17' Series Solar panels 2015 expanda

[Digger12]

gday guys.

We have just purchased a 2015 jayco expanda 17.56.2B. It has one battery at the moment and came with a factory fitted solar panel on the roof.
Just wanted to know if the battery isolator switch inside the van needs to be left on the ON position when van is NOT in use to trickle charge the battery......OR will it still charge when battery isolator is turned to the OFF position.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

If out in the sun, the solar will charge regardless of the battery switch being on or not.

 

[NoWorries]

Check the wiring, Jayco have sometimes done wierd things with wiring
Wait until it is sunny and put a multimeter on the battery turn the switch off
and then on if it goes up when the switch is turned on they have wired it "differently" to how it should be.

 

[Drover]

Only if there is load on the battery, if nothing turned on in van then flicking the switch won't give much variation I think.

 

[Dobbie]

Check the wiring, Jayco have sometimes done wierd things with wiring
Wait until it is sunny and put a multimeter on the battery turn the switch off
and then on if it goes up when the switch is turned on they have wired it "differently" to how it should be.

We must have been lucky as Jayco wiring was fine...correct wire gauge and no problems with 240 or 12v at all.

We always carry spare fuses and have never had to use them so I'd be inclined to assume it's just one or two in a large build run that might have the occasional problem.

I think you're being a bit harsh!



and we've had our new van independently checked for exactly the same...there was an issue with the installation of a 25amp charger and the installer didn't strip or crimp the terminals correctly, as per the manual. I've sent him the invoice so I guess our amicable relationship might suffer!

The other leckie also checked everything else for us...mainly as I needed to be confident we weren't going to get any future problems which could be avoided.

All good now....charging beautifully on both 240 and solar so I'm happy.

My spare solar controller, in the other hand, is showing some very dodgy terminals. I wired it up so I'd better fix it myself!

 

[Wombat6]

We have the 20.64 caravan but the setup is probably the same. I think the solar panel goes through the controller directly to the battery(s) and not through the coast to coast or Drifter panel. You should see the solar controller showing the voltage coming through (anywhere between 12 V and 14 V depending on the sun) and it will also show the amperage as long as the battery(s) are not full.

The issue I have with the setup is that because it does not involve our drifter controller the drifter does not know about any charge being provided by the solar panel. Thus what I find is that after free camping for a couple of days the drifter panel will show the batteries as getting low (and sometimes no charge at all) despite me using either the onboard solar panel or my portable panel. However, if I then plug the car or mains power in to charge the batteries, within 10-20 minutes the drifter panel suddenly shows full charge. Very frustrating. I am going to take this up when I get my first service in a few weeks time as I believe that the supplied drifter panel should be able to correctly measure battery charge, even if I am using the supplied solar panel.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

We have the 20.64 caravan but the setup is probably the same. I think the solar panel goes through the controller directly to the battery(s) and not through the coast to coast or Drifter panel. You should see the solar controller showing the voltage coming through (anywhere between 12 V and 14 V depending on the sun) and it will also show the amperage as long as the battery(s) are not full.

The issue I have with the setup is that because it does not involve our drifter controller the drifter does not know about any charge being provided by the solar panel. Thus what I find is that after free camping for a couple of days the drifter panel will show the batteries as getting low (and sometimes no charge at all) despite me using either the onboard solar panel or my portable panel. However, if I then plug the car or mains power in to charge the batteries, within 10-20 minutes the drifter panel suddenly shows full charge. Very frustrating. I am going to take this up when I get my first service in a few weeks time as I believe that the supplied drifter panel should be able to correctly measure battery charge, even if I am using the supplied solar panel.

We had the same problem @Wombat6, so after some research I discovered that the muppets at the factory are not wiring them correctly.

It's simple to fix however, all you need to do is disconnect the negative wire that connects to the battery and reconnect it to the negative terminal on the Drifter shunt.

I put some photos in this thread http://www.expandasdownunder.com/th...-20-6-expanda-caravan.9749/page-2#post-168216

Basically everything going into and out of the battery needs to go through the shunt so the Drifter knows about it, so move the negatives and it will change your life

 

[Wombat6]

Bellbirdweb, I think I may have read this response from you before. Call me a stubborn young mule (I refuse to think of myself as old) but I feel that if the supplied drifter control panel is supposed to monitor battery charge then it should monitor the charge, regardless of which "supplied" power source is charging it. These are all factory supplied components and I will raise it at my first service.

However, if I don't get a suitable response then I may have to follow your instructions. We free camp a lot and after a few days away it is a little frustrating not knowing if the the Drifter panel is showing no charge because the solar panels have just not been able to keep up with our demand or just that the batteries are actually full but this is not registering with the control panel because we are charging from solar.

 

[Drover]

If they didn't find it on the pre delivery service check probably won't find it on this one, looks like a common wiring fault on a lot of Jayco's going by other threads......but like most faults they never try to rectify them at manufacture, poor QC and has been for years...

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Bellbirdweb, I think I may have read this response from you before. Call me a stubborn young mule (I refuse to think of myself as old) but I feel that if the supplied drifter control panel is supposed to monitor battery charge then it should monitor the charge, regardless of which "supplied" power source is charging it. These are all factory supplied components and I will raise it at my first service.

However, if I don't get a suitable response then I may have to follow your instructions. We free camp a lot and after a few days away it is a little frustrating not knowing if the the Drifter panel is showing no charge because the solar panels have just not been able to keep up with our demand or just that the batteries are actually full but this is not registering with the control panel because we are charging from solar.

I was surprised that the factory didn't wire it correctly myself, but seeing other posts and having an electronics background, I looked at all of the manuals, and indeed the factory is just lazy and wiring the solar directly.

I know that mine is now wired as I am suggesting and works as you are wanting it to work.

 

[coneheadpaul]

As someone who neglected the original van battery ..and paid the price.
I would say IF the solar panels are lit...leave the battery switch
off.
The solar charge controller should be wired direct to the batteries..... put a meter across during daytime versus nighttime .
If the panels not lit ...you will need batt switch ON to charge from setec via mains.

Learnt the hard way here myself...using the van including mains charging ....ON.
not using the van or solar charging OFF.
Have a look on youtube for jayco...some good vids.

Cheers all cp