Battery negative Disconnect

[Captsteve123]

All,
New to being a camper owner. I have a 2018 E Pro 19FD. I install a 100w solar panel on it today. I have the controller installed inside the camper.

Currently I disconnect the the two negative leads from the batteries while I store the unit outside. Storage it only for a few weeks at a time.

Should I leave the batteries connected but the battery switch off and let the solar panel charge the batteries while not being used?

I imagine that the solar panel will charge the batteries using solar even if the battery power is off.

[babock]

Depends on how your batteries are wired up with your disconnect switch and solar panels. Without that info, hard to give advice. You should definitely attach the solar to the battery so that when the disconnect switch is in the off position, the solar it still connected to the battery.

[A32Deuce]

I connected my solar controller directly to the batterys. I can disconnect the batterys from the house part, but I don't. Solar keeps those batterys up and a trickle charge keeps my chassis battery up.

[formerFR]

if you have solar you certainly don't need to worry about disconnecting anything since the sun will help keep the batteries charged - which is it's job. Simple.

[Captsteve123]

One thing I forgot to mention. The E Pro 19FD by Flagstaff was pre-wires for solar panel and controller. They had a label on the wall inside where the controller is to be mounted and connected to wires and the plug in mounts on the roof.
So the whole camper is wired to controller to where ever else all the wires run. If I had a wire diagram I would know exactly how they wired and how it goes to two batteries.

[nayther]

Originally Posted by Captsteve123

One thing I forgot to mention. The E Pro 19FD by Flagstaff was pre-wires for solar panel and controller. They had a label on the wall inside where the controller is to be mounted and connected to wires and the plug in mounts on the roof.
So the whole camper is wired to controller to where ever else all the wires run. If I had a wire diagram I would know exactly how they wired and how it goes to two batteries.

My Wildcat Max was similar. Roof jacks were wired from roof to positive bus and ground. If I had used the "Go Power" location behind the sticker it would have been OK but the solar would be running through the disconnect, not what I wanted; I rewired so the controller is connected directly to the battery. My belief is that when I open the battery disconnect I want ALL 12 volt power off to the coach, the way they wired it you'd have to turn off or disconnect the solar to kill 12v to the coach.

[A32Deuce]

Originally Posted by nayther

My Wildcat Max was similar. Roof jacks were wired from roof to positive bus and ground. If I had used the "Go Power" location behind the sticker it would have been OK but the solar would be running through the disconnect, not what I wanted; I rewired so the controller is connected directly to the battery. My belief is that when I open the battery disconnect I want ALL 12 volt power off to the coach, the way they wired it you'd have to turn off or disconnect the solar to kill 12v to the coach.

My understanding on cutting off Go power solar is to cover the panels. That's what my instructions said, not a cutoff from the panel feed. This was back in 2012, it may have changed.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by A32Deuce

My understanding on cutting off Go power solar is to cover the panels. That's what my instructions said, not a cutoff from the panel feed. This was back in 2012, it may have changed.

If one wants to cut off solar I believe the recommended method (other than covering) is to install a switch between panels and controller.

Since I use portable panels I just unplug.


If one has a permanently mounted panel array then leave them on and let the solar controller maintain the batteries.

A note, don't forget to check water if lead acid batteries. Also, lithium battery mfr's recommend against leaving their batteries on a float charge for extended periods of time. Once they are fully charged the charger should be shut off so a switch is in order between panel(s) and controller.