Adding portable panels to the van is a great way to recover the power used during your trip. Portable panels can't be added to the battery directly though as on most vans, there is a monitoring or power management system in place. Connecting directly to the batteries will prevent power management systems from working in most cases, which will lead to incorrect figures showing on the displays.
This isn't to say it can't be done, it just has to be done in the correct manner.
BatteryPlus35 ranges (original & Series II)
- Begin by locating the solar input lines on your charger. If you have 2 rooftop panels going into two separate inputs, you will need to combine these into one input line, freeing up the second terminal on the solar input for the portable connection.
- Run a Positive and Negative line (B&S 8 is recommended) from the BP35's location through to the chassis.
- Cupboard at end of bed: Drop through the floor in the corner using sleeving or conduit to protect the cable.
- Under bed/Under seating: Drop through the floor and along to the chassis. Sleeving and conduit are recommended though are not always needed. This helps to protect the cable as well as gives a refined finish to the installation.
- Overhead cupboards: Run through the cupboards to the rear of the fridge. If in a kitchen, the rangehood will usually provide a cavity suited to this. If it's not possible to run through here, some square conduit across the back of the cabinets will be almost invisible.
- Fit an Anderson plug to the chassis after connecting the cables to it. Make sure to double-check the polarity of the connections.
- Connect these cables to the BP35's solar input line. The two rear points are both negative and the two front points are both positives inputs. It doesn't matter which of the two are used, as long as negative are behind and positives are in the front connections.
Be sure to select a compatible solar panel. For more information on this, refer to the article: How do I plug in my portable solar panel?
Genius II & Other systems with a Drifter display or monitor
If you have a battery monitor or display such as the Drifter, Enerdrive E-lite or E-pro or something similar, you will need to make sure the solar inputs are tied to this correctly.
- Connect a line from the positive of an Anderson plug to your batteries using a suitably sized fuse. The size of this fuse will depend on the rating and quantity of panels you are planning to use. This should be on the battery the farthest away from the shunt.
- Follow the negative line from your batteries back until you find the current shunt. This looks somewhat like a large fuse and is relaying the amount of power used from the battery to the display in the van. This is often sealed inside a junction box or an enclosure for weather protection.
- Connect the Anderson plugs negative line to the load side of the shunt. This is the opposite side to where the battery is connected to it.
- reseal the enclosure to protect from the elements again.
With this method, a solar regulator MUST be used. Failure to do so will lead to overcharging of the batteries. For more information on this, refer to the article: How do I plug in my portable solar panel?
Genius II & Other systems without monitoring
If you do not have a battery monitor or ammeter, you do not need to do anything fancy when connecting the portable input line.
If you have a battery monitor or display such as the Drifter, Enerdrive E-lite or E-pro or something similar, you will need to make sure the solar inputs are tied to this correctly.
- Connect a line from the positive of an Anderson plug to the positive terminal of your batteries using a suitably sized fuse. The size of this fuse will depend on the rating and quantity of panels you are planning to use.
- Connect the Anderson plugs negative line to the negative side of the battery. With more than one battery in parrallel, you will want to connect this line to the farthest battery away.
With this method, a solar regulator MUST be used. Failure to do so will lead to overcharging of the batteries. For more information on this, refer to the article: How do I plug in my portable solar panel?