What does one do with a solar

[Lizbeth]

I have one, it's coiled up in the clothes closet where the controller is located. I have no paper work for the controller or panel.

Do I thread it through to the battery compartment? Do I pour sauce on it and eat it for dinner?

Another question...... How do I find out how many watts the panel is? All it says on it is Seimens.

[Lizbeth]

I answered my second question. It appears by measurement and quantity of cells to be a "Siemens SM50-H Solar Panel".

I'm jazzed, I thought the PO had said "fifteen watts", I guess he said "fifty"!

[Art Davis]

The idea is that the sensor monitors the temp of the battery, so it should be attached to the battery case. Just how is a matteri of contention. I would attach it with a glob of silicone caulk or something of this sort.

By the way, what kind of charge controller do you have?

[Lizbeth]

The controller is a Heliotrope RV TC-15. There is only one site that says anything about it and very little at that. I will call about it on Monday when the co. is open maybe they can fill me in.

http://www.amsolar.com/bargains.html

[Ed Harris]

I have only seen temp sensors on certain battery chargers but it stands to reason that since the solar control is just a battery charger then this is indeed what the purpose is.

I have 2 Xantrex chargers and one has a switch to select battery temp? and the other has terminals for an optional sensor.
Here is what the XANTREX website says:

http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/105/p/1/pt/5/product.asp

So there you go!

[Lizbeth]

Thanks Ed!

I've removed the back panel in the closet so I can run the wire to the battery compartment which is next to the closet. Hubby just added a second battery. It fit in the compartment just like it was meant to be there!

[Pete]

Lizbeth,

I have one of amsolar's complete packages set up on "The Wonder Egg" and have been very pleased with it. I asked a lot of questions before buying and called after I was up-and-running to confirm things. If you ever have any questions at all on technical issues they go out of their way to help out the customer. They've been putting solar on RV's for quite a while and seem to have it down very well.

Enjoy your free, continuous energy!

[Bill F.]

The controller is a Heliotrope RV TC-15. There is only one site that says anything about it and very little at that. I will call about it on Monday when the co. is open maybe they can fill me in.

http://www.amsolar.com/bargains.html

Hi Lizbeth,
It appears to be PWM type which means you get 3 levels of charging which deep cycle batteries like versus simple on/off charging with low end relay type controllers. They appear to be offering only MPPT type controllers on their new systems. Some MPPT controllers offer a fourth level(equalize) which is reccomended periodically to maintain deep cycle batteries, and they claim to harvest 10-30% more power from your panel. Also with the MPPT controllers you can usually use 24,36, or 48 volt panels and charge 12 or 24 volt batteries. The downside is you have to pay substantially more than you have. I found a reasonably priced 24V panel so I had to go with the MPPT type controller(I hadn't done enough research before buying the panel).
Bill

[Lizbeth]

Thanks Pete and Bill, I'm glad to find out more about the set up.