Sucking the life outta me.....

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Kmikesell

Just returned from a LONG trip to Texas to see the eclipse... Almost 3000 mile round trip. Due to setting up and tearing down I noticed that my batteries (2 Trajan 6V that are two years old) didn't hold up to a charge. I even have a 100 W solar to keep them topped up.

I think I have some hidden draw, but I'm not sure how to find out....

Any help?

A 100W solar panel may give you about 30ah in a full sunny day. If your batteries are 200ah, that's not a lot of help. It's certainly better than nothing but I didn't really start seeing a useful charge until I got to 400W of solar. Now I have 640W of solar and truly feel like I'm self dependent.

I'm sure you know this but check your water level. If low, fill it to about 1/2" of the top with distilled water. If you've ever put tap water (even a little) in your batteries, that will destroy them ina short period of time.

[Kmikesell]

Originally Posted by Wavery

A 100W solar panel may give you about 30ah in a full sunny day. If your batteries are 200ah, that's not a lot of help. It's certainly better than nothing but I didn't really start seeing a useful charge until I got to 400W of solar. Now I have 640W of solar and truly feel like I'm self dependent.

I'm sure you know this but check your water level. If low, fill it to about 1/2" of the top with distilled water. If you've ever put tap water (even a little) in your batteries, that will destroy them ina short period of time.

I've used these batteries/solar panels for two summers and they fit my usual needs perfectly. By 11:00AM my batteries are reading right around 13.4 V. So this system has worked for me in the past.