Exercising my TrailManor 2720SL electrical system

[JimLilly]

Hey all - was wondering if there were any opinions on exercising your TrailManor 12 volt systems thru the winter months. I have your average solar panel on the roof, and have the battery and the load connected to the Windy City controller. I have my low voltage shutoff set to 11.2 volts, reconnect at 12.6 volts, and disconnect from charging set to 13.8 volts. Besides the antenna and propane detector parasitic loads I leave one led light on over the stove.

So far it has worked exactly like I think it should. Can come out on my back porch and see the led light on. We have had a couple of snows (northern WV) that covered the solar panel for a few days and the light had gone out. But after the snow thawed and the battery charged some the light comes back on.

Very much respect the research done and the opinions by members of this group so curious as to opinions on working my battery over the winter. Been working with electricity my entire life so i feel like I know what I'm doing but haven't read everything out there on 12 volt systems. Thanks.

[rickst29]

I'm not the only "12V expert" on the TMO forum- but here are my recommendations.

#1 It's good to always disconnect the batteries from "TM phantom loads" in Winter or long-term storage, by switching the Circuit Breaker between "Battery +" and the TM DC Load Distribution Center to OFF. (If you still have the OEM fuse, replace it with this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/30-Amp-In-L...V/251628335785.)

#2, Then hook up the batteries to a really high-quality maintainer, such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-864-A.../dp/B006G14FK8. (Battery Tender Plus, at about $15 less, is almost as good (IMO). In the real world, either would be vastly better than your current Solar Controller.

#3 If you don't have access to 120V for the high-quality Charger/Maintainer, then maybe upgrade to a better Solar Controller? Windy has great prices on panel packages, and wires but their Solar Controller kinda sock (IMO). I like the performance characteristics of the EP-Solar "BN" Series (and I've hammered one of them really hard, on purpose). They're MPPT, and tunable. I don't think that Windy's machines limit the current of a nearly full battery (they run according to "Voltage only" measurements and whatever current the battery is willing to take, otherwise limited only by temperature). And they're only PWM. Depending on your panel configuration, the upgrade could be very worthwhile. Remote "MT-50" and battery temp sensor are mandoatory add ons, usuaslly pruchased separately. DO NOT! Confuse the "BN" series products with any other controllers from "EPEver/EP -Solar" - previous models were much worse, and most of the "EP-EVER" machines models have positive grounding - useless on a Trailmanor. This creates big advantages in the summer, as well as treating your batteries better in the Winter.

#4: Better than #3, if you don't need improved Solar capability on future vacations and you're willing haul stuff around: Bring the batteries home, put them in the garage and connect 'em per recommendation #2.

[Padgett]

I just have a "master 12v disconnect" that disconnects the batteries except for the float charger. Batteries are taking about a quart every 4 months to top off. If wasn't so simple to do, I'd just disconnect and take inside the garage.

[YNPKing]

Originally Posted by rickst29

I'm not the only "12V expert" on the TMO forum- but here are my recommendations.

#2, Then hook up the batteries to a really high-quality maintainer, such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-864-A.../dp/B006G14FK8. (Battery Tender Plus, at about $15 less, is almost as good (IMO). In the real world, either would be vastly better than your current Solar Controller.

I recently sold my 2417 Sport (which we loved) but I still enjoy reading the comments on the Forum. I have a question about the CTEK Battery Charger that you recommended. Since I had 2 Lifeline AGM 6V GPL-4CT batteries installed rated at 220Ah, would the CTEK MUS 4.3 which they rate at 160Ah maximum be adequate to charge my batteries, and maybe just do it slower over a longer period of time? I'll tell you what I did. When I first bought the TM, I bought the CTEK Multi US 25000 rated at 50-500Ah due to the Lifeline 220AH rating and it always worked great. I used the recondition mode a couple times over the 4 years I owned the 2 batteries which is acceptable for Lifeline AGM batteries. Lifeline says no longer than 8 hours but the CTEK never ran longer than an hour or so after a full charge as recommended. When I sold the TM, the batteries always displayed over 12.8V without charging over several weeks. From all the research I did, I was always afraid the TM converter was not up to the job charging anywhere near 100%. I was able to dry camp in YNP for several days without charging. Then, I would hook up the CTEK for a quick charge. I wasn't into solar and the majority of our camping had power.

Dan

[BrucePerens]

Do not allow your battery to run down in the snow. It hurts the battery and reduces its capacity from then on, and a discharged battery will freeze at a much warmer temperature than a charged one. Get a cut off switch and set it up to leave the charger in circuit but turn off all of those parasitic loads.