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Old 09-06-2010, 01:02 PM   #21
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I am hoping to install a 80 Watt or larger Solar Battery Charger on the roof of my 2207, but have not found a desirable way to route the power leads to the battery box without having unsightly cables exposed ... either inside or outside the Hi-Lo. Have any of you "Old Timers" done this or have thought it through? I would appreciate your input!
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Old 09-06-2010, 05:03 PM   #22
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When I saw your post, I checked our new 2209 because, when I checked the roof a week ago I noticed that it must have had a factory solar panel on it as there were the sealed up mounting places on the roof and the solar regulator is in the back of the fridge, where the factory puts it and it is wire up. No idea what happen to the panel. I plan on getting one also. Any way I would say the wires come down through the cloth covered bundle in the back next to the vent pipe, then into the storage area, then past the back of the toilet, then under the tub and then into the cabinets under the sink as there is a wire bundle in the back, then into the back of the fridge where the regulator is and on through to the battery. Yours probably is covered with panels like the 2209 is, you will have to remove some of them to get the wires through. The 1995 Tow-Lite we have would be easy as there is no paneling in the rear closet or behind the toilet and I can see that is where the wires are ran from the top half. It will be some work but I wouldn't want the wire exposed either. I didn't find the wire in the 2209 either, will have to check the color of the wire at the regulator and then fine it in the rear bundle, as they must have pushed it down into the roof area and then sealed the hole up.
As you can see I like to talk, to much time on my hands I guess. But at my age a 2 hr. job takes 2 days. Hope this helps and good luck.
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Old 09-06-2010, 06:45 PM   #23
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Thanks Pop,

What you described was one of my thoughts ... that is, to mount the solar panel(s) at the rear of the Hi-Lo and run the #8/6 feed wires down along the vent and under the Hi-Lo to the refrigerator cabinet where I thought it would be good to co-locate the Charge controller with the other monitoring widgets. I am adding a secondary starting/boost capacitor to the Air Conditioner (see: RV Air Conditioner Hard Start Capacitor | ModMyRV for details) which will enable me to use a 2000W inverter generator ie, Honda EU2000 or Yamaha 2400i; and eliminate the need for a larger battery bank and inverter system.
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Old 09-07-2010, 07:59 AM   #24
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I ran the wiring from the solar panel, through the side of the curb of the crank-up vent, into the interior roof system,to the back cap area,through the cloth covered wires, into the wardrobe,behind the sink & toilet,under the bath tub,through the kitchen cabinets,behind the refrigerator,pass the waterheater,through the floor and into the battery box.
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Old 06-01-2011, 08:28 AM   #25
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Default What wattage of solar panel

I'm wanting to add a solar panel to charge the single 12 volt battery we have. What wattage panel are you using? This battery is used to run the pump and a couple of lights at dark. I've heard that a 15 watt or 20 watt is okay, but do I need more?

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Old 06-01-2011, 11:32 AM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wmjbuying View Post
I'm wanting to add a solar panel to charge the single 12 volt battery we have. What wattage panel are you using? This battery is used to run the pump and a couple of lights at dark. I've heard that a 15 watt or 20 watt is okay, but do I need more?

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Do you plan on using it as a power source or just to keep the battery charged? Depending on the wattage, you made need a controller to prevent overcharging. Check these out. I use the small one to just keep my battery charged. I also use a trickle charger to keep my battery up. The trickle charger will not overcharge the battery. You can find those on sale at Harbor freight as well. I grabbed four of them at $4.99 each.
Search results for: 'solar panel'
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Old 06-02-2011, 02:32 PM   #27
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Wattage in equals wattage out, so if your planning on your solar panels to do any more than maintain the battery when sitting, your going to add a few 75 watt panels. The other thing about using 6 volt golf cart batteries or even deep cycle 12 volts are because they are deep cycle and have thick plates for that reason, they don't charge fast either. Plus they should have an equalizing charge on them periodically and time to rest before use again. If your worried about your batteries being able to take high charge rates, you might want to try Odyssey batteries. They are AGM (absorbed glass mat) and will take a very high recharge rate and also recover to full charge in a lot shorter time without getting hot. I have been using these for large stationary generator stations because of the constant charging and recharging that is so hard on regular batteries. They have a very low internal resistance which also keeps them from discharging with no load on them. They cost 2 to 4 times more expensive but are well worth it and have a shelf life of 12 yrs. They can also be mounted in any orientation and inside as they don't gas off. Do yourself a favor and go to their website. ODYSSEY Batteries - Official Manufacturer's Site , I even use them for UPS backup batteries in my house. These are great batteries and troulble free, you can also get them with side mount terminals so you don't have to worry about clearance. They also are smaller for the amperage they produce. Probably the greatest thing about them is there recharge rate, recover 90% of their charge in 20 mins if you have the charger that can supply the ampeage.
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Old 06-02-2011, 03:15 PM   #28
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According to the paperwork that came with my HiLo, the solar panel is a 15W unit. It is called a Battery Saver Pro15W panel "with preconnected wire and blocking diode which prevents reverse current." Item #10008. The literature states it produces 15 Watts at 1 Amp/hr - approx 75 Watts @ 5 Amps/day. My solar panel does not use a regulator to control it. Mine came with an "off/on" switch that is mounted on my monitor panel with the other switches. I believe HiLo used this system for a couple of model years before using the regulator control. The solar panel is a ICP Global Technologies brand. Hope this helps out.

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Old 06-09-2011, 11:12 AM   #29
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The current issue of Trailer Life has a great article on solar panels. The info presented should answer quite a few questions that has been brought up on the forum. Also, Northern Tool has a large selection of generators listed on their website, different types and sizes. Their website is Portable Generators, Pressure Washers, Power Tools, Welders | Northern Tool + Equipment

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Old 06-15-2011, 08:19 AM   #30
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I think the biggest thing that everyone is missing on battery charging is the equalizing charge and desulfication charge. The power converter/charger is ok for maintaining a battery between home visits, but a regular good quality battery charger should be used occasionally to give the battery a good charge. The peak voltage of the converter is not enough to equalize the cells in the battery and therfore sometimes you will not get a good charge. In the old days the 13.8 was the norm for charging, but now a lot of recommendations are for 15 to 16 volts. There is a very good article on this website that I will link that explains that in detail with charts. Hence the recommendation for AGM batteries for RVs preferably the Odysses. I might sound a little pushy on this, but you can't believe the performance of these batteries, along with the size, and capability of using them inside a compartment without fear of gases or leaking, the perfect setup for RVs. Here is the link on proper battery care and charging.
DEEP CYCLE BATTERY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Old 06-20-2011, 06:28 PM   #31
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Since I retired early because my pension was in jeopardy I always look for the low cost alternative. We use 1 deepcycle 12V battery and I have a second that I add in parallel if we are going to be gone for a week. We haven't had too much trouble with battery drainage. We only use the battery for the pump and occaisional use of the lights. Our '95 Towlite doesn't have a fridge fan so I use a D-cell RV fan. At night we use portable battery powered lanterns. The lanterns make it seems more like camping to us. The only allowance we make from the sleeping bags in a tent days. I am going to get a few LED lights as described in the LED thread.
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Old 06-20-2011, 07:46 PM   #32
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Great post, captbob! *thumbsup*, *beers* (We need some additional "smileys" here, don't we?)

I bought a "Battery Minder Plus" BatteryMINDer® Plus 12 Volt 1.33 Amp Charger-Maintainer-Conditioner (Desulfator) | All | Battery Chargers by BatteryMINDers.com for my trailer on the advice of a fellow member of a truck forum I moderate. The big feature of this device is that it "desulfates". I leave it plugged in to the trailer batteries all the time when I'm home. The batteries seem to be in tip-top shape as far as I can tell.

I got mine at Camping World, but I see they seem to have stopped carrying them. Instead, they have the "Battery Tender" which I keep on my Tow Vehicle "Garage Queen" to counter the parasitic draw of the electronics in it. Since employing these, I've had no battery problems. The Battery Tender does NOT apply any desulfating action though, so I think it is better suited to something that is used more frequently.

Bottom line is, NO battery likes to be totally discharged. You do that, and you've probably destroyed the battery. This applies to lithium-ion batteries in tools and even cell phone batteries too. Forget about the "memory effect", it's really "crap". Since batteries are multi-cell things, as soon as you discharge one of the cells to zero volts, continuing to discharge the battery causes that cell to work below the 0 volt state. If it gets to that point, it's probably ruined.

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Old 06-22-2011, 07:40 AM   #33
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Thanks for the thumbsup Jack. Unless you work with batteries in a industrial way it is hard for the laymen to understand how complex they can be instead of how simple they look. I just wish I could talk more people into trying AGM batteries as they are both deep cycle and cranking rated, in fact they can produce more instantanious amps than any other battery per size and they are very compact.
I have used them at work at the City of Naple on our stationary generators and it has saved us a lot of headaches on maintenance and not having to constantly have them on charge. Everyone owes it to themselves if they are having battery problems to go to Odysses's web site and read up on them. More and more companies are starting to make them, I have bought some small ones at West Maring on sale and have been using them on a UPS for my electronics. We all need to help each other in any way we can to make our RVing easier. LOL
Hope to see all one of these days on the road.
Thanks again, Bob
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Old 01-22-2012, 08:24 AM   #34
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Default Batteries and generators

I have been on the road since June of 2011 and have done quite a bit of dry camping with the 2807 using 2 Odysses 12V AGM batteries in the tongue and a Lifan 3500 electric start gen on the rack on the back. Have been in every type of public campground you can think of between Ohio, Florida and California with nights down to 25 degrees and everything is working great. Someone said on the generator that you wouldn't get away with the noise due to restrictions, but in my experience on this trip the only ones quieter than me were Hondas and some were a lot louder and no one complained. I also bought a 50watt panel to play around with and it is really helping out, I just put it on a 15 foot cord and set it outside during the day to help with the charging and then run the gen every other day. I also have a Heater Buddy that I use to supplement the heat to keep from running the furnace while were up and it puts the heat where were at instead of heating the whole trailer with the furnace. Things have been working out good, but have decided to sell the Hi Lo and go 5th wheeling just due to we are living in the Hi Lo and it would be easier on us to go the other way. Getting great gas mileage with the Sequoia, average 13, 11.5 to 15.
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Old 06-03-2021, 04:54 PM   #35
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Decided to stop messing around. I paralleled 3 12v deep cycle marine batteries from Walmart for $75 each. Over 100 amp-hrs each. With a Harbor Freight inverter I can run microwave, coffee maker, and 3 CPAPS on battery. Harbor Freight generator bolted to the back bumper for charging and/or AC offsets the extra battery weight on the tongue. So far, so good. Well worth it. Battery cover blew off in the wind. That's next project.
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