Hello Evo.
I have looked at the Sargent Web site for your alarm system, and
the following information was found
"The STINGER 310 system unit uses a special 4.8 volt Nickel Metal Hydride battery pack that supplies backup battery power to the system should the supply from the leisure battery fail or be disconnected.
It is recommended that the alarm system is permanently connected to a 12 volt supply. When fully charged the battery will provide approximately 6 months stand-alone operation, depending on
temperature conditions.
It is recommended that this battery pack is replaced every 3 years.
If the battery becomes discharged this will be indicated by a flashing red LED in the PIR and a periodic beep from the beeper. (note: see section below regarding beeps on disarming)
Before placing your caravan in storage please ensure the caravan has had a fully charged leisure battery fitted or the mains charger switched on for at least 14 days prior to storage to ensure the the internal backup battery is fully charged. It is recommended that a leisure battery remains connected to
the caravan during storage.
Always dispose of old batteries in accordance with local regulation"
Provided the system it self is not faulty, it seems to offer a very low power consumption with the manufacture believing it should run for 6months with fully charged batteries and with out being connected to the caravan battery external power. Whilst the manufacture does not quote the capacity of the systems internal batteries, you can safely assume a leisure battery will be about 100 times bigger theoretically giving a 50 to 60 month life without recharge, certainly better than 1 year.
So this suggests you have something else that is either draining the battery or preventing it from charging from the solar cell.
Have you had the battery checked for condition. If its old or has become faulty, it will loose its charge quickly, and may well need more than the 1.5W solar panel.
Is the solar panel clean and well placed to receive the maximum sun/daylight? - don't forget that a small layer of dust will reduce the efficency of the panel.
Have you got an aerial amplifier?, these are sometimes difficult to turn off. Has a cupboard light been accidentally left on?,or perhaps its switch is faulty?.
Whilst you may find something else that actually draining the battery. it may have already damaged the leisure battery such that you need a new one, a specialist should be able to test it for you.
The caravan mover can be deceptive, yes they need large currents to operate, but crucially they are rarely used for long periods, so the amount of energy they use is actually smaller than most people imagine. Motors moving heavy objects need a lot of power to get them going. This is called the peak current and some movers may use 90A for this, but the peak only lasts a fraction of a second and when the mover is running the current drops to a much lower level realistically it will probably be below 30A. How long do you use a mover? again if you actually check the length of time the motors are actually running, its probably less than 6 mins
6 mins(or one tenth of an hour) at 30A equates is to only 3Ah of energy! or 36 watt hours. Broadly speaking your 1.5W solar panel would need to re-charge the battery for about 20 hours to replenish the power used by the motor mover or about 4 days.
However there are other losses in the system so it might take nearer 6 to 8 days.
I personally use a 13W panel on a vehicle that is not used very often. It has a number of systems that continually use some power and before the solar panel the battery would only be good enough to start it for up to a month after its last use. With the panel I have had no problems.
I hope this may have helped.
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