solar charging with disconnect

[big craig]

I'm a new unfamiliar owner of a used 2023 Chateau 28Z so this may have been already discussed. Does the 100 watt factory panel on my roof charge the house battery when the disconnect switch is off?

[16ACE27]

Yes.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Your solar charge controller has four terminals... a set of positive and negative input terminals, and a set of positive and negative output terminals.

The input terminals will have cables/wires coming from the solar panel.

The output terminals will have cables going to the battery... BUT it's possible the positive cable goes to the disconnect switch, then to the battery.

You can visually trace the positive cable... OR remove the positive cable from the battery.

Using a voltmeter, with the disconnect switch ON, check voltage of the positive cable you disconnected from the battery. You should get something over 12 volts.

Now turn the switch OFF. If the voltage drops to zero, the solar is wired through the switch. If the voltage remains something over 12 volts, it ISN'T wired through the switch.

P.S. There should also be a fuse between the panels and charge controller.

[txc2936@yahoo.com]

i am getting the flashing RED light on my controller indicating the solar panel is weak, I remove the fuse and re install on the positive side of the solar panel charger to battery.

The light goes out for a while , but the next day its flashing again.

I replaced the controller last yr, but the battery indicator on the controller never reaches the top fully charged reading (shown below). I tested the voltage from the solar panel to the controller, and it shows about 21-22 Vdc.

These GP-PV-100M solar panels are pricey, Is the replacement of the Solar Panel next order of business?

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by txc2936@yahoo.com

i am getting the flashing RED light on my controller indicating the solar panel is weak, I remove the fuse and re install on the positive side of the solar panel charger to battery.

The light goes out for a while , but the next day its flashing again.

I replaced the controller last yr, but the battery indicator on the controller never reaches the top fully charged reading (shown below). I tested the voltage from the solar panel to the controller, and it shows about 21-22 Vdc.

These GP-PV-100M solar panels are pricey, Is the replacement of the Solar Panel next order of business?

For the "solar panel weak" diagnosis, the blue lightning bolt has to be OFF. I don't see anything in the manual with a flashing red AND solid blue lightning bolt.

At 21-22 VDC I don't see an issue with the solar panel input. You might want to give GoPower a call or maybe bite the bullet and replace that controller with a 30 amp MPPT controller.

[txc2936@yahoo.com]

Ace,

I went back over this morning.
1) The red light is blinking and the blue light is out. Showing Solar Panel Weak. Photo 1.
2) I disassembled the controller and got 21-22 Vdc, thanks, the solar panel is supplying voltage to the controller. Photo 2.
3) After a remove Fuse and it resets i get the normal readings. Photo 3.

I added the matrix showing the readings. I will look into a 30 AMP MPPT controller.

[DavidEM]

I would only upgrade the controller if I were going to add more panels. I have the same GoPower controller as you with one 100 watt panel. I only really use it to keep the batteries topped off while in storage. We camp in shaded campsites so the panel doesn’t do much good while camping.

If you do upgrade there are two controllers that I would recommend: Renogy and a premium one, Victron. The Renogy Rover is $128 on Amazon.

If you just want to replace the GoPower with an equivalent, the Renogy 10A PWM is $19.

David

David

[txc2936@yahoo.com]

Thank You.

I talked to Tech from GoPower and he walked me through the whole procedure, (they actually answer the phone). After removing the fuse, disconnecting all the wires from the solar panel to the controller, and testing. I got 2 DC amps on my multimeter!

I reconnected everything again and have 12.7-12.9 Vdc from the controller to the battery and 2.5 charging Amps DC., He is saying this was a hard reset.

I just saved a bundle of money and will call back the mobile RV techs.

[Mark54]

Originally Posted by txc2936@yahoo.com

Thank You.

I talked to Tech from GoPower and he walked me through the whole procedure, (they actually answer the phone). After removing the fuse, disconnecting all the wires from the solar panel to the controller, and testing. I got 2 DC amps on my multimeter!

I reconnected everything again and have 12.7-12.9 Vdc from the controller to the battery and 2.5 charging Amps DC., He is saying this was a hard reset.

I just saved a bundle of money and will call back the mobile RV techs.

Best way to isolate the solar controller is to add breaker switches as I did in my Tellaro
led lights also added to switch panel, and later labeled for battery and PV panels.
(I also replaced the PWM controller with a MPPT)
(ignore the 'reverse polarity' label-I have since covered that with 'Batt" and "PV" labels)
I just interrupted the hot side (typically red) of each battery and PV panels to install these between controller and battery and PV panels. If not red, then black as most RV builders use white as ground.

Red & black are normal DC wire colors, but RV mfrs are not NEC code for the most part :-(

I got lightly zapped when working on my system, and realized my solar was on!
(SUn was out actually) So I decided to install these switch style breakers.
Always disconnect battery last, reconnect first- or damage to controller may occur.
I remove my batteries in the winter, so these are very handy as you do not want any power to the controller from PV when batteries are disconnected!!

[Chateau_Nomad]

I used a DC photovoltaic switch designed specifically to disconnect solar panels, which disconnects both positive and negative cables from the solar panels simultaneously.

If you're just using this setup as a trickle charger for winter storage with no plans to boondock, I'd leave it as is. While an MPPT controller is much more efficient than a cheap PWM controller, you gain no advantage for what you're using it for. If your GoPower controller is toast, just replace it with another 10 amp PWM.