Solar control panel

[Drwolly]

Hi all
I have read through the winter months you may not get enough charge from solar to keep your battery topped up due to the lack of sun etc but I have noticed I don’t appear to get any benefit from my solar panel. I only purchased the mh a couple of months ago and have been checking on the status of the batteries, the leisure battery is 110ah and is the only battery connected to the solar.
There was an issue on the connector on the roof which I repaired and the panel was showing 21.1v on meter, it also shows the same on the control unit but never any amps, so wondering is the controller shot?

Also one other question, if your main battery ever went to flat to start the engine, can you jump lead from the leisure battery to assist in starting? Bearing in mind there is dual charge system but can isolate the leisure battery from this.

 

[Lenny HB]

If your battery is sitting at 10.6v it's knackered, just in case it's the regulator check the voltage directly on the battery with a multimeter. If it reads the same I would disconnect the battery, last thing you want is an exploding battery.

 

[Drwolly]

Thanks Lenny, I was thinking the battery may not be holding charge for very long but it not been on mains for 3-4 weeks, also noticed that the aerial booster is constantly on albeit may not use alot of power. I did charge the battery and it stayed up for a while but the controller still didnt show any amps so as well as replace the battery I was wondering if the controller was also shot. For the cost I think I will just replace both.

 

[funflair]

Thanks Lenny, I was thinking the battery may not be holding charge for very long but it not been on mains for 3-4 weeks, also noticed that the aerial booster is constantly on albeit may not use alot of power. I did charge the battery and it stayed up for a while but the controller still didnt show any amps so as well as replace the battery I was wondering if the controller was also shot. For the cost I think I will just replace both.

I would replace the controller with a MPPT one

 

[Lenny HB]

I agree with Martin worth fitting a decent MPPT regulator & get one big enough so you can add more panels later.
Votronic & Victron are the best.

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[Drwolly]

I was just about to ask about makes, if you search mppt you get many different one from £10 to a few hundred!

 

[Lenny HB]

I was just about to ask about makes, if you search mppt you get many different one from £10 to a few hundred!

Any that state they are MPPT at much under a hundred quid are in name only. Also a lot of the cheaper genuine MPPT regulators are not multistage chargers.