For a couple of days now, I have been browsing and searching threads dealing with electricity, battery charging and solar panels. All I have learned so far is that I clearly have no concept of the behavior of electricity. However, in my blissful ignorance, I believe my question is simple enough; I'm sure I am about to be told differently. I have a class B Xplorer van that has a small solar panel (about 1' square) for keeping the house batteries (two new 12 volt-100 aH each) charged. There is a monitoring station inside the van showing the voltage. The solar panel is hazy and bubbled-up, and it doesn't seem to be doing the job anymore. I also have a '65 Galaxie 500 XL Conv. that I rarely drive, and to keep the battery up, I have a solar panel that attaches to the battery and sits on the hood. The only specs I have on this solar panel are that it is supposed to be 5 watt. So, my question is, could I replace the panel on the van with one like this (just cut the wire coming out of the panel and splice it in where the old panel was)?
Solar panel replacement
- Thread starter donkita
- Start date
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Alaskansnowbirds
Site Team
The small solar panels that you describe are only meant to keep a battery "topped off" not really charge it. If that is what you want to do then that should work. If you want to recharge the batteries then you'll need larger solar panels. I'll let others better versed in solar to answer those questions.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Yes you could, though a 5 watt panel isn't going to do much anyway. 5 watts at 13.5 volts (minimum needed to charge a battery) is 0.37 amps and that is spread over two batteries. If you have several hours of bright sun daily that may compensate for self-discharge, but isn't going to recover from any usage. A 15 watt panel would be better (approximately 1 amp of charge) and they usually aren't too expensive.
Thank you very much. Since the original panel is smaller than the one I was talking about using as a replacement, it must just be meant to "top off" the batteries. I may take your advice and put a larger one up there. Can I just splice in whatever size I want (i.e. 15w) without changing anything else? I understand there will be mounting issues.
glen54737
Well-known member
If you have a charge controller you should check the ratings, but the minimum size will probably handle 15 or even a few more watts.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Panels that small rarely have a controller - they don't put out enough current to need regulation. So yes, up to maybe 24 watts you could just splice it in. The existing wiring should be adequate.
