Hi all!
My wife and I just bought an '18 FWC Hawk and we are stoked to get it out this summer! I'm a fairly handy guy with a background in the trades so I've been able to figure out most of the systems, make some minor repairs, wire the camper to the truck for running lights and charging, and even troubleshoot and replace the circuit board on the hotter heater. However my knowledge of electrical systems and anything solar is pretty limited. We're primarily interested in boon docking and being off the grid while we're in the camper. I know we have dual 6V batteries (they appear to be Deka deep cycle Intimidator batteries if that means anything) rated at 380AH combined.
I have a few questions:
I've attached pictures the solar panels (we have 2) but I can't find any information on the panels themselves. Does anyone know the brand and likely watts of the system? They appear to be flexible panels that are attached to the roof with a bed of some type of sealant so maybe the information is on the bottom and I can't get to it.
What is the likelyhood of being able to camp for a week in good sunlight (we're in CO so we have LOTS of sunshine not days) with this system. We would want to use the fridge (85L from the factory at FWC), and heater on low most nights.
The other question I have is regarding the solar controller pictured below. It works well, but it never seems to think the batteries are completely charged. In full sun I have seen it charging as high as 20V around 7amps. The battery icon on the left never stops sequentially blinking from 1/2 to 3/4 to full indicating the system is charging. The battery is reading around 14.2V at this time which seems like a high voltage for the battery to be charging at for an extended period of time. Is it bad for the charger to keep cramming voltage into the battery at this level? I know the controller has functions to top off and maintain the batteries over time (and is smarter than I am), but it never seems to think the battery is actually full. I have the settings set to a sealed 12V system so I think that is all I need to do for the system to maintain it's self. Anyone have experience with this particular solar controller? I'm not sure if this an electrical system directly from FWC or not. There were different types of sealant used on the solar panels (making me think one was added after the fact) and the wood holding the batteries in place seems a little sloppy to have been done from the factory at FWC.
My wife and I just bought an '18 FWC Hawk and we are stoked to get it out this summer! I'm a fairly handy guy with a background in the trades so I've been able to figure out most of the systems, make some minor repairs, wire the camper to the truck for running lights and charging, and even troubleshoot and replace the circuit board on the hotter heater. However my knowledge of electrical systems and anything solar is pretty limited. We're primarily interested in boon docking and being off the grid while we're in the camper. I know we have dual 6V batteries (they appear to be Deka deep cycle Intimidator batteries if that means anything) rated at 380AH combined.
I have a few questions:
I've attached pictures the solar panels (we have 2) but I can't find any information on the panels themselves. Does anyone know the brand and likely watts of the system? They appear to be flexible panels that are attached to the roof with a bed of some type of sealant so maybe the information is on the bottom and I can't get to it.
What is the likelyhood of being able to camp for a week in good sunlight (we're in CO so we have LOTS of sunshine not days) with this system. We would want to use the fridge (85L from the factory at FWC), and heater on low most nights.
The other question I have is regarding the solar controller pictured below. It works well, but it never seems to think the batteries are completely charged. In full sun I have seen it charging as high as 20V around 7amps. The battery icon on the left never stops sequentially blinking from 1/2 to 3/4 to full indicating the system is charging. The battery is reading around 14.2V at this time which seems like a high voltage for the battery to be charging at for an extended period of time. Is it bad for the charger to keep cramming voltage into the battery at this level? I know the controller has functions to top off and maintain the batteries over time (and is smarter than I am), but it never seems to think the battery is actually full. I have the settings set to a sealed 12V system so I think that is all I need to do for the system to maintain it's self. Anyone have experience with this particular solar controller? I'm not sure if this an electrical system directly from FWC or not. There were different types of sealant used on the solar panels (making me think one was added after the fact) and the wood holding the batteries in place seems a little sloppy to have been done from the factory at FWC.