miatared
Toronto
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Joined: 08/18/2009
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I am thinking of installing a small solar panel (6W or is this too little?) along with a controller - to trickle charge the battery on my TT. I have seen some posts of elaborate and expensive (relatively speaking) plans.
How about a simple one, and how would I wire it to the existing installation ?
Thanks.
Denis
* This post was
edited 11/19/09 05:33am by miatared *
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nny12972
NY
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Joined: 10/25/2006
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So long as you don't go over about 50W, you won't need a controller...wire pos. and neg. directly to the battery, or to the pos. and neg. somewhere betweeen the towing cord and the 12V fusebox bus bar....the closer to the battery, the better!
J
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sonicsix
Jerry n' Cynthia
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When using a small solar panel to keep a float charge on a battery (without using a charge controller), choose a panel that will give a maximum output of about 1/300th to 1/1000th of the AmpHour capacity. For a pair of golf cart batteries, that would be about a 1 to 5 watt panel - the smaller panel if you get 5 or more hours of sun per day, the larger one for those long cloudy winter days in the Northeast.
Taken from http://rvroadtrip.us/library/12v_system.asp.
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smkettner
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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5w per battery minimum. Must be fully charged and disconnected from any load. No controller needed for 6w. More than 10w per battery you may need a controller.
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
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fredandkathy
Johnstown, PA
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I have been using a 5w for several years and it works well for me. It is from Harbor Freight and there is no controller involved.
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Chuck&Gail
In the Colorado Mountains
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Joined: 06/16/2004
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5W will work fine IF there are no parasitic loads like propane or smoke detector. I pull one fuse when stored to eliminate all parasitics. You need to use an ammeter to verify parasitic drain.
Chuck
Wonderful Wife
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2003 Wanderer 187TB Toybox, 3620# UVW, 4800# loaded
Not yet camped in Hawaii, 2 Canada Provinces, & 2 Territories
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vanman250
Indiana
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Joined: 01/21/2004
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I also have used the one from Harbor freight. It's inexpensive and works great.
vanman250
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