Adding a solar charger

[Gene53]

I am attempting to add a solar battery charger to our 2021 Ameri-Lite 189DD in order to keep the battery charged over the winter without running 120' of extension cord across my yard. It has the WFCO WF-8955PEC power distribution unit. For solar I am using the Renogy Voyager PWM charge controller and 50 watt PV panel. The battery is a Sportsman DC27 deep cycle. The problem is that the Voyager indicates that the battery is being charged, but still goes dead after a couple of weeks. What could be the problem? Should I disconnect the WF-8955 from the battery?

[Chuck v]

Gene,


Your battery is a 90 amp-hr capacity unit, so it should be "float" charged at a rate of C/20 or a bit less...this means that a 4.5 amp charge or less is preferred once the battery is fully charged to keep it from loosing too much electrolyte when it is in 'storage' over the winter. It is best to have a well regulated float charger to ensure the electrolyte loss is not significant. Many good solar charging systems have this feature. The unit you are using should suffice.


How is it connected? When in storage, all the trailer battery powered systems should be disconnected, with the possible exception of the smoke/carbon monoxide detector... I would definitely disconnect your RV's "normal" power distribution unit from the battery you are storing and attempting to float charge.


Chuck

[Gene53]

The output of the charge controller is connected directly across the battery. I will remove the input fuses to the 8955 and see what happens. Thanks.