Will a solar maintainer keep the cab battery charged through winter

[AussieJulie]

Hi,

We are Aussies who will be storing our motorhome in Braintree for 4 or 5 months over winter (November to late Feb). We have a phantom sentinel tracker installed and it is a requirement of our Insurer. The solar panels on the roof have been trickle feeding the cab battery since April when we put her into storage but we are concerned that in Winter this may not be enough.
Ideally we would turn the engine over regularly but as we are on the other side of the planet we can't do that.
Does anyone have a low wattage panel direct to their cab battery and if so do you also have a regulator and does it keep the cab battery charged in the colder months?
Would love some tips if anyone has any other ideas to keep the battery going to power the tracker over winter.

 

[mitzimad]

if you fit a battery master it will charge both batteries from your existing solar or you can just link both batteries with a 3 amp fused wire which will do the same but will be temporary you can often do the latter at the connections on the control unit so 6 inches of wire and a fuse holder if you forget its there and start the van the fuse will pop and disconnect

 

[PhilandMena]

Why not just disconnect the negative lead on your cab battery. It only takes s few seconds to do and your battery will not be discharged when you re-connect.

 

[AussieJulie]

Hi- the battery has to continually power the tracker. Would removing the negative lead effect that?

 

[Just smiffy]

A B2B will solve your problem, how much solar do you have on the roof..?

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[Lenny HB]

A B2B will solve your problem, how much solar do you have on the roof..?

No it won't a B2B is for charging the leisure battery while driving.

 

[Lenny HB]

There are 3 easy options -

Change the solar controller for one with a dual output, I use a Votronic which has a 1 amp output to the starter battery.

Fit a Batterymaster which with charge the starter battery all the time the leisure battery is higher than the starter batter.

Fit a CBE split charge relay similar principle to the battery master except it works on leisure battery voltage rather than differential.

 

[Just smiffy]

No it won't a B2B is for charging the leisure battery while driving.

Did I say that…? I think I meant battery master…

 

[Reallyretired]

Thise pathetic little panels that sit on the windscreen wont even keep your batteries charged in the summer. A proper solar panel will work much better, at least 200w in the winter.

 

[Abacist]

And most importantly it must not be parked in the shade as the output from the panels will be very low in winter due to the low angle of the sun and all the rain and cloud in winter. Have you not got anyone who could check on it for you?

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