Solar Panel for trickle charging coach batteries while in storage?

[MPMelanson]

I am wanting to put a 50w solar panel on the roof to trickle charge my coach batteries while in storage as I have a go power 10 amp solar controller and cable connection entry housing already installed. Will the solar panel charge while the battery disconnect switch is in store mode or does the switch needs to be in use mode? Is this all worth it? I do exercise my RV monthly.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by MPMelanson

I am wanting to put a 50w solar panel on the roof to trickle charge my coach batteries while in storage as I have a go power 10 watt solar controller and cable connection entry housing already installed. Will the solar panel charge while the battery disconnect switch is in store mode or does the switch needs to be in use mode? Is this all worth it? I do exercise my RV monthly.

Your controller is probably a 10 Amp device rather than 10W. A single 50W panel isn’t much but it may well do the job. I wanted to keep both my house and chassis batteries topped up while the coach was stored and I installed a single 80W Renogy panel and it seems to be more than adequate. On advice of others here I actually bought 2 of the panels but have never installed the second one because it simply doesn’t seem to be needed. I keep my battery disconnect switch turned off during storage so I wired my solar directly to the house batteries. Then I used a clever little device called the Trik-L-Start which keeps the chassis battery charged by “stealing” from the house batteries but it only functions when the latter are being charged. It all operates independently of the RVs systems and it works great. One of the best things I’ve done to my unit. My coach was not pre-wired so I had to purchase everything and do the installation myself. I used a high quality 20A controller (WAY overkill for my system!) but even still spent under $200.

[DavidEM]

My new Axis 24.1 came with a single 100 watt solar panel. But with 18" of new snow coming down last January which sits on the panel, I didn't get any solar power out of it. So I installed a temporary 50W panel and temporarily mounted it on the bumper looking south. See the pic.

The panel cost $55 on Amazon. I also have the Go Power 10A controller which can deal with the 100 watt panel (when not snow covered) and the 50 watt panel but not much more. On my Axis the Go Power output is wired directly to the batteries, ie it bypasses the on/off switch. I unscrewed the Go Power panel and temporarily wired 25' of 16 gauge speaker wire from the panel to the Go Power input terminals along with the wires from the roof top panel.

With the battery switch off I get plenty of power from the 50 watt panel to keep the coach batteries up- almost 3 amps in afternoon sun.

In Florida you don't have to worry about snow, so just put a 50 watt panel on the roof temporarily and hook it up to the input port. It should be ready to go then. You will have to look to see if the Go Power controller is wired directly to the batteries, but I think that is the standard practice.

David

[Bob Denman]

I've got a 20 watt panel that I use to keep mine topped-off.