LB Charging/maintenance from solar panel.

[windywatson]

Hi,
Question for all you Techs out there. I've been suffering from my LB going flat since installing a new one. My old 85Ah battery has lasted since the van was converted 6 years ago. I replaced it this May with an 100Ah one of a very respectable make. However I have come to use the van on 2 occasions now and the battery has been flat. I have a wilton LB kit installed to run interior lights, radio, 12v cigy & blinds from the LB and also have a 20 watt solar panel fitted to the van roof. The solar panel is intended only for battery maintenance as the van sits unused for many months when not being used between camping trips and over the winter months. I do have a reasonable level of electrical skills so I have installed my test meter in line to measure the current being drawn whilst the van is not in use. The only item drawing any current that I can find is the radio. It is drawing 0.23amps/230ma whilst switched off, so I assume that it is to maintain its memory. Am I wrong in thinking that the solar panel should be able to maintain the battery, even taking the radio into account. I have checked the voltage at the battery to see if the solar panel is charging and it does lift the voltage slightly. Voltage measured at the battery terminals was 12.72v and when the solar panel was connected it went up to 12.94v. So I'm assuming that if the voltage is being lifted the panel must be pushing some current into the battery. Your thoughts would be welcome. Is it possible that I actually have a duff battery?

Cheers

Richard.

[briwy]

Could well be a duff battery. I got a new one a couple of years ago and had to get changed twice before I got a good one.

Depends whar size your panel is but generally it should keep the leisure battery up to scratch

[jimmo62]

230mA for a radio when turned off sounds way too much. Your battery is 100AH so you will only get around 400 hours at 230mA - way less than a month. The 20W solar cell (max power) will prolong this a bit but given that it's dark a lot of the time and you will only get 20W in very bright sunlight you will not be able to keep it charged.

I think the radio may be faulty. I'd expect more like 50mA max when just maintaining the standby memory

[Dodgey]

Yep - that's 1/4 of an amp - for a radio on standby - that's crazy. your 20w panel has got no chance.

My stereo uses less than half an amp when it's on.