Factory solar panel working..?
I need some help understanding if our solar panel is working. When we came to take the van out of storage last week the motor mover wouldn't work. We didn't mess about as we needed to get going so we just pulled it out and got underway.
six hours later when we arrived at the site the mover worked fine. En route we had spoken with our dealer as we thought the fuse to the mover may have blown.
Now I suspect that the solar panel isn't working to keep the battery topped up while in storage.
I'm running the van on battery today to see if it will kick in but so far not a sign of anything from the regulator. It's a Sargent unit on a Swift van with a 100W panel. I haven't seen any of the lights on the unit light up at all.
how low does the battery level need to be before it should start charging..? It currently indicates 12v on the master panel.
How sunny does it need to be to get a usable output from the panel..?
How do I tell if it's doing anything..?
Comments
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When the sun is shining put a voltmeter across the input to your regulator, I would expect to see about 20 volts. If that is ok put the voltmeter on the output of the regulator or accross the battery terminals and you should see in excess of 13 volts.
If you haven't got a voltmeter take it to a dealer for a check or visit Maplins and buy one. They are always a handy thing to have around.
peedee
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Problem solved. After some investigation I found that one of the plugs from the regulator unit wasn't connected.
As it's a new van I spoke with our dealer and called in on the way home today. They took out the panel above the microwave and there was the other connector. It had sealant on it so had never been connected. They cleaned it and connected it up and the unit
started working.Swift need to consider their quality/PDI checks.
Many thanks to Broad lane in Alster for they after sales support. We had a game getting to them in time today, but they still managed to sort it for us. It was much appreciated.
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