Battery as flat as a pancake !! (1 Viewer)

D

Deleted member 29692

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Solar panels are of limited effectiveness at this time of year.

Also the solar may not be charging the engine battery anyway. It depends on the setup of the 12v system in the vehicle and how the panel has been installed. You may need to fit a Battery Master or something similar.
 
Apr 11, 2015
5,353
54,333
hull
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35,812
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Laika Ecovip 300
Exp
since 1988 with breaks until 2009
A good solar system should keep your battery topped up, even in this weather. We had a battery master fitted, as vehicle battery not charged on hook up, now all batteries charged by either hook up or solar. Is it possible that your battery has failed? how old is it, is it running an alarm system, are the things powered by the vehicl battery turned off, fridge trying to auto select, we had some lights powered by vehicle battery in one van. Hope you get it sorted soon.
Above thread posted before I had finished this one. It is possible for a new battery to fail, should be guaranteed.
 
Feb 9, 2008
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Remember, if it snows the solar panel stops working.
 
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Hilary Thwaites

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Jul 13, 2017
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Wildax
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I think it must be battery failure - not had enough snow in the last three weeks to stop it working :) I'll ring Citroen and find out what I need to do. Although I'll probably ring Wildax who made the van, and see what they advise - they are just around the corner from the van so hopefully they can advise.

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ebo

Nov 9, 2009
98
105
Essex
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A class Carado i449
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Since 2009
I had a similar problem last week, normally the solar panel keeps the habitation battery charged then switches to trickle charge on the engine battery it has worked fine for years never had a flat battery, but a fuse had blown between the solar regulator and engine battery, hence flat battery. So maybe worth looking to see if yours has blown
 

magicsurfbus

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Oct 11, 2010
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Low temperatures will diminish battery performance, and frost or rain plus low sunshine levels will reduce solar panel performance. A three week gap between recharges might be pushing it, but every system is different.

Even at noon on a reasonably sunny day in mid winter my 100W solar panel (mounted flat on the MH roof) was struggling to reach 1 Amp. At present on a grey rainy day it's 0.3 Amp. My charging system switches between the two batteries but in recent weeks the voltage levels became low enough for me to bring it home for a mains top up.
 

RandallC

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Aug 4, 2012
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2012, prior too, 17 years Folding Camper & Caravan
On our kon tiki the panel defaults to the lesuire battery. Therefore before switching off always default to the starter battery as mobility more important when leaving it for a while than being able to put the lights on, so to speak.

Edit, solar panel charges both and auto switches when full.
 

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