Solar Panel Battery Chargers

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Ford SportTrac Forum

Help Support Ford SportTrac Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

Tom Schindler

Well-Known Member
1st Gen Owner
V6 Engine
Joined
May 30, 2002
Messages
13,973
Reaction score
2
Location
Akron, OH
Greetings all!



My father has a 34' Class A motorhome in a storage facility. It is not your typical storage place. It is a 4 sided building that has like 10 bays that are 12' wide by 40' long. The opening faces directly south, so it gets the sun all day long.



We want to get a solar battery tender/charger. Does anyone have any experience with these?





Tom
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have some boat friends that swear by them. As you know, batteries loose power on their own just sitting there, this is compounded when it is cold out.



I would speculate that the low amps that a solar device will give the battery will be enough to keep the battery "fresh" and not really charge or over-charge it.
 
Coastie,



That is exactly why we want one. We had to jump start it the other day. The house batteries were also dead, but they are deep cell batteries, so they can take a deep discharge.



I wonder if I mount the panel behind glass, will it still work?





Tom
 
Tom,



I bought the one linked below at Camping World last fall for my 31' Class C motorhome. Plugged it into one of the 12v outlets in the dash, and then stuck the solar cell unit up on the dash when I put her away for winter storage. Went to check on it and fire up the engine & generator a few weeks ago, and the chassis battery was dead. Had to jump it from the coach deep cycle battery.



I have two 12V ports on the dash, so I wondered if the charger would only work with one of them. Perhaps they're wired to different circuits or something. I assumed that it would work through the windshield, but now that you've brought up, it's got me wondering about it.



I'm going out to check it again this weekend. I'll let you know what I find.
 
I could not use the house batteries to start it since those were dead. I had to jump it with the Explorer.



Did you disconnect the batteries or flip the switch to "store" when you parked it? If you did, then that is your problem.





Tom
 
Sorry if I was unclear in my previous explanation.



The chassis battery (under the hood) was dead. That's what the solar charger/tender is supposed to maintain. The coach/house deep-cycle battery was full, and that's what I used to jump the chassis battery.



Every time we park the motorhome in storage (both in and out of season) I flip the switch to disconnect the coach/house battery to prevent slow drainage.
 
Tom,,I have the #44768 on my generator battery for 2 yrs. It works very good. It has the G-20 atv battery. Starts with full power every time every month. Turning a 16 hp motor.



You might need #41141



I will email you a 20% coupon
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Every time we park the motorhome in storage (both in and out of season) I flip the switch to disconnect the coach/house battery to prevent slow drainage.
Click to expand...



Did you also do that with the chassis battery?





Tom
 
No. There's no switch for that one. I'd have to disconnect the terminals under the hood.



Never thought of doing that, because I was using the solar charger/tender this winter.
 
Both my fathers and my father-in-law's motorhomes have both a chassis and house battery disconnect.





Tom
 
That's good, but if you're planning to use the solar tender inside the coach, you won't be disconnecting the chassis battery. Unless you're running the wires through the firewall and connecting them directly to the battery.
 
I know that. I was concerned to your situatuation regarding the cigarette lighter connected, but the battery died anyway...even with the solar charger installed.





Tom
 
Gotcha. Well, like I said earlier, there are two 12V ports in the dash, and I now have the charge plugged into the opposite plug from which I started, so I'll check it this weekend and see how it's worked. If that doesn't work, then I might see about running the wires through the firewall directly to the battery with solar panel on the dash.
 
Hi Tom- I bought the Sunforce 22005 12-Volt MotoMaster Eliminator Folding Solar Panel from Amazon($90.00), works well to keep my boat batteries charged. I needed the flexible panel because I keep it on the boat in a locker when underway and a glass one would crack in 5 minutes.
 

Latest posts

Top