Rollerteam 707 Solar Panel Off when panel is Off?

[DiggerDogs]

Hi all
Seasons greetings.
Anyone know if the Hab panel has been switched off it disables the Solar Panel topping up the Leisure battery?
I went to the van today and the Hab battery was flat. The van started up and charged it a bit but after I turned tha engine off it ran flat quite quickly. I had the panel off when I last left it, the van is undercover and open to the front but it does get light in there.
The owners documents have little on this.
Ta
Malc

 

[Al-Di]

bump

 

[Lenny HB]

the normal arrangement is the solar should be charging the batteries with the panel off. you can check by measuring the voltage at the batteries with a multimeter on a bright sunny day. if the voltage increases when you turn the panel on it is not charging with the panel turned off.

 

[The Wino]

It depends how the electrics work and how the panel is wired. On our Chausson (probably very similar both trigano group) the built in wiring for a solar panel goes through the relays which isolate the battery so about a minute after the panel is switched off the solar panel stops charging the battery. I still decided to use the wiring as we now store at home on ehu but if we still used storage would have wired to the battery side of the relay. Do you have a wiring diagram of so I think you should be able to see how it's wired.
Is it an aftermarket panel ?

 

[Sundowners]

Can't you leave the control panel switched on???
I can't imagine why you would want/ need to stop solar panels working????
I would definitely by- pass that system if I had it!!!
But I am intrigued to hear the reason!!!

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[The Wino]

Can't you leave the control panel switched on???
I can't imagine why you would want/ need to stop solar panels working????
I would definitely by- pass that system if I had it!!!
But I am intrigued to hear the reason!!!

I don't know why it's like that but when the relays open I think it means that the batteries are both isolated from the hab side totally maybe its some sort of safety thing.

 

[Lenny HB]

Can't you leave the control panel switched on???
I can't imagine why you would want/ need to stop solar panels working????
I would definitely by- pass that system if I had it!!!
But I am intrigued to hear the reason!!!

Although our panel has no effect on the charging it's always left permanently turned on.

 

[Compactliner]

"I went to the van today and the Hab battery was flat"
...how long since you last checked it?...hab batteries shouldn't go flat too quickly on their own..perhaps there is a drain on them that you aren't aware of?
I'd certainly be testing that, once fully charged again, whether they run down quickly if solar is removed.
Sometimes the cab battery can drain slowly due to powering alarms, trackers, immobilisers etc....usually not much attached to the hab batteries.

 

[tonka]

I think your issue is that it's undercover... Even outside in full light it would get very little in power this time of year. So being inside even with light coming in is probably doing naff all...

 

[The Wino]

My money's still on the wiring set up. I think a bit of exploration with the multimeter on a sunny day is in order. Have the wires been traced our solar connection was in the cupboard over the sink behind the panel with a 12v socket in it.

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[peterc10]

Hi all
Seasons greetings.
Anyone know if the Hab panel has been switched off it disables the Solar Panel topping up the Leisure battery?
I went to the van today and the Hab battery was flat. The van started up and charged it a bit but after I turned tha engine off it ran flat quite quickly. I had the panel off when I last left it, the van is undercover and open to the front but it does get light in there.
The owners documents have little on this.
Ta
Malc

I think you may be overestimating what power a single panel can produce in a British winter and when undercover. They will produce next to nothing in those circumstances. Move it outside so it can get direct sunlight and you may stand a chance of it producing something when the sun shines. But, again, on cloudy and rainy days you will get very little. You could really do with doubling up on your panel and battery to stand any chance in winter even when parked outside.

As for charging from the engine, that will take several hours to make any real difference, unless you have a B2B system fitted.

 

[DiggerDogs]

Hi all
Thanks for the replies.
It’s a Rollerteam supplied 120w Panel.
It’s been left for about 2 months.
There are no instructions or wiring diagrams.
The basic instructions I have found say to turn it off when you leave the van.
Its 4 years old now so it’s likely the battery has just died.
I will check the supply on a sunnier day lol!
Ta

 

[Just smiffy]

As tonka and peterc10 said about the panel and shading, if your battery is dropping fast then it sounds like its gone...

 

[DiggerDogs]

Well visited today. Both batteries dead Had to jump it. After a few ours on hook up Leisure 13.1, expect to fall but van 9.2. Looks like a trip to Halfords . 5 year death I suppose

 

[DiggerDogs]

Well visited today. Both batteries dead Had to jump it. After a few ours on hook up Leisure 13.1, expect to fall but van 9.2. Looks like a trip to Halfords . 5 year death I suppose