Storing camper and solar charge controller

[SW Adventurer]

Hi and happy holidays! This topic might be covered in another post but I couldn't easily find it.

We moved from Santa Fe NM to Southern CO where it's much colder. It typically hits zero degrees here at night and can dump a foot of snow in 24 hours. We love it! But we figured we should park our camper in the garage to keep it out of the elements. It's not getting solar recharge of course. I plugged it in (blue light on indicating charging), turned on the camper main power switch and made sure the breakers are on.

The solar charge controller is beeping. Is there something I need to do so that isn't beeping? What does the beeping mean?

We want to use our camper during the winter so I don't want to completely winterize it and take the batteries out but I want to make sure they keep a full charge. What am I missing?

Thanks all! Breece

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

It would be helpful to know what camper and solar system you have. I’ve not heard of a solar controller that has an alarm. That could be my lack of familiarity with newer systems.

 

[SW Adventurer]

Hi, we have a 2015 Hawk with the 100 Watt solar panel with controller and one deep cycle battery.

Thanks! Breece

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

My guess is you have a Zamp solar controller, but I’m not entirely sure. Is there any chance the beep is coming from either your gas/CO detector ( usually low on the left side of the camper) or your smoke detector? The gas leak detector does have a 5-7 year life expectancy, and smoke detectors use 9 volt batteries that should be replaced annually. It may also be the gas alarm has dust in it, or is giving (?) a low voltage alarm.

https://www.motorhome.com/tech/safety-alarms/

The solar controller will flash a light (mine is blue) when charging conditions are poor.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

If the beep is coming from the ZAMP charge controller, try putting a piece of cardboard over the solar panel on the roof. That might take care of it ?

 

[Karlton]

The propane alarm on my 2017 Hawk will occasionally beep. As Wandering suggested, it my be something other than your solar controller.