Solar Panel Battery Charging And Problems 1998 v70 mostly

[MrAl]

As the guys have said Al, there are some spots that a wire can be fished through which saves drilling holes and potential for water entry to the car. I wish you good luck!

Neil.

Hi,

Yes i am going to give it a try. Today was too much rain so nothing accomplished. Supposed to be nicer out tomorrow.
Thanks Neil.

[scot850]

Hope the weather gods are with you tomorrow! We are heading into the winter depths again for the next 2 weeks so back to the -20C and below. Wonderful!

Neil.

[MrAl]

Hope the weather gods are with you tomorrow! We are heading into the winter depths again for the next 2 weeks so back to the -20C and below. Wonderful!

Neil.

Hi Neil,

I was only in Canada a few times many years ago back in the 1970's. It was a field service/redesign outing.
I remember though the people had to get undercoating for their vehicles because of the snow and the salt they had to use on the road which would rot the undersides faster.
I cant remember what the weather was like at those times though, but i know up north you guys have some seriously cold weather. I hate that, but one thing i hate more is the intense heat in the summer coupled with a strong sun, it get's incredibly hot and you dont want to go out in that either.
Amazingly we didnt get much snow here yet. Just a little flurries that's about it.
Today is supposed to be more sunny.

[wizechatmgr]

Could also splice into the radio memory circuit at the harness and backfeed there. This saves you from having to do a bunch of extra wiring...

[MrAl]

Could also splice into the radio memory circuit at the harness and backfeed there. This saves you from having to do a bunch of extra wiring...

Oh ok thanks. I decided to run a separate brand new wire though so i know exactly what size it is and where it goes and does not interfere with any other wiring in the car. I went through the firewall after much effort.

[MrAl]

Little Update...

We had a lot of cloudy days here this past week or so. The solar panel does not do that much during those times.
I had to go out and start the car yesterday because it was getting low.
I also found out i have to run the car longer than 5 minutes because i get only 5 amps charging current. Yours may be higher though you could measure it.

[scot850]

5A charging current out of a 100A alternator? Do you switch of things like the fan, lights and seat/rear window/mirror heaters?

Neil.

[MrAl]

5A charging current out of a 100A alternator? Do you switch of things like the fan, lights and seat/rear window/mirror heaters?

Neil.

Hi Neil,

That's a very good question.
The only answer i can think of is that the battery develops a "soft spot" where the charge it can take gets lower and lower as time goes on because the battery has not been charged properly for a while.

By soft spot i mean the voltage increases more than usual with a given charge current. For example, when the battery is new the voltage may be 12.5v and it may take 20 amps for the voltage to reach up to 14v while charging, at which time the alternator regulator sees the voltage is at the right level so it cuts back the current to 10 amps. As the battery is not charged enough, the voltage drops down to perhaps 12.0v, and now when it charges at 20 amps it jumps right up to 14v and only takes 5 amps because the apparent internal resistance is higher.
Another explanation is that 5 amps may be enough if the car is driven for a longer time period than just 5 minutes once every two or three days. I think it takes at least 10 minutes. I'm still experimenting with this.

Ultimately i think the battery needs to be put on a good, long charge, so that it can reach it's more normal voltage of around 12.6 votls. That probably means i'd have to disconnect it and bring it into the house and put it on the battery conditioner. That's a bit of a job for me right now but i may end up doing it if we dont get more sun around here soon. With the solar panel if we have a sunny day i get a decent rise in voltage but it would take several days to get it back to normal i think, and that hasnt happened yet because of the dang clouds. Several cloudy days in a row really messes things up as the battery discharges more and more.

So at some point i'll probably have to bring the battery in, or else try running it for 10 minutes or longer during cloudy days.

[abscate]

Your usage is do low you need to run two batteries and trickle charge one inside. Two quick release clamps and you can take the battery out in 1 minute.

Use a small 12 volt battery and wire in an ECU “ stay alive “ pigtail to address inspection

[MrAl]

Your usage is do low you need to run two batteries and trickle charge one inside. Two quick release clamps and you can take the battery out in 1 minute.

Use a small 12 volt battery and wire in an ECU “ stay alive “ pigtail to address inspection

Hi,

Yes ultimately that's what i need to do.
The thing stopping me is i would have to carry one down two flights of stairs then one up two flights. They are big batteries.

I like the idea of the 2nd battery though. i could probably use a sealed lead acid 12v 7AHr battery and have a switch to connect. Leave it in the car, charge it now and then.