so i picked up a 5 watt solar charger the other day and i got to wondering if its to big or to small for the trailer, powerwise.

i'm not expecting it to charge the batteries from dead during the day while i'm out camping. i've got a generator to do that.

no, i'm wanting this to just keep the batteries topped off while it sitting in storage. i'm assuming it would generate enough power to keep it charged just sitting there with only the co2 detector going. but is it going to generate so much power that it'll start to boil the batteries?

If you bought a kit it should have a "brain" that would auto regulate the charging and shut it off before damage is done. I've been looking at the kits recently and what I would like to do is install a cutoff switch on the trailer so that the solar system could still charge the batteries while the trailer doesn't get power from the battery so the CO2 detector wouldn't be drawing power all the time for no reason.

I doubt you will boil your batteries with that. Like said above, it should have come with a charge controller, just make sure you have that inline and you will be fine. It will shut down the charging when it reaches the level you or the manufacturer specify.

well, i went with what was inexpensive and it looks like its just a straight power output from the solar cell to the clamps.


it says something about 350mA on the back. I'm assuming that's part of the charging output.

i guess all i'd have to do is verify that the trailer uses 350 mA just sitting with my mulitmeter right? that way the trailer wouldn't over charge at any point

well, i went with what was inexpensive and it looks like its just a straight power output from the solar cell to the clamps.


it says something about 350mA on the back. I'm assuming that's part of the charging output.

i guess all i'd have to do is verify that the trailer uses 350 mA just sitting with my mulitmeter right? that way the trailer wouldn't over charge at any point

You should have the same 50 amp panel in your trailer that I have, I checked everything yesterday and just the CO2 detector pulls .4 amps. I have all the numbers for everything in the trailer, I'll send you the list. :D

0.35 amps aint squat. That's probably just barely enough to overcome internal resistance of the battery. I doubt if it'll do much of anything... especially to a big camper type deep cycle battery.

so it may not save it from eventually going dead, but, it'll at least prolong it.

of course, i could go thru and click off the breakers so it doesn't draw anything at all too

You would have to pull the 2 30 amp 12V fuses, the breakers are only for your AC power. Just unhook the battery(s) from the trailer when you're not using it or install a switch to break the circuit so you don't have to mess with wires.

This is on the same subject but a much smaller scale. COSTCO has these for a really good price.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298862&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|3960|21273|21276&N=4001203&Mo=13&pos=0&No=12&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=21276&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10614-Cat21273&topnav=

You would have to pull the 2 30 amp 12V fuses, the breakers are only for your AC power. Just unhook the battery(s) from the trailer when you're not using it or install a switch to break the circuit so you don't have to mess with wires.
oh yeah, duh, a $2 disconnect switch would be perfect.

knew i should picked on up at harbor frieght yesterday LOL

ok, so the link posted says it's 1.8w and 125 ma and its able to maintain a charge on car/toy/trailers, so, mine should be able to do the same job quicker being 5w right??

Report back and let us know if what they claim and reality are even in the same ballpark.

5w is a trickle charge and that's about it.

oh yeah, duh, a $2 disconnect switch would be perfect.

knew i should picked on up at harbor frieght yesterday LOL

I've been working on the whole 12V side of mine, I have a nice keyed switch which I'm going to use to cut the battery feed to the trailer. I just added a second 12V marine battery in parallel with the main. I haven't had trouble except when I'm running the front hydraulic jacks a lot, they eat that battery up quick. I'm curious to see long I can run the furnace on just battery power, my furnace pulls about 3.9amp so I should be able to get a decent amount of time on just battery power. I will however have to fire up the generator to watch movies on the new LCD screens.

I use these on my trailers and they work just fine.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768

I use these on my trailers and they work just fine.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768

"Super high output!...." = 0.125A. :lmao:

5 watts is a mouse fart. You won't damage the batteries with that panel.

0.35 amps aint squat. That's probably just barely enough to overcome internal resistance of the battery. I doubt if it'll do much of anything... especially to a big camper type deep cycle battery.

I was gonna say the same thing... If it's able to overcome internal resistance of the battery, it likely won't even be able to keep up with any phantom load - propane detector, smoke detector, CO detector, etc... LOL

Why do I always have to be the fly in the ointment? :p

Smoke detector and CO detector usually have their own batteries. IIRC, toyhauler type trailers, with on-board generators, need to have a CO detector powered by the coaches batteries, but they are still coming from the factory with battery operated detectors.

For reference, I installed a 65 Watt panel rated at 3.36 amps/ 16 Volts and it will charged between 1-1.5 amps. This mid-day and the panel is on top of the RV. It has been running everyday for weeks and have yet to see the charge controller say "charged".

I was thinking of going this route with a panel for my toyhauler. Not to keep the batteries charged durring storage but keep them up when camping durring the day.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=369230&pid=_Froogle&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=726134


If you dont have a disconnect switch at your batteries I would definatly put one in. I have stored mine up to 6 months with the power off and come back, flipped the power on and fired the generator right up.

they are expandable up to 3 panels (3.6amps) and they also have a charge controler available seperatly.