Winnebago Solar Battery Charger

[ceemike]

My 2004 Brave which I bought about three months ago has the optional factory installed 10 watt solar battery charger.  There is a red LED on the coach's monitor panel that is supposed to light up when it is charging.  Most of the time the light is out.  Sometimes the light blinks or flickers; sometimes it glows brightly, then it dims, then it glows, then it dims, etc.  Earlier this week on a bright sunny day the light was out.  Yesterday on a very overcast day the light was glowing brightly and continuously.  Today it was sunny and the light was out.  The coach batteries are not fully charged and the solar panel is not shaded at all.  The coach is not plugged in to shore power.

Does anyone have any experience with the factory solar charger?  I was hoping that it would keep my coach batteries charged during winter storage but it doesn't seem very dependable. 

[Harry B]

Mike... Don't waste your time on the 10w panel. It is totally inadequate.  I have it on my coach as well and even though it works, it is not able to keep up with the parasite loads that it is supposed to offset.
I have measured the ability for the solar panel to charge and at noon with full sun overhead (FL) and a clean panel,  I still loose about .7 amp out of my battery, resulting in dead chassis batteries in about 2-3 weeks. If I cover the panel up the loss increases, so the solar panel is working. I have seen others state as well that it is inadequate.

[John Canfield]

Mike,
Harry,

I think the solar panel is connected to the house bank on the Horizon/Vectra - not sure about the Brave.  Harry is correct - 10 watts isn't enough to offset parasitic loads, you would be much better off with a 50 watt panel.  My 10 watt solar charger has a 10 amp breaker, so the wiring could easily handle a 50 watt panel.

[tennsmith]

John, or anyone, if one disconnects the "house" battery bank" via the switch on the dash, does this disconnect the solar panel from the batteries as well?  If the solar panel stays connected, this might "help", but even under these conditions, I doubt the solar panel can keep up with battery "self discharge".

[John Canfield]

Bob - the solar panel on my Horizon is not disconnected by the house disconnect switch.  If you disconnect the house batteries, a 10 watt panel should overcome battery bank self-discharge.  It wouldn't overcome parasitic loads however.  (Batteries have internal resistance which means if they are just sitting on the floor disconnected, they will eventually discharge themselves.)

[DonTom]

Does anyone have any experience with the factory solar charger?  I was hoping that it would keep my coach batteries charged during winter storage but it doesn't seem very dependable. 

My RV isn't a Winnebago, but my original RED LED (for my 5 watt solar panel) indicator was in series with the house batteries which means the brightness of the LED could change a bit with the state of the house battery's charge (form other charging sources), regardless of amount of sunlight as long as there was some. IOW, the HIGHER the voltage of the battery, the LESS  the LED would light, since there was then less current.

I totally changed my RED series LED to a green LED in parallel (with a dropping resister) direct across 65 watts of new solar panels. Now the LED shows how the solar is working and my new solar controller shows the exact battery voltage in a digital display.

Like others say here, your ten watt solar was twice as good as my five watt which did nothing. Double a nothing and you still have nothing. But somehow, when you go at least five times more, you start to have a little charging during  the sunlight hours that can make some difference.

-Don- SSF, CA

[RCtime]

Mike
I have the same Winnebago 10 w solar panel as you and anytime the sun is out it glows bright red, no blinking or dimming.
I suspect you have a loose wire problem somewhere.
With the house battery disconnect switch off to remove the parasitic loads on the house batteries (as in storage) it does a fine job of maintaining my 3 batteries.

[ceemike]

Thanks for all of the replies.  I've decided to replace my Magnatek converter with a 3 stage converter so I can leave the coach plugged in without overcharging the batteries.

[billl70]

On mine a 2001 suncruiser as far as i can make out, the solar panel connects into the house wiring above the wardrobe or am i wrong. cheers bill.

[John Canfield]

Hi Bill - welcome!

[madrone]

Mike,
Harry,

I think the solar panel is connected to the house bank on the Horizon/Vectra - not sure about the Brave.  Harry is correct - 10 watts isn't enough to offset parasitic loads, you would be much better off with a 50 watt panel.  My 10 watt solar charger has a 10 amp breaker, so the wiring could easily handle a 50 watt panel.

 My Luxor has this same setup and I think your idea has merit. My panel is above the closet as described, does anyone know where the controller is? I would guess that would need to to be updated to handle a larger capacity panel.

[John Canfield]

There is no controller for our little 10 watt panel that I'm aware of.