Solar Charger

[Airstream12557]

Our 2004 30 ft. Land Yacht has a standard equipment solar charger (about one ft. square and designed, I assume, just to keep the battery topped off). To date, the indicator light next to the microwave has been showing a solid red during the day time to indicate that the charger is operating. Today, it started blinking. I went to my maintenance documentation, but could find nothing on the solar charging system. Any thoughts what the blinking light is indicating and what is the fix.

Thanks!!

Sam

[BarnacleBill]

Which regulator do you have? We havs a Carnamah GPR-25. I (hopefully) am including a picture.



This is from our owner's manual:

Monitoring
Charging LED (red): When the battery is charging, the charging light will be lit. When the state of charge for the battery is close to full, the light will be off for short periods of time and on for short periods of time - the pulse-charging feature of the GPR-25. In situations where outside ambient light is shining on the solar module, it may be possible for the charging light to be on after the sun has set.

Hope this is helpful. Let us know what you find out.

[Airstream12557]

My indicator is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. It is a black plastic raised disk with a red indicator light in the center. Around the ring, it states,"Solar Charging When Lit". There is no indication of a manufacturer's name. Yestereday morning it had a steady red light and then later in the day it reverted to rapid blinking.

Thanks for the post Bill!

Sam

[Byers]

I have one of those on my '04 30' Land Yacht. It is a 5v panel to maintain a charge on the chassis (starting) battery. I have never had the controller blink as you describe. I believe it to be on a fused connection through your power center. Also believe that fuse is in the panel in the forward left hand cabinet rear of the drivers seat as that panel was installed by Airstream; if not, it is in the panel under the dash, left of the steering column, but that panel was installed by Workhorse. Don't know what a bad fuse would do but considering the difficulty of access to your controller I would have my battery checked first. These panels don't usually go bad unless you see damage but I think the wire passes into the coach through the refer opening so you might want to check the wire connections. Good Luck!
By the way, the controller shown in the previous post is for a larger solar panel. It is the same as the one I have which was installed to regulate a 110v panel I had installed after I bought the coach. It does a great job of keeping the house batteries up, especially if you are "boodndocking" without hookups.

[Airstream12557]

Byers, thanks for the information. I will do some further checking, since we'll be hitting the road Friday.

Sam

[Byers]

Checked my rig today and think it may be possible to determine the type & mfg of that controller by removing the faceplate from your microwave. Also, call the parts department at Airstream; I have found them helpful in the past and they should have info in their computers for replacement parts. Have a good trip!!!!