Low battery text

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What size solar panel have you got, PJ?

Our 80w panel working via the standard Sargent controller would not keep the battery charged in winter on our two Warwicks even in 'sunny' Cornwall. Plugging it into the mains was the simplest answer for us.

You seem to have had plenty of replies with helpful advice to the same question posted on Autosleeper owners Facebook page.

Bilbobaggins wrote:You seem to have had plenty of replies with helpful advice to the same question posted on Autosleeper owners Facebook page.

And on Fun.

Tinwheeler wrote:What size solar panel have you got, PJ?

Our 80w panel working via the standard Sargent controller would not keep the battery charged in winter on our two Warwicks even in 'sunny' Cornwall. Plugging it into the mains was the simplest answer for us.

I'm in sunny Cornwall too, and our 40W panel fitted inside the skylight has kept both the leisure battery and the vehicle battery fully charged over the last two winters.
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Aethelric wrote:

Tinwheeler wrote:What size solar panel have you got, PJ?

Our 80w panel working via the standard Sargent controller would not keep the battery charged in winter on our two Warwicks even in 'sunny' Cornwall. Plugging it into the mains was the simplest answer for us.

I'm in sunny Cornwall too, and our 40W panel fitted inside the skylight has kept both the leisure battery and the vehicle battery fully charged over the last two winters.
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Is yours the Sargent set up or a different version as it seems likely the Sargent controller leaves much to be desired? The solar system on our WildAx which didn’t use Sargent worked much better than that on the two Warwicks.

It also depends if you park in full light or, like ours, in partial shade.

provenjohn wrote: Got another battery alarm text this morning on my 2021 Broadway.
Van has EHU off but has the solar on roof.
Had 2 a couple of days ago & when I went to van the leisure battery read 0v, I firstly checked the inline 25amp fuse by leisure battery & it seemed OK but a poor fit.
Fiddled about with things & leisure battery came back up showing 12.1v, I presumed it was due to the poor connections on the fuse holder & yesterday replaced it with a better quality one.
All good yesterday & despite little sun everything looked OK.
This morning I get another battery alert text, go out to van & leisure battery shows 0v !
I plugged it into EHU & instantly get a reading of 12.5v ???
Any thoughts please?

At this time of year the drain caused by your EC700 exceeds the solar charge from your 80W panel.  The result will be a discharged leisure battery and then a discharged vehicle battery.  The answer is to shutdown your EC700 when your van is out of use.

Had low leisure battery warnings, most came at night, bourton 2021, turned out it was a duff battery.
Now alright.

Tinwheeler wrote:

Is yours the Sargent set up or a different version as it seems likely the Sargent controller leaves much to be desired? The solar system on our WildAx which didn’t use Sargent worked much better than that on the two Warwicks.

It also depends if you park in full light or, like ours, in partial shade.

No, I don't have the Sargent.  My Nuevo originally had a Bonus Systems control system.  It was awful.  I replaced it with my own design.  I added in a solar controller later.  As its only a 40W panel I could make a very simple controller.  Basically the solar panel normally charges both batteries. When the voltage rises to around 14V it cuts out.  It comes in again at 13.1V.

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Aethelric wrote:

Tinwheeler wrote:

Is yours the Sargent set up or a different version as it seems likely the Sargent controller leaves much to be desired? The solar system on our WildAx which didn’t use Sargent worked much better than that on the two Warwicks.

It also depends if you park in full light or, like ours, in partial shade.

No, I don't have the Sargent.  My Nuevo originally had a Bonus Systems control system.  It was awful.  I replaced it with my own design.  I added in a solar controller later.  As its only a 40W panel I could make a very simple controller.  Basically the solar panel normally charges both batteries. When the voltage rises to around 14V it cuts out.  It comes in again at 13.1V.

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It's a different system. That's why yours works.

Tinwheeler wrote:
It's a different system. That's why yours works.

Before I replaced the Bonus Systems unit with my own, I used a simple battery isolation switch to isolate the leisure battery when I left the vehicle for any length of time.  This should work with any system.  Of course to do this you need easy access to the battery.

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