Does the Solar Still Charge the Battery When The Battery Disconect Switch is Off

[Fotoman]

I would like to have everything shut off in the trailer, except for an electric rodent deterant which is wired directly to the battery. Does the solar system charge the battery if I have the battery disconnect switch to 'Off'?

[NH_Bulldog]

I have a solar disconnect and a Giggy Box (main disconnect). If the Giggy Box is off, then solar power does not pass through to the batteries. It is pretty simple to reconfigure the wiring to allow the solar to charge the batteries as long as you don’t have other factors like low temperatures to deal with

[JRTJH]

Depending on the weather conditions where your trailer will be stored for the winter, relying on the solar system to keep the trailer battery system charged may or may not be possible. Leaves on the solar panels, shade caused by nearby trees as the sun is further to the south, snow on the panels and the shorter days/longer nights will all have an impact on how much sunlight hits the panels.

You say you have rodent repellers attached to and powered by the trailer battery that need to stay powered on. I use battery powered rodent repellers that have two C batteries and they last all winter before I change the batteries. So the repellers don't use a lot of energy.

You might be able to manage with your current system, but that would depend on all the conditions above PLUS how your rodent devices are connected to the battery. If they bypass the trailer system, then you can turn off all phantom drains and still power them. On the other hand, if you simply plugged them into a battery "cigarette lighter outlet" in the trailer, I'm not sure how you'd hae to rewire your specific trailer to power that outlet without also having power on the phantom drains....

So, you'll need to consider how you plan to keep the solar panels exposed to the sunlight, keep the trailer roof clean and configure the battery charge system to assure solar is charging your battery bank.

On the other hand, there are rodent repellers that use two C batteries and do essentially the same thing as your "plug in style" which would eliminate the need to recharge the battery bank, allow you to either remove or disconnect the battery from the system and allow you to "more or less" ignore the need to watch the battery level through the winter season.

This is not an endorsement for Amazon, but here's a link to the type I use:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Fotoman]

Thanks for all the info.

NH_Bulldog: I have disconnected the batteries at the Giggy box so I presume no charging will happen. Thanks

JRTJH: I am parked at a farm where it is quite open with not too many trees around. The length of day and rain in my area does concern me. But what you say about the rodent deterants not drawing much power confirms what I thought.

I have two of these connected directly to the batteries (with switch in the line).

https://mouseblocker.ca/product/mous...r-pro-12-volt/

They draw only 0.06Ma each, so I thinnk I am OK just with the batteries. I have 100Ah lithium batteries. I will keep an eye on them though.

Agaian, Thanks for the responses.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Fotoman

Thanks for all the info.

NH_Bulldog: I have disconnected the batteries at the Giggy box so I presume no charging will happen. Thanks

JRTJH: I am parked at a farm where it is quite open with not too many trees around. The length of day and rain in my area does concern me. But what you say about the rodent deterants not drawing much power confirms what I thought.

I have two of these connected directly to the batteries (with switch in the line).

https://mouseblocker.ca/product/mous...r-pro-12-volt/

They draw only 0.06Ma each, so I thinnk I am OK just with the batteries. I have 100Ah lithium batteries. I will keep an eye on them though.

Agaian, Thanks for the responses.

Remember that lithium batteries have temperature limits for charging. If your brand/model battery does not have an internal heating system to keep the battery warm, then below a certain temperature the BMS should stop battery charging. Depending on how long the temperature stays below that limit, you may have days or weeks with no charging. If it does have an internal heating system, you'll need to factor the battery depletion that heater will pull from the battery along with that 0.06 Ma the repellers draw. You may find that the battery heaters are drawing 100 or 1000 times more energy than the repellers.... Take ALL power drains into account in your plans....