Solar Panel controller.

[bertiebasset]

Hi,
Wonder if someone is able to help.... I purchased my Autocruise Wentworth last year and it has a solar panel fitted. The controller is a JUTA CMP24 with a warning on it in Dymo tape stating to remove the blue fuse at the battery when on mains. I cannot find any information for the controller and havn't yet followed the wire from the blue fuse. Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Robert

 

[Wildman]

Regulators should be disconnected from the solar panel first not the battery or damage could occur

 

[Techno]

Didn't say the battery fuse "the fuse near the battery"

 

[Techno]

Presumably the owner thought it was wrong to have solar charge & mains chargers on together.

 

[Wildman]

Didn't say the battery fuse "the fuse near the battery"

and as that is not the shortest distance between the regulator and the solar panel it is a good bet that it is between the regulator and the battery, why else would it be near the battery?

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[Munchie]

Have never disconnected ours when on hook up!

 

[Techno]

Neither of us know how the wiring is routed or where items are in relation to each other. Who ever did the dymo typed it literally but only he knew what he meant.

 

[Moodybrook]

I have similar on my controller, also on dash as a reminder, as I use the solar panel to charge up both my Leisure batteries and my vehicle battery while not on hook up and not on the move. see below.

http://www.motts.dsl.pipex.com/BRIDGING FUSE.htm

But the message is to remove the fuse when firing up the main boiler(Engine) (on the move). I probably would remove the fuse if I was on a series of one night stops with fair amount of driving and the vehicle battery would be well topped up and so that all the charge from hook up would go to the leisure batts. Simples

Hook up ?? what for ?

 

[Moodybrook]

Hi,
Wonder if someone is able to help.... I purchased my Autocruise Wentworth last year and it has a solar panel fitted. The controller is a JUTA CMP24 with a warning on it in Dymo tape stating to remove the blue fuse at the battery when on mains. I cannot find any information for the controller and havn't yet followed the wire from the blue fuse. Any help appreciated.
Thanks
RobertView attachment 51541 View attachment 51541

You haven't anything attached to the panel to take advantage of excess juice when you are getting super rays on a good day, I suggest you wire on (neg and pos from the "load terminals") a ciggy socket to charge your phone/lappy/kindle for FREE, If your batteries are all topped up, usually by 9 in the morning with mine, during Summer of course.

 

[Munchie]

Have never heard of removing fuse before! Why?

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[bertiebasset]

Thanks all for the quick replies.. the battery referred to is the leisure battery.. the fuse is connected to the positive terminal and the instruction is to remove the fuse when on hook up. I have failed to do this on numerous occasions and have had no ill effects. Both batteries seem to charge ok from the solar panel and also mains when connected. I ask the fitter who carried out my habitation check and he said the controller was there to enable charge to both batteries and had never seen any instruction like it. I have left it in when on mains and solar with no problems but thought i would check on here as you are all so knowledgeable and hoped someone could explain WHY to me.

Moody, Thanks for the link but that is a different thing,. I have started the vehicle and the fuse remains intact. I now leave it connected when charging from engine, mains or solar panel.

 

[Jaws]

I have similar on my controller as I use the solar panel to charge up both my Leisure batteries and my vehicle battery while not on hook up and not on the move. see below.

http://www.motts.dsl.pipex.com/BRIDGING FUSE.htm

But the message is to remove the fuse when firing up the main boiler(Engine) (on the move). I probably would remove the fuse if I was on a series of one night stops with fair amount of driving and the vehicle battery would be well topped up and so that all the charge from hook up would go to the leisure batts. Simples

Welll.. I must be honest here..
That had me completely baffled to start with !!! But then I clicked on the link

So what you do is actually physically ( effectively ) swap the feed from the hab battery(s) to the cab battery
I can see the advantage but would never trust myself to remember to pull the fuse before starting the engine !

As to the OP, my solar panels feed the leisure batteries until they reach a certain voltage and then the B2B auto leaches off some of the charge to the cab battery.. pretty standard set up and believe me, in about 7 or 8 years and three vans ( all with solar panels etc ) I have never felt the need to disconnect anything when I go on hook up
I think I would either take a careful look at how the thing has been wired, or if not confident get someone to take a gander for you

 

[Jaws]

LOL !! Bertie, while I was typing in all the above old squit you replied making my post bloody useless ( which is not unusual to be honest !! )

 

[bertiebasset]

Moody,, thanks once again, This is how the van came to me. I have a 12v socket fitted and charge up all the tech through it which I assume is taking power from the battery which is replenished from solar panel during the day, but will certainly put a plug on the load to soak up excess,,, good idea,,, Thanks

 

[Wildman]

why not ask the person you got the van from to explain what that lead and fuse protects and why it needs to be removed, all we can do it seems is bicker over individual ideas without the slightest idea of how YOUR van is wired and probably an aftermarket addon. If you are not an electrical engineer then sorting it out may be beyond you. Anything else is just guesswork.

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[bertiebasset]

Jaws,, Thanks,, when the weather dries and brightens up a bit I will try and follow the wires. The van is on the drive and I have had it on charge occasionally as the sunlight is not too clever at the moment. Alarm seems to take a bit from the engine battery rather than the leisure side.

 

[Moodybrook]

I have fired up the old boiler several times having forgot, pre dymo tape, with no ill effects, I believe when all the batts are well charged there isn't the Soddom and Gomorrah volts/amps flying about, but whatever that is why you put a fuse in. I use a 12v trip switch anyway and to date it has not tripped, and the world hasn't come to an end either.

You should have a fuse next to your leisure batteries too, check for one near your vehicle batt, a non first fit type the cable from your panel to it should be fairly heavy duty to save on voltage drop.

 

[Jaws]

Jaws,, Thanks,, when the weather dries and brightens up a bit I will try and follow the wires. The van is on the drive and I have had it on charge occasionally as the sunlight is not too clever at the moment. Alarm seems to take a bit from the engine battery rather than the leisure side.

As it is all working fine and no issues, hang fire until you get to a meet.. There are LOADS of folk on here ( and who get to meets and shows ) who will be able to check it all for you in a couple of minutes

 

[bertiebasset]

Thanks wildman. This van was purchased from Brownhills by a guy in Surrey, I purchased it from a prestige car dealer near Alfreton. I had the address of the previous to me owner (owner no 2) and wrote to him asking about spare keys and fobs for alarm. After a number of weeks he replied stating he had put it through auction to stop any comeback. That stopped me from asking any more questions. As I said above,, I will try and follow the wires when the weather cheers up but the original question was to find if anyone knew of the reason for this. On the control panel there is a switch marked charge and when UP states hab and DOWN states cab. When not on mains this seems to feed power to hab from either and when on mains, the switch can be in the off position and power is still available to the hab. The handbook is not clear on this topic but I had taken it to be where the charge was going to.
Robert

 

[Jaws]

Hmmmm
OK.. so breaking it down ..
Sounds like the sort of system that should be on all MH ! ( I know it was on a lot but the practice seems to have been given a miss by a lot of makers now )

The panel will allow you to switch between hab and cab battery to power things up .
Hopefully that means the charger will also be switched betwixt them which is VERY handy
The chances are the solar panels are only wired to the hab battery

And you know, I just might have an idea why that label is there.. I mentioned it in relation to something completely different just the other day but the theory stands just as much for this situation
If there is bright sunlight the panel will stick a decent voltage across the battery
If the onboard charger 'sees' the voltage is up, it will reduce the charge it is putting in to the battery
By pulling the fuse that will not happen
That is what I suspect the mindset of the original owner was
Personally I think it is worrying about nothing and can be ignored..
BUT !
If you would like to retain the system as it is but do it safely, break in to one of the wires from the panel to the controller and just put a heavy duty switch in line ( ideally a switch and a relay but a really good HD switch will be ok at a pinch depending on how many panels you have fitted.. Up to a 100w and a 10 amp jobby will be just fine )
As I say though, I really would not worry about it at all

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[bertiebasset]

Thanks Jaws. yes, the switch seems to enable the mains charger to charge either leisure battery or engine battery. If not on mains is seems to be the selector switch from which battery to use for the habitation side of things. When on mains it seems the mains charger powers the hab systems regardless of the position of the switch. I must admit I am not unduly worried by the label on the solar panel controller, I have not removed the fuse and nothing untoward has happened.
Robert

 

[tonyidle]

The think the way to remove all uncertainty is to remove the Dymo tape

 

[TheCaller]

I'm with Jaws & what he said in post #20.

I suspect the thinking was to stop a weak solar charge raising the voltage just enough to kid the mains charger that the battery was nearly fully charged, so putting the charger into float mode, resulting in neither charge source charging the battery properly.

Whether it is really needed or not would depend on just how smart the mains charger is.

It would be reassuring to find out whether the fuse is fitted between the panel & the controller, or between the controller & the battery. If it turns out to be the latter, then removing the label is by far the best advice!