Charge when TM is closed?

[MarkoPolo]

I can't seem to find the answer to this: Does the solar panel keep charging when the Trailmanor is closed? I know the power to lights quits when you fold down the bathroom. My battery stays nicely charges with unit up, but come winter I will be storing it closed because of snow potential. If it does charge it seems it might be best to leave battery connected rather than take out battery and store in the garage. It seldom gets below 10 degrees F here.
Mark

[ZekenSpider]

The solar panel controller in my 2010 3326 continues to function when closed. Usually I always keep the shore power plugged in during storage to take advantage of the TM's converter's trickle charge utility. If I unplug the shore power and if there is sun, the battery stays charged but it will rise to 14.4 volts then slowly decay to 13 volts before the charging restarts. If it drops to 13 volts as the sun goes down it will continue to drop all night until the sun rises the next morning. If your battery is buried inside your TM (like mine) and you need to see the battery voltage while in storage you can measure it at the 7 pin bargman connector.

In general, my solar system will keep the battery charged if in daily full sun and if there is no equipment left on in the TM. My solar panel (a single 80 watt panel) will only put out about 4 amps in full sun. That is enough recharge current to take care of the normal background demands of an idle TM but will not handle much in the way of lighting and especially will not handle the refrig, etc.

It is a factory installed system put together in mid 2009. It uses the Specialty Concepts, Inc. Mark 15 controller which turns on when the battery voltage drops to 13.0 volts and turns off when the battery voltage rises to 14.4 volts (all settings are plus or minus 0.2 volts). It is a "bang-bang" controller and does not trickle charge. You can find more details including pictures and manuals at this thread:

<http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?p=92375>.

I am not sure what the controller does that is in your year and model. Maybe it is the same.

Hope this helps,

Jerry

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by MarkoPolo

I can't seem to find the answer to this: Does the solar panel keep charging when the Trailmanor is closed? I know the power to lights quits when you fold down the bathroom.

Exactly - the bathroom wall 'switch' will remove power to interior lights mounted inside the roofing shells, but it doesn't effect anything else. All other 12V loads and battery connections remain active, including your Solar controller connection to the battery.

This is especially useful during longer lunch stops when traveling down the road: Your TV engine is stopped, and the alternator isn't sending any power to the TV or TM 12V electrical system. If the Fridge is running on electric (open propane valves on a moving trailer are dangerous in an accident, and illegal in many locations), it will use a lot of power from batteries in the TM and the TV. Fridge DC electric consumes 110-140 Watts, varying according to the voltage supplied at the Fridge DC input leads. Solar helps to supply this power, and keeps your TV battery from possibly going "dead" and preventing engine restart when you return from lunch.

[LoveToCamp]

Plus, it keeps your battery topped-off while in storage. My battery used to go dead in about a month (until I installed a disconnect switch). After I installed a solar panel, I never have a low battery.