Leisure Battery

Oct 24, 2010
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I have recently bought a Swift Sundance 580PR which I am very pleased with, whilst off the road for the winter I have had the leisure battey connected so a small solar panel charger in spite of this the battery is still running down somehow. Would it do any harm if I disconnected the leisure battery from the vehicle amd just left it charging from the solar panel?
 
Jan 23, 2011
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Hi gainfield
But what would the Solar Panel charge then ?
I think (but not sure) that if you still allow the Solar Panel to input charge to the system with the Leisure Battery disconnected you may upset the Control Panel function as it will be unable to send the charge anywhere.
Unless the Solar Panel is also charging the Vehicle Battery.
(not clear from your original post)
It may be worthwhile posting the question on the Swift Talk forum
www.swift-talk.co.uk
 
Oct 24, 2010
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Thanks for the post, I am afraid I didn't explain very clearly, I propose disconnecting the leisure battery from the vehicle and connecting the solar panel to the battery, my concern is would it do any harm to the vehicles systems?
 
Feb 4, 2011
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If neither the charger or the battery are connected to the vehicle, the vehicle cannot possibly be damaged by the charger.

The vehicle will forget the time, and the radio may need the code putting in again.

If the battery was running down, the current was going somewhere. It could have been to the vehicle, to the solar charger, or internally within the battery.

If you disconnect the vehicle, you have removed a possible discharge path. The solar charger should incorporate a diode so that it can't discharge the battery. However, a small solar panel, in the winter, won't do a lot.

I suggest that you test what the solar panel is doing by putting a milli-ammeter in series. Most multimeters will read milliamps. You should get no current with the solar panel in darkeness. Any current with the solar panel covered means that the solar panel is discharging the battery.

In sunlight, you should get a few 10s of milliamps charging the battery, which should be enough to keep it charged.

However, if the vehicle was taking a few 10s of milliamps all though the winter, that will flatten the battery, and a small solar panel won't make much difference. If you have now disconnected it, then a good battery should hold its charge well enough that you don't need to keep it topped up over winter.
 
Oct 24, 2010
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Thanks for the advice, I have now charged both batteries up and connected small solar panels to both, the voltages on both batteries has remained stable, so I think the problem is solved.
 
Oct 24, 2010
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Thanks for the advice, I have now charged both batteries up and connected small solar panels to both, the voltages on both batteries has remained stable, so I think the problem is solved.
 

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