Mounting 100 Watt Renogy Panel

[Larryw54]

Will,
Love watching your Vids.
I will be mounting a 100 Watt Renogy Panel to the top of my 28A Majestic (CA) in order to keep my Engine AND House battery charged while in storage.
Using your video as a guide, I am thinking to run the wires down the front, using Wire Channels/Guides to the bottom, where I can from there put my (Dual Battery controller - EPEVER EPIPDB-COM Series Dual Battery Solar Charge Controller 20A),
Are there any idea's/drawbacks to using this method?

Also - Because of storage both battery tends to discharge to the point where I must jump the battery to start the engine, and jump the house battery to get the generator going as well, unless I drive around for a while and charge both up. The question I have, is have the two wet cells discharge doing damage? Will I have end up having to buy new ones? I assume maintaining the batteries using the Solar charger will be a big plus??

Thanks

Larry W

 

[Bluedog225]

Seems pretty complex. A fresh, strong starter battery would be the best start. Then a separate, simple, small battery maintainer solar panel on the starter battery may be the best way to go. That way you are mobile and can have the engine running. From there, more things are possible for starting the genny And charging the house battery.

 

[Browneye]

While I'm no expert at this I do have some experience with 12v RV and marine systems. I have a 6w maintainer panel on my RV that keeps the starter battery topped off. I just replaced the starting battery, the previous one was 5 years old, resting charge was down somewhat - 12.25V - so I tried equalizing it and it wouldn't hold a charge so I replaced it.

I added a 'suitcase' solar panel setup a couple of years back for the house batteries, and have since upgraded it with a better charge controller and connected it closer to them. Just added more panels on the roof with another charge controller to maintain the house batteries off grid. A lifepo4 upgrade is in the works.

I don't see why your proposed setup wouldn't work just fine, especially if both battery sets are flooded lead acid - as I assume you can only set the charge parameters for the charge controller to one battery type. If you go AGM or lifepo on the house then you would probably want separate systems - and in that case you would want a different charging setup for everything on the house side. So consider where you think you might want to go with it and then make your choice.

Splitting power off one panel should work fine for maintaining both house and starting. A 100w panel mounted flat on your roof should provide up to about 5Ah of power to keep them topped off. That should be plenty.

And yes, deeply discharging any lead acid battery ruins them - sulfates the plates and they really never come back. Even a rv/marine deep cycle, or any deepcycle lead acid battery should not be discharged below 50% at any frequency if at all. Now might be a good time to assess your needs and make some upgrades. A new starting battery for sure - they won't stand a deep discharge even once - just won't hold a charge after that. And the house, depending on how you use your camper, may get by with just replacing what you have - post back what you have there and if you're always plugged into shorepower when you're traveling or not, or how you use it. My guess is you have one or two 100A RV/marine deep cycle batteries for the house - they more than likely will need to be replaced as well. If you go to storage and find your batteries dead then they're gone for sure.

My Winnebago is 17 years old this year, about half of our camping is off-grid/boondocking, and our two golfcart 6v's in series has provided enough for us. I have replaced them twice in 17 years - the last set is 6 years old. We're never more than a couple of days between running the generator or plugging in, or driving, so they always got recharged enough to get by. A good 12V converter/charger unit is highly recommended, IOTA, Progressive Dynamics, or PowerMax is the solution here.

I just added a 600w inverter, so my quest for more power has brought more solar panels and charge controllers, and now likely a 200A lifepo4 pack is on the table. This should keep us going for the next ten years or so.

 

[HRTKD]

@Larryw54 , check the specs on your batteries. The charge current you'll get out of that 100 watt panel may not be enough to satisfy the required float charge. It might work, I would want to be sure by checking the specs.

I ran the cables from my solar panels into the RV by going through the refrigerator vent on the roof.

 

[Browneye]

@Larryw54 , check the specs on your batteries. The charge current you'll get out of that 100 watt panel may not be enough to satisfy the required float charge. It might work, I would want to be sure by checking the specs.

I ran the cables from my solar panels into the RV by going through the refrigerator vent on the roof.

I did too- worked out just grand. At the bottom of the fridge was a water catch plastic pan - drilled thru that, put in rubber grommets, and fed the PV wires through them into the electrical compartment of the coach. Easy-peasy.

A 100w panel should provide enough amps to top up a couple of batteries. Mine came with a 6w maintainer and hooked directly to the starting battery it fried it in about a year. Now it feeds through a BatteryTender controller and keeps it topped up. The last starting battery went 5 years for an interstate cheapo. Always started the chevy 8.1L no problem.