pdub
New Member
Posts: 1
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Post by pdub on Jul 5, 2016 10:59:18 GMT -8
I have recently installed the Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Monocrystalline Solar Starter Kit with the wanderer controller on my camper.
for the first week it worked great and kept the battery's topped off.
recently when I went camping about 3 days into the trip the controller went to a orange color light on the battery light, the PV light is still blinking like it's charging but the battery does not seem to be charging, it has not gone past the 2/3 mark on the battery monitor in the camper.
According to the booklet that came with the unit that orange light indicates under voltage but there is no explanation on how to troubleshoot that.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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Post by spiderbob on Jul 11, 2016 6:24:10 GMT -8
First off, battery monitors in a RV, are junk. They do not give you the real info you need. That being said, your Starter Kit is only 100w. I assume you didn't use the camper much the first few days after installation and it charged your battery up right nicely, but then you went out for the weekend (or longer) and it was not doing as you hoped as in keeping the battery(s) charged for you. Your system is basically a battery tender/charger to keep your batteries up while not using your camper. It ill charge as you go, and that is what the orange light is telling you, but you seem to be using more in power than the panel/controller can recharge. Keep in mind that the charger only charges your battery in the neighborhood of 80% of full (manufacture standard) for safety reasons, now your battery is used up by the time it gets to 50%, that means you only have about 30-40% of battery amp-hours of use during the night and now your controller has to put those AHs back into the battery which if used to that depth will take up to 3 days.
What type of battery and how many do you have. I figuring you only have one battery and it is hopefully deep cycle, although two 6v golf cart batteries are so much better. Anyway, I think you also need to do the math and figure how many AHs you are using per day and see how many you actually have, and then figure out how many your controller will replenish.
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