Solar panel charging query

[Gandalf]

We did our first week away without any electrical hook up and I was a expecting the solar panel to charge the leisure battery more than it did. We arrived at our first stop early evening and by the following morning the leisure (lead) battery was down to 60% charge. The fridge was running off gas. We went of sight seeing for the day and when we returned about 7 hours later and the battery had only charged to 75%. It was pretty sunny all day, so I was expecting a fully charged battery, are my expectations to high?

The solar panel is 100w and was cleaned before we went away. Should the solar panel supply more charge and if so, any idea what the problem is? If the charging is normal would I gain any benefit changing to a lithium battery?

would welcome any comments?

 

[Kannon Fodda]

What capacity is your battery? Was the solar panel in full sunlight or even partly shaded (even part of panel in shade dramatically reduces whole charge). Wh as tvtype of controller PWM or MPPT (latter is best in UK)? How close is controller to solar panel and battery and are wires thick enough (thin long = voltage drop less charging).

It can be a bit of a black art but at this time if year in good sun you should have over 300W input from your panel, probably a lot more, over a day in the south of the country.

 

[Jev88]

Would be worth taking a multimeter reading of solar before controller and just after controller to check battery. More expert answers will be along shortly but if you have weedy cables from solar or to battery and if the runs of cable are quite long you won't get the best from your solar. The controller itself can make a big difference - cheap £5 Amazon or a £100 Victron for example?

 

[Lenny HB]

Need more info, type of battery, type & make of solar regulator, how you were measuring the state of charge of the battery in the morning.

A 100w watt panel will be around a max of 6 to 7 amps for an hour either side of midday the output will fall of either side of this how much will depend on the type and quality of the solar regulator.

From your post it would indicate the battery may be on its last legs.

 

[Insider]

We were away recently and parked up for 4 days with perhaps 50% tree cover, 50% direct sunlight on the pitch. 90W panel feeding into 2 90AHr LA batteries via Victron 75/15 and 4 people charging all manner of devices and no issues. 100% by mid afternoon each day. As Lenny has said you need to quantify each part of your electrical solution and perhaps acquire a multimeter as even small differences in voltages caused by inadequate wiring etc can have large impacts on your charging capacity.

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[Gandalf]

We did our first week away without any electrical hook up and I was a expecting the solar panel to charge the leisure battery more than it did. We arrived at our first stop early evening and by the following morning the leisure (lead) battery was down to 60% charge. The fridge was running off gas. We went of sight seeing for the day and when we returned about 7 hours later and the battery had only charged to 75%. It was pretty sunny all day, so I was expecting a fully charged battery, are my expectations to high?

The solar panel is 100w and was cleaned before we went away. Should the solar panel supply more charge and if so, any idea what the problem is? If the charging is normal would I gain any benefit changing to a lithium battery?

would welcome any comments

i thought my questions would prompt more questions. The MH is 3 years old Pilote which we bough 2 years ago, there was no info re the solar panel, but on the Pilote control panel it shows as 100w, photo attached. Battery is Numax DC25MF 105ah C20 850a. No cable visible apart from on the roof, photo attached. No other controller or cables visible.
sounds like I need an electrician

 

[Gandalf]

What capacity is your battery? Was the solar panel in full sunlight or even partly shaded (even part of panel in shade dramatically reduces whole charge). Wh as tvtype of controller PWM or MPPT (latter is best in UK)? How close is controller to solar panel and battery and are wires thick enough (thin long = voltage drop less charging).

It can be a bit of a black art but at this time if year in good sun you should have over 300W input from your panel, probably a lot more, over a day in the south of the country.

i thought my questions would prompt more questions. The MH is 3 years old Pilote which we bough 2 years ago, there was no info re the solar panel, but on the Pilote control panel it shows as 100w, photo attached. Battery is Numax DC25MF 105ah C20 850a. No cable visible apart from on the roof, photo attached. No other controller or cables visible.
sounds like I need an electrician