Brand new, slow to charge on solar?

Snoblett

Hi everyone.  I am new to all this and I just took delivery of my first camper, a 2021 Tab400 Boondock with factory solar and whatever batteries the dealer installed.

I guess I’m not sure what to expect from the solar panel in terms of charging.

we ran the battery fairly low from one night with no shore power running the fan on medium.  Sorry nice then, it’s been in my driveway for almost a week with everything turned off (to my knowledge) and the battery is only just now close to full charge.

Thoughts? 

Thank you!

Verna

The T@B 400’s come with dual 6V AGM batteries with a brand name of Harris.  The batteries are located under your bed, and this is the one model that the nüCamp factory does install the batteries. 

Further information on the Harris batteries can be found from other owners’ posts here by searching for Harris using the search box in the upper right corner of this page. You can also Google Harris for their information.

As far as your batteries just getting fully charged, if you don’t already have a battery meter or a multi meter. I highly recommend them. Using the lights on the installed panel to determine the charged state of your batteries do not give you an accurate picture of the battery’s charge. 

If you turn your batteries off during storage, the solar panels are still charging the batteries and all phantom power draws are deleted and the full charge will be achieved quicker. If you are connected to shore power, this will charge your batteries, also. 

Good luck

Snoblett

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!

pthomas745

If you have installed solar:  you have access to the Victron Connect app, which can give you readings from the battery via bluetooth on your phone.

Most likely, your battery is doing much better than you think.  To run your battery "down" using just the fan and the various "drains" from the trailer would take about......50 straight hours. 

https://www.victronenergy.com/panel-systems-remote-monitoring/victronconnect

And:  there is tons and tons of info on charging and battery monitoring/consumption, etc.

https://jenngrover.com/category/tb/power-management/

TABNewbies

With our 2021 Tab400 Boondock I have run the fan for extended times and the solar keeps everything charged up fine in MA sun/clouds/rain. The Victron Connect app as noted above is useful to show performance. 

Dutch061

Keep in mind that the OEM installed Solar Panel on 2021 is something like 162 Watts MAXIMUM output. This means that in full sun at best this is what you will see, but likely you are getting a bit less sun due to cloud cover etc. You also didn't mention which refrigerator that you have which makes a difference too.

In our 2020 400 BDL, in the heat of the summer using 2 fantastic vent fans, lights, 12 volt compressor refrigerator, water pump, etc. my Amp Hour Consumption is between 50 and 60 PER DAY. The 2020 has 192 Watts of Solar Power installed and I have upgraded my batteries, installed a BMV-712 Smart Shunt, and several other things to address the charging times required. I did this because most of the time we dry camp (Boondock), not everyone camps this way and it doesn't make sense to do the things I have done if you spend the majority of your time camping with shore power available. 

For the example  am going to use, let's go ahead and use the 162 Watts Maximum Output. 

If you have a similar refrigerator and draw 48 Amp Hours per day (meaning you used an average of 2 Amps per hour for 24 hours) and you rely solely on Solar to recharge, it will take 4.33 hours to recharge if you are not using ANY additional amps. 

Here is the math.

162 (Watts)/ 14.4 (Volts in Bulk Charge Mode) = 11.25 Amps. This is the absolute maximum you would ever see going back into the battery while in full sun. So, if you are still using 2 Amps per hour average your input will drop to 9.25 Amps and the time to charge will increase accordingly.

So, you mentioned running the battery fairly low from 1 night. Fairly low is pretty difficult to judge, but it is very possible that what you saw was completely normal. It would be worth double checking the settings in the Victron App for the Solar Charge Controller (or have your dealer do so) to make sure they are set properly.

As Verna mentioned, using the indicator LED's on the panel inside is not a very accurate method of testing state of charge or how much battery you have left. Some people use a voltmeter, while others use a variety of devices that measure how many amps have been used and the amount (State of Charge) that remains. I purchased the unit from Victron BMV-712 for the additional capabilities when using a Victron Solar Charge Controller.

Not sure if this helps address your concerns or not. If not, hopefully it will help with understanding amp hour usage and time to recharge. 

Brad