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Solar panel do I put charger switch on in caravan

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denise_374355927

Am having a thick moment ! We have bought a 40 watt solar panel to trickle charge our 12 volt battery when not on electrics. We bought it because our battery went flat a couple of weeks ago on a rally. Now I know this may be a stupid question, but can't find the answer in the manual. Do we put the charger switch on in the caravan when the solar panel is connected to the battery ? We have one of those fan dangled sargent systems installed in the Sterling Eccles it petrifies me
 
Just think about it.
If the solar panel is connected directly to the battery and the "charger" is the caravan's own battery charger that runs off mains electric when connected to EHU why would you want the 240 volt charger on?
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It's not going to do anything with out a 240v supply.
 
Without knowing how your system is connected ithere are two possible answers Denise.
If you simply connect the solar panel via the solar charge controller directly to the battery then as Gybe said, there is no point in leaving the charger switch on because it's not doing anything off ehu.
If, on the other hand, your solar panel is connected via the solar charge controller directly into the Sargent charging system (like mine and many others are, because Sargent supply a part specifically for this purpose for Swift / Sterling caravans) then yes, you would need the charging switch on even when off ehu because the current would be routed to the battery via the charge circuit.
 
The wiring does go into the sargent charger system under the bench seat, as the wiring was provided with the Sterling 2012 . Thank you for that ,I thought I may of needed the charger on. Thank you for your help
 
As I thought, leave the charger on to complete the circuit. I turn the charger off during the procedure if I swap the leisure battery for my spare when the caravan is in storage to prevent any possibility of damaging the solar cells but otherwise leave it on.
 
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