Solar charging & Battery Disconnect?

[J-Roc]

New owner of a Geo Pro 19fbs with a newbie question. Can anyone tell me if the solar panel is maintaining the batteries with the battery disconnect turned off? Or do the batteries need to be in the on position to receive solar charging?

[CincyGus]

Generally, when the battery disconnect is off, nothing draws from the battery. If wired properly that is. The disconnect SHOULD be wired between the battery and a terminal block where everything else connects to the battery when the switch is ON.

As far as the solar, the easy way to tell would be to see if there is anything connected to the battery terminals other than a single wire that is running to the disconnect block. If it is, see if you can determine if that wire is going to your solar controller.

[nayther]

your charge controller controller display should tell you battery condition, if it's zero then there's no connection.

[J-Roc]

Thanks for the replies. I can't see my solar controller unless the slide is out. And it didn't occur to me to disconnect the battery with the slide out so that I could see it.

I'm no electrician but I think this is the scenario on the 2020 Geo Pro. From the factory there are three connections at the battery. One to the disconnect, one to the solar controller and one to the inverter. I discovered that the inverter can be turned on with the battery disconnect off.

[babock]

Actually, the controller should always be wired to the battery side of the disconnect. There are 2 reasons for that. One is the controller always needs to see a battery load when the PV arrays are powering the converter. Number two is, you don't want the converter powering the RV with the disconnect is off. You could have low voltages and/or high voltage. You don't want either.

Originally Posted by CincyGus

Generally, when the battery disconnect is off, nothing draws from the battery. If wired properly that is. The disconnect SHOULD be wired between the battery and a terminal block where everything else connects to the battery when the switch is ON.

As far as the solar, the easy way to tell would be to see if there is anything connected to the battery terminals other than a single wire that is running to the disconnect block. If it is, see if you can determine if that wire is going to your solar controller.

[jkevin]

We bought a 2019 Geo Pro 19fbs. During our walk-thru when the battery disconnect was the subject, I asked about the solar panel and whether it would send a charge to the battery even when the battery was disconnected. I was told that the solar panels do continue to send a charge to the batteries.

[formerFR]

Solar is typically wired DIRECTLY to the battery bank it is powering, so turning on/off a '12v Disconnect' will not effect it, nor should it. Let the controller and the solar power keep the batteries charged/maintained when not in use. If you DO want to disable the solar power, simply remove the positive lead from the incoming solar panels, at the controller - the controller will then go 'dead' when it doesn't see the power. The other idea would be to add a 'disconnect' of some type at the same place, or cover the panel(s).

Yes, some, but not all, Inverters are wired to be provided battery power even if the owner doesn't want the 12v systems to be drawing battery power, i.e., using the 12v disconnect.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by formerFR

Solar is typically wired DIRECTLY to the battery bank it is powering, so turning on/off a '12v Disconnect' will not effect it, nor should it. Let the controller and the solar power keep the batteries charged/maintained when not in use. If you DO want to disable the solar power, simply remove the positive lead from the incoming solar panels, at the controller - the controller will then go 'dead' when it doesn't see the power. The other idea would be to add a 'disconnect' of some type at the same place, or cover the panel(s).

Yes, some, but not all, Inverters are wired to be provided battery power even if the owner doesn't want the 12v systems to be drawing battery power, i.e., using the 12v disconnect.

Or just add a switch or manual circuit breaker.

[babock]

I have a circuit breaker right after the panels in a closet right where it leaves the roof. I also have a breaker right after the controller. I just make sure I always turn the breaker off first that comes off the panels.