solar panel

Jack_Va · 04-17-2006, 11:46 AM

'00 Chieftain - It have a solar panel that does not charge. The Winniebago maunal does not go into much operational detail and I do not have that manual. Is there a switch somewhere that needs to be turned on or is the charging automatic?
Thank you

Jack_Va · 04-17-2006, 11:46 AM

'00 Chieftain - It have a solar panel that does not charge. The Winniebago maunal does not go into much operational detail and I do not have that manual. Is there a switch somewhere that needs to be turned on or is the charging automatic?
Thank you

John_Canfield · 04-17-2006, 12:16 PM

I can't speak to your coach, but my 10 watt panel is always charging the house batteries. There IS a circuit breaker on mine, so maybe you have a breaker or fuse somewhere.

CWHTRAINS · 04-17-2006, 12:30 PM

What is the best way to test to see that the panel is actually charging the batteries? If you have the house batteries turned off at the dashboard switch, does the solar panel still charge the house batteries.

On my 06 Journey, the solar panel LED on the power panel is illuminated during the daytime, but I was wondering how to check to see if the panel is actually charging the batteries.

Jack_Va · 04-17-2006, 01:34 PM

Thank you - I should clarify: with the house batteries on and the One Source panel registering various measurements, the "solar panel charging light" is not on. What started me looking into this was an engine battery that was low with the house battery switch off. I know that is battery is independant but the event got me looking around.

starchy · 04-17-2006, 06:24 PM

From my understanding, the solar panel charges the engine batt, not the house batt. You can check the connections at the batt and see what is connected. On my 05 Vectra the house batt only have large cables connected to them. The engine batt have all the rest of the connections. At the recent Rally in Daytona I had Winn tech check out the solar charger and he confirmed this. He indicated that the panel will not bring a batt up to full charge The panel is designed to maintain the batt not bring them up to full charge.

Dougmyers · 04-17-2006, 07:59 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by starchy:
From my understanding, the solar panel charges the engine batt, not the house batt. You can check the connections at the batt and see what is connected. On my 05 Vectra the house batt only have large cables connected to them. The engine batt have all the rest of the connections. At the recent Rally in Daytona I had Winn tech check out the solar charger and he confirmed this. He indicated that the panel will not bring a batt up to full charge The panel is designed to maintain the batt not bring them up to full charge. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
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Now thats interesting and I did not know that.

I think some RV,s have two or three of these Solar panels on them I bet the other two are for the House Batts but if all they are doing is maintaining and not charging then you will still have to run the gen. or charge them or plug into ground power at some point.

If the Solar panels make no gain on the voltage I see no point in having them at all, they should charge the batts to be of any value.

JMHO

EasyDoesIt · 03-31-2008, 11:31 AM

I am a new owner of a 1998 Chieftain. My past unit was a Safari Trek that had an isolator that allowed charging both batteries. Actually there were two isolators. The first allowed the engine alternator to charge both sets of batteries and the second ran between the alternator output and the solar panel.
Dale Johnson

Paul T · 03-31-2008, 01:34 PM

John_Canfield - My rig is 600 miles north of me @ the moment John and I haven't the paperwork at hand but am very curious about the CB for the solar panel you refered to. If the CB is tripped do you still get a charge indication on the One Source"? Thx

EasyDoesIt · 04-27-2008, 11:24 AM

Well, when I stopped by Winnebago service, I had them check out my solar panel as the light was not working. Both the solar panel of my 98 Chieftain and the indicator were not functioning. When I asked the tech where the solar panel connected, he said it hooked into the refrigerator circuit. Thus, it must be the refer cb. The schematics are confusing. I could only follow the wires from the panel to the indicator. I guess there is supposed to be another set of wires somewhere on the schematic going from the indicator to the batteries. It seems that the panel is keeping the batteries charged OK.

FrankO · 04-27-2008, 12:45 PM

The small solar panel that is included on some of the newer Winnies/Itascas are meant to maintain the House Batteries and not necessarily act as a charger. I noticed my light was not on last summer and asked a friend of mine who is a EE advice and he looked at the small controller board behind the panel. He drew up a schematic and we tested the board. Found that the LED was out which stopped the unit from passing current to the batteries. Bought a couple of LEDs at Radio Shack, installed one of them and Bingo all works fine now. I am not sure if all the controllers work the same but that is how mine works.
Frank O.

Rocket Heart · 04-27-2008, 01:02 PM

Just read the manual on the solar panel on my 07 Suncruiser - the solar panel is meant to help charge the house batteries.