Battery Management in Low Sunlight Conditions

As the sunlight hours drop this is typically when we start to see people struggle with their 12V house batteries and field phone calls with confusion on why they might be flat. Its not so much an issue with battery capacity but an issue with the recharge rate during the day.

Most of our new customers are opting for around 400W of solar now. 200W of solar during winter is a very light set up, this in turn means you may need to plug in to 230V power every few days to recharge your batteries.
It is very important if you have an AGM/ Lead Acid or Gel battery you do not let the voltage drop below 12V. To assist with keeping on top of your winter travels you can always add an additional solar panel or two. Something I highly recommend is a Enerdrive E-pro Plus battery monitor, these are a very helpful device and keeps you well informed of your battery condition.

A couple of tips to help. Make sure you do not run your 3-way fridge on 12V unless you're traveling. 3-way fridges are designed to be on gas as priority, 230V when plugged in to mains power and 12V when the engine is running only. Most fridges are designed to automatically determine what source is most efficient and correct to run on and shouldn't require overriding.

When on the ferry, you are best to turn your fridge off completely, they work as a insulated chilly box and will be fine left like this for a 4 or 5 hour ferry journey. Once you are off the ferry, switch it back on to automatic 3-way.

Another good thing to check is if you have an inverter fitted, make sure this is off when not in use. An invertor will use 12V power while switched on even if nothing is connected to it.

I hope this helps and happy camping!

Brett Smith