jbbrick
Near San Francisco
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Joined: 02/25/2002
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I picked up a 100w 12v panel for the RV and am in the process of wiring it now. There is an existing 10w factory installed panel for trickle charging (Winnebago) ---do I have to disconnect that one? It's probably going to be wired in parallel and I can't easily access the connections for it within the walls where it goes to the battery, but I can disconnect it at the roof or behind the master panel. My new one will go straight to the battery bank, I have a controller on the way. Thanks
'02 Winnie Adventurer 32V
2010 Ford Escape toad
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2oldman
Moses Lake
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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jbbrick wrote:do I have to disconnect that one? Probably not, but, two charging sources can affect each other. If your controller tells you it's not charging when it should be, the disconnect the little one.
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Gadget Guy
Calgary
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Joined: 02/18/2007
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Are you sure that the 10 watt panel is connected to the house battery? I would really think that it will be connected to your starting battery and I assume you are planning to connect the 100 Watt panel to the house battery. If that is the case just leave the 10 watt solar panel alone.
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mena661
Southern California
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Gadget Guy wrote:Are you sure that the 10 watt panel is connected to the house battery? I would really think that it will be connected to your starting battery and I assume you are planning to connect the 100 Watt panel to the house battery. If that is the case just leave the 10 watt solar panel alone. X2
2006 Ford F250 Lariat 6.0 PSD 2WD
2010 Keystone Outback Super-Lite 285FL 5er, Reese Signature Series 18K w/Manual Slider
Four Trojan L16 6V's (740Ah)
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toolman1
Cerritos, CA.
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mena661 wrote:Gadget Guy wrote:Are you sure that the 10 watt panel is connected to the house battery? I would really think that it will be connected to your starting battery and I assume you are planning to connect the 100 Watt panel to the house battery. If that is the case just leave the 10 watt solar panel alone. X2
X3 That's how I connected my system.
See ya out there!!
Hooliville member #128
Gary & Lynne.
'04 Dolphin 5320 WH-22 370W Solar
22' Mighty Mover Trailer, 60W. Solar.
Sand Sprite 4. 2.3L EFI sand buggy
'04 Polaris Predator
'84 Jeep CJ.
2011 Black Lab "Lucy" for both of us 
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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Joined: 08/19/2003
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I would leave the 10 watt solar panel alone regardless of what battery it is connected to. The power it produces is really insignificant. At best it might make 4 amp hours in one day, not going to recharge anything really. Barely makes up for the wattage used by the radio memory.
Congratulations on the 100 watt solar panel. I hope that you will be happy with it. It will almost make up for the power consumed by the CO and propane monitors each day (about 35 AH daily). So if you have a pair of batteries, they will stay full while in storage, and will be good for about 4 - 5 day trip without other charging sources.
My batteries lasted about 9 years with good care and daily charging via my solar system.
Fred.
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jbbrick
Near San Francisco
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I'm pretty sure the factory panel is on the house batt's since my chassis one gradually discharges when sitting, and the indicator light on the main panel says there is solar charging going on. I'll try it with both and see what happens, thanks. I haven't put a VOM on it to actually verify but I think that's the way it works.
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