Because of my cancer "stuff" we are not able to go anywhere for awhile.
So Last year I put 100A of solar on the roof of the coach controlled by a battery charge monitor. I ONLY wanted enough solar to keep the coach battery charged.
I unplugged the coach from the house, turned the salesman switch to "OFF", removed the battery cable from the negative post on the engine battery. I have gone out several times and the coach battery stays charged at 13.4 volts according to the battery charge monitor.
Very happy with the performance of the solar setup doing exactly what I wanted it to do.
We purchased the entire package from Harbor Freight for $149 minus 20%. I know, I know, there are some of you who poo poo HF. But it does what we want--for the money. We don't have the room up top or the $$ to put some exotic system up there, or even need the bigger system. So poor old coach and old owner are happy with what we have. Not wishing for anything like a home frig or 10,000 volts. We don't need it or want it.
I love Harbor Freight stores. I can never drive by without stopping to browse...and never leave without buying some little gadget.
What are you doing to keep the the start batteries topped off?
Yes, can't pass one up. Quality gets better all the time. I joined their "club." It paid for itself the day I bought it.
Nighthawk, I just made a double male jumper from one lighter plug to the other on the dash. Keeps both sets charged. House is AGM but they both stay at a little over 13V.
Pierce
Our start battery is a brand new 1000CCA truck/tractor battery. The "old" one was one I screwed up by joining it to a battery that turned out to be dead. I took the "old" 1000CCA battery back to Fleet Farm where they honored the seven year warranty. There was six years left so they traded even up. Great place to do business.
I figure the battery would stay charged--just like it was on the shelf at the store. I do plan on periodically hooking up my charger about once a month just to keep the charge up.
If necessary I could just hook up the start battery and then use the BOOST toggle switch to start the engine if I needed to get going in a hurry.
My charge controller lacks a few bells and whistles, as it was probably installed in 89 (it just a diode and that's it) and is kaput. I am getting some voltage reading, but the 89 panels look pretty sorry with cracks, fog etc. Bob told me they were 155 watts IRC. Any suggestions for a low budget control with maybe just an amp meter for now? Probably put new panel on this winter.
32 Watts each back then
HF battery charge controller is about $35 and can be less if you have 20% discount coupon.
It shows (with pushing the button) current charge level of battery, solar panel output, and any output to any devices wired in to the solar panel thru the controller.
Ours has worked flawlessly since we got it last year.
Measure the size of your solar panel and calculate how many share inches it is. Old panels are about 11 or 12 square inches per watt. Old panels may not produce as many watts as they are rated at. To determine how many watts your panel is producing, connect a 12v light bulb across the plus and negative wires of the panel and measure both voltage and current. Volts X amps give watts.
I always do this before buying a used panel and have found some bad panels.
Check this page at Amazon but read the reviews carefully as some sellers stuff the reviews like Yelp: Amazon.com: solar controller 12v (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=solar+controller+12v&sprefix=solar+controller%2Caps%2C249&crid=LP2MJXDXRWZK)
Pierce
The HQST 30 Amp for $28.99 is identical to the one we got from HF but I paid more-- sob, whimper, cry :'( >:( :( :'(
The bad thing about high tech electrical stuff is a month after you buy it, it's obsolete and half the price SOBx2.
PT Barnum once said a sucker is born every minute, and then he would roll out the bandwagon. Appears to still work!
But if you buy from HF and do pay a little more, if something goes wrong, you can take it back, even to another store. Brick and mortar stores do have an advantage sometimes.
Pierce
"But if you buy from HF and do pay a little more, if something goes wrong, you can take it back, even to another store"
quote by Pierce
just tried to take back vacuum pump gun, new lady manager said No receipt (for date of purchase) & purchased more than 90 days.....NO RETURN
Went to floor manager ( who used to accept most anything ) He just frown and shrugged and glanced to the office