Disconnecting solar panels during layup?

berni109

berni109

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Sunliving van
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Can anyone please explain if there are any consequences of disconnecting solar panels from the solar controller over an extended period of time?
As an alternative how about disconnecting the hab battery from the solar controller so just leaving a trickle charge to the vehicle battery.
 
When I put a lithium battery in I dont want to charge it over winter because I wont be taking anything out of it. Charging lithium to 100% and the charge sitting at 100% for a long period is not good for lithium batteries
 
If your worried about storing your lithium fully charged....I can swap you it for a five year old lead acid battery I have in the shed if you want?
You’d have to come and collect it to do the swap.

Failing that....probably just disconnecting it from the solar, sounds like a good idea to me.
 
XxAnthxX said:
If your worried about storing your lithium fully charged....I can swap you it for a five year old lead acid battery I have in the shed if you want?
You’d have to come and collect it to do the swap.

Failing that....probably just disconnecting it from the solar, sounds like a good idea to me.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I do.. put switch between panel and controller....not between controller and battery..and switch off when not needed...
Battery is then still connected to van..

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Question on the cahrgers.
We see that lithiums dont like being 100% all the time, what about charging with a mains charger.

I have the Victron 3 stage battery charger 30 amp, and it has a lithium setting, so when it says 100% is that really 90% (as they dont like 100%)
or does the offset take care of that,

Again, my Lithium battery has a built in bms with bluetooth so when that says 100% is it really 100% or does that also take an offset into consideration maybe, or a setting (that have looked and cant see)

or is it down to us to manually switch off at 90% ish
 
They are best not stored at 100%.
I charge mine with a mains charger and stop charging at about 80%. HOWEVER If I am heading away in van I will fully charge to 100%.
No I believe 100% means 100%
 
Tombola said:
Question on the cahrgers.
We see that lithiums dont like being 100% all the time, what about charging with a mains charger.

I have the Victron 3 stage battery charger 30 amp, and it has a lithium setting, so when it says 100% is that really 90% (as they dont like 100%)
or does the offset take care of that,

Again, my Lithium battery has a built in bms with bluetooth so when that says 100% is it really 100% or does that also take an offset into consideration maybe, or a setting (that have looked and cant see)

or is it down to us to manually switch off at 90% ish
Click to expand...

My Victron battery monitor has a programable relay within it that I use to switch off Victron EHU charger at the voltage I have set (read % of SOC) and then back on again at a voltage I have set for the relay.
 
Appreciate that to have an infinitely adjustable solar controller is the answer but I dont.
So will disconnecting the panels have any detrimental effect on the panels themselves over a 3 to 6 month period?

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berni109 said:
Appreciate that to have an infinitely adjustable solar controller is the answer but I dont.
So will disconnecting the panels have any detrimental effect on the panels themselves over a 3 to 6 month period?
Click to expand...
As I say that's what I do and it does not cause any damage to panels at all.
 
berni109 said:
Appreciate that to have an infinitely adjustable solar controller is the answer but I dont.
So will disconnecting the panels have any detrimental effect on the panels themselves over a 3 to 6 month period?
Click to expand...
No and I have installed a switch between the panels and the controller to do just that.

Don’t just disconnect the battery and leave the controllers on without a battery, it won’t do them any good.
 
Googlebot said:
No and I have installed a switch between the panels and the controller to do just that.

Don’t just disconnect the battery and leave the controllers on without a battery, it won’t do them any good.
Click to expand...
Good advice, never leave a solar panel connected to the controller without it having an output as you could easily fry the controller.

When I installed solar panels on our previous PVC I put fuses in the live feed from each panel to the controller, that way I could just pull the fuse to isolate them when required.
 
good idea but the switch, comes in handy when working on batteries or connections
 
You can disconnect the panels for any length of time. Once is disconnected, there is no current flow so no degradation except normal UV exposure. The controller should be off as well once the panels have been disconnected. That’s what we do when we leave the house for few months. Shut down two arrays, and just leave one on for the house loads.
 
berni109 said:
Can anyone please explain if there are any consequences of disconnecting solar panels from the solar controller over an extended period of time?
As an alternative how about disconnecting the hab battery from the solar controller so just leaving a trickle charge to the vehicle battery.
Click to expand...
Hi Berni, I took my leisure battery out to charge inside our apartment....when it was re-fitted my Oyster Sat controller stopped working and went into re-boot mode...I am waiting for it to come back from Oyster having needed their attention and re- installation of the software...
 
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This site contains affiliate links for which MHF may be compensated.
poppycamper said:
Did you post that in the past in another thread..
Click to expand...

I was searching for a fuse and a switch when I first fitted some solar panels a good few years ago.
I found this switch /fuse that answered both issues and I did put on here for some other members solar projects.
 
Stealaway think it was from your previous thread that I chose those mini breakers when fitting the solar to mine.
 

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