solar trickle charge?

[BogeyBoyNevada]

Our 12 volt battery is always a goner when we pick our rig up from storage-Bought a small solar trickle-Question is: should I keep charger attached to battery when we are plugged in ? Don't want to over cook the battery
Thanks

[jkwilson]

If you got one of those little 1’x1’ panels, you don’t have to worry. It won’t come close to keeping up with the battery drain from detectors and self-discharge. Your battery will still go dead, a day or two later. Unhooking a battery lead will help more than the solar charger.

[RVRunners]

We have a solar maintainer larger than the 1x1 mentioned above and it keeps the batteries up fine. I don’t recall the wattage but it definitely needs to be a larger model. We have two batteries. I direct wired it to the the batteries and did not use the Furrion port on the outside of the RV as I found that connectors/adaptors for the same were not readily available. Key to the maintainer is it does just that - it maintains fully charged batteries - it will not charge batteries that are discharged below normal operating voltage.

[SteveTN]

I use a Renogy 50W solar panel to keep the single 12V battery charged in our 337. It is about 18" square and I built a little frame so it would sit at a good angle for the sun. It has worked fine for the last two years. I do not keep it connected when the trailer is connected to shore power, there is no need. It would not be big enough to boondock with but will maintain the battery charge in storage.

[boyscout]

Our 12 volt battery is always a goner when we pick our rig up from storage-Bought a small solar trickle-Question is: should I keep charger attached to battery when we are plugged in ? Don't want to over cook the battery Thanks

You've got lots of advice already; I'm writing to clarify @jkwilson's point and make another of my own.

Batteries will discharge even if you turn off the battery "disconnect" switch in your trailer, because the "disconnect" switch doesn't disconnect the battery (!!). A number of alarms and sensors and other devices remain connected to the battery and over a week or three will drain it flat. As suggested, it's best to remove at least the negative cable from the battery, and if you do that you might not need any supplementary solar charger. If your battery is healthy and fully-charged, when disconnected it should maintain a usefully-charged state for months, even in cold temps.

If you do go the solar-charger route as others have, to avoid cooking the battery the system you buy has to be either too low-powered to cook your battery or has to have controller circuitry to ensure that it doesn't. The "too low-powered" route is certainly cheaper but it doesn't have much utility other than for the purpose you've asked about.

Good luck with your choices.

[SteveTN]

If you go solar then get a controller. The kit I got was just over $100 for the 50W panel with controller. Mine came from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edit: I did have to get a connector because I wanted to use the existing Furion port on the 337. This is the part that mates to the Furion port.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[backtrack2015]

I've just got a 10W solar Battery Tender unit roped to my pin-box and plugged into the Furion port. It keeps the batteries topped up nicely all summer but struggles a bit in the winter. I would disconnect it if attached to shore power. It isn't needed at that point and disconnecting it precludes any trouble.

If you go solar then get a controller. The kit I got was just over $100 for the 50W panel with controller. Mine came from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edit: I did have to get a connector because I wanted to use the existing Furion port on the 337. This is the part that mates to the Furion port.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm thinking of replacing the Battery Tender with a kit like yours. I'm not a solar expert and read in a few places that some of these panels can actually drain your battery overnight. I assume most/all solar charge controllers effectively disconnect the panels whenever they can't generate sufficient voltage, is this correct?

[SteveTN]

I leave mine hooked up for weeks at a time with no issues at all. Any decent panel/controller system will have a blocking diode in the circuit to prevent the panel from from draining the battery when it is dark.

[BogeyBoyNevada]

Thanks-Looks just like ours

[BogeyBoyNevada]

Thank You appreciate the tips