What drains which battery

[The fat controller]

Hello all

I'm weighing up a solar panel as I'm finding in the warmer weather the fridge appears to be draining my aux battery in a couple of days. I say appears to because I'm not 100% certain which electrics run from which battery.

If the aux battery is responsible for the door, boot, lower bed functions also then this may be a factor. Conversely if these are fed from the starter battery then I will opt for a system which can charge both.

Can't seem to find an answer online or in manuals and I'm wondering if anyone has fiddled with fuses to establish this for themselves (I'm looking at you @Webbah ).

Failing any of that can anyone who has installed a solar solution offer advice of real world performance.

Many thanks in advance.

Phil

 

[JulieG]

I installed a solar panel two years ago. The unit was from Solarcampersolutions.co.uk
Fitting was fairly straightforward for someone who is DIY averse like myself.
The van sits on our drive in “Sunny Yorkshire” and the panel has kept the leisure battery topped up without needing to plug into the mains.
Hope that helps

 

[Steve B]

I've been away without hook up for a few days, and it's the fridge that took the power. The side door was the only other user of power and I would expect that is off the main battery due to it being part of the V class system. I've bought a Jackery and topped my leisure battery up on day two, worked well. I'm going to buy the fold up 100w solar panel now as the set up works for me and I wasn't keen on a permanent panel fixed to the roof. Each to their own though, no right or wrong way to do it.

 

[BobbyMillar]

I'm watching with interest. We currently get 3 days use out of our leisure battery using the fridge on level 2 occ. level 3, ending up around 35-40% remaining on the morning of day 4, obviously without driving the van those days. I'm also thinking about a solar solutions purchase so interested in feedback about long term health of AGM battery always on a trickle charge etc. We were lucky we had long drives (3-5hrs) between camp spots so got back up to ~90% for the next 3 day camp. The financial payback is ~ 100 nights of hookup so several years in reality but if its better for battery and piece of mind that could be priceless.

 

[The fat controller]

I've been away without hook up for a few days, and it's the fridge that took the power. The side door was the only other user of power and I would expect that is off the main battery due to it being part of the V class system. I've bought a Jackery and topped my leisure battery up on day two, worked well. I'm going to buy the fold up 100w solar panel now as the set up works for me and I wasn't keen on a permanent panel fixed to the roof. Each to their own though, no right or wrong way to do it.is a good observation about the door.

I've been away without hook up for a few days, and it's the fridge that took the power. The side door was the only other user of power and I would expect that is off the main battery due to it being part of the V class system. I've bought a Jackery and topped my leisure battery up on day two, worked well. I'm going to buy the fold up 100w solar panel now as the set up works for me and I wasn't keen on a permanent panel fixed to the roof. Each to their own though, no right or wrong way to do it.

Good observation about the door Steve. Hard to know how much it drains but I feel like the multimedia system turns off earlier after a couple of days which suggests it is trying to preserve charge. Think I just need to be more organised in that respect and stop getting in and out!
My preference is to go for a simple solar system for the peace of mind and flexibility to go without hookup - no issues charging at home but many of the spots I like have no hookup and I don't want to spend my time thinking about how cold the fridge is!