Solar panel appears dead on 2024 Tab 400 Boondock - appreciate some input

Comments

• Trudy Member Posts: 4

  February 11

  Tomorrow I am due to get with the seller and take delivery of the 2025 tab 400 HB. He has allowed me to see the Cerbo Gx readout remotely for the last 2 months and the solar panel's output seems very diminished to me. During the height of the sun on a sunny day the output is only in the 30s 40s and maybe 50watts. For two 310W panels totaling 620 W that seems too poor to be acceptable, what should I do? Will I be caught with  seriously underperforming panels and nucamp telling me that's normal, just live with it?
   Thanks for your opinions and feedback, I appreciate it.

  Trudy
  Wisconsin and Florida
  2023 Tab 320S BD

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• pthomas745 Administrator, Moderator Posts: 4,454

  February 11

  Unless you know exactly the position of the trailer in relation to the very low sun angle during the winter, this will be difficult to sort out.  There can be many variables in solar input for roof panels.  

  You would need to match the Victron readouts from the solar controller while you are looking at the panels, if that is possible.  

  2017 Outback

  Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
  

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• andytabrv Member Posts: 36

  February 11

  It would be helpful to know if that value is related to how full the batteries are.  If the batteries are just doing their daily top-off (as they are full) and the value you are seeing is how much wattage they are pushing into the battery you may naturally see a limited amount.  With the Victron Solar Controller app, the default view (at least on my 2024 Tab) defaults to how much wattage the panel is pushing into the batteries.  So, if they are full you may even have the occasional day (particularly a warm one when the battery heaters haven't used any juice) that no solar gets used at all.

  
  

  A good way to get a general read is (1) ensuring the camper is positioned "relatively" well to receive sunlight, (2) Turn on lots of juice hungry things in the camper like fridge, fans, lights, and the inverter, and (3) take a look at the what the shunt is reporting being pulled from the batteries.  Then you can see what the controller is being reported as being supplied and get an idea of how well the solar panels are keeping up supplying the load.

  
  

  Remember the solar panels on the 400 are curved.  So, it's really hard to get the full wattage, even with the sun directly overhead.

  2024 T@b 400 BD  "Tabba the Hut" 
  2022 Nissan Pathfinder
  Cary, North Carolina

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