 200-watt panel in the same location as the factory panel. Ran a new wire. (I think 10guage) down to his battery compartment and put a Victron charge controller in the compartment.
I'll make it simple. Wire size is based on current (ie:amps). Not watts or volts. So you can run 200 watts at 50 volts on a lot smaller wire than you can run 200 watts at 12 volts. So you want to decide how many watts you want, what the panel output voltage is and then base your wire size on volts and watts. use Ohms law to determine current (amps). Get the charge controller as close to the batteries as you can because going from 50v to 12v to carry 200 watts you will need a bigger wire. So having the charge controller at or near the batteries keeps the heavy gauge wire short.
There are all kinds of charts on the internet to convert volts/watts/amps so you can determine the wire size.
Clear as mud? I do complete off-grid setups but the idea of trying to go back to a 23 year old panel, control, and wire just doesn't seem feasible.
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