Between April and August, we have a few 12V remote systems set up with solar panels. One powers lights and things in a caravan, there's two batteries and solar panels for two electric fences, and a final battery for running some other remote electrical monitoring devices. They're all set apart so can't all be run off one system, and we just use PWM charge controllers.
We usually just buy cheap 12V leisure batteries; we currently have two 70Ah, a 120Ah and a small 7Ah. The solar panels we have are a mixed bag too - 50W, 100W and two 110W.
Usually at least one of the batteries is dead by the time summer comes round again, so I was wondering about rigging up a system so the panels keep the batteries charged over winter, and stretch out their life a bit longer. How would I do this? Do I need to connect a single panel to each battery, or can I connect them in all to one through a single charge controller? should they be in series or parallel? Is it pointless anyway as lead-acid batteries are going to die after a couple of years no matter what I do?
We usually just buy cheap 12V leisure batteries; we currently have two 70Ah, a 120Ah and a small 7Ah. The solar panels we have are a mixed bag too - 50W, 100W and two 110W.
Usually at least one of the batteries is dead by the time summer comes round again, so I was wondering about rigging up a system so the panels keep the batteries charged over winter, and stretch out their life a bit longer. How would I do this? Do I need to connect a single panel to each battery, or can I connect them in all to one through a single charge controller? should they be in series or parallel? Is it pointless anyway as lead-acid batteries are going to die after a couple of years no matter what I do?