Solar Panel - Holiday Navigator 2003 Owner's Manual

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Electrical Systems - House
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SOLAR PANEL

Close-up of the Indicator Lights.
Charging and Charged indicates
with a green light. Over Temp
indicates with a red light.
8 • 3 2 8
The motorhome comes pre-wired to accept this optional solar battery charging
system. The system consists of one solar panel with mounts, a Combiner box (that
allows you to easily expand the system) and a charge controller that can handle up
to four 85 watt solar panels.
The Solar Panel:
The solar panel is a laser-grooved, buried-grid panel that is capable of
delivering about 5 Amps of charge per hour, per panel, in full sunlight (usually
between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.). Extensive testing has shown that one 85
watt solar panel delivers enough power to offset the normal day-to-day drain
on batteries caused by various parasitic electrical loads. These parasitic loads
are usually associated with transmission memories, alarm systems, natural self-
discharge of batteries and other like items. This means that the first solar panel
is only intended to cover these parasitic loads. Adding a second, third or fourth
solar panel (depending upon needs and electrical consumption) can replace
what is drawn out of the batteries from the operation of lights, water pumps,
inverters, etc., while dry camping.
WARNING: The solar panel needs to be cleaned monthly. The solar
panel may need to be cleaned more frequently depending on weather
conditions.
The Combiner Box:
The Combiner Box is located on the side of the refrigerator vent on the roof. It
has four standard "knock outs" to allows extra solar panels to be added to meet dry-
camping needs.
needs of motorhomes. It can be set to accommodate either
Flooded Lead-Acid batteries or Absorb Glass Mat
(AGM) batteries.
readings by means of a slider switch: House Battery
Voltage, Amps Charge or Engine Battery Voltage. Three
indicator lights are also there for at-a-glance status: Charging
(the system is actively charging), Charged (the batteries
030971
have reached their charged set point) and Over Temp (the circuit
board has reached a high temperature and automatically turns
off; it will turn back on automatically when properly cooled).
electronics attached to it, and will become warm to the touch
especially when it is processing higher amperage. This is
charge control zoom
normal and there is no reason to be concerned. Automatic
Thermal Shutdown (indicated by the Over Temp light) will be
activated if it gets too warm.
The Charge Controller:
The Charge Controller was built specifically to meet the
A digital readout on the faceplate displays one of three
The faceplate of the controller is used as a heat sink for the
N A V I G A T O R 2 0 0 3

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