Battery problems

Was there any problems last winter? If no and everything was fine then something has changed this winter? It's finding out what has changed.

How old is the battery? That might have an effect?

Was there leaves on the panel, was it clean? You mentioned January so was there a frost or snow on the panel that affected it?

There was a similar problem last year but I had left the radio on, so difficult to say!!

THey had no snow  but obviously some frosts but been quite mild rally

. The cover looks clean and the battery was new in 2019

Thanks for replying - all suggestions appreciated

It sounds to me as though something is draining the battery, do you have an alarm fitted? If so that will drain a battery over time especially if the solar panel is providing little to no top up which I think as CS says is quite likely with all the frost we have been having. I certainly would not feel comfortable with covering up a panel with a "transparent" window.

peedee

We have a 2022 Coachman and the solar panel has worked well through the season when bringing the van home from storage and using the mover, but when we’ve recently had her serviced, the battery was flat. The engineer said even though everything is switched off, the fridge still emits a very low voltage. This is a design so it will swap itself onto the car when towing. So maybe there isn’t anything particularly wrong, just the design and the cold weather we’ve experienced. Maybe disconnecting the battery for next winter may help?  😊

after going down to 6.9 volt, you will defiantly have have broken the plates, you have NO other option but to replace it.

the transparent cover will stop all charging, so next year take your battery home

Thanks everybody for your comments. I think that next year I will just bring the battery home and avoid a 200 mile round trip to fetch it  during the close season!

I've got 3x100W on my moho roof. In the depths of winter, it barely copes with the parasitic drains of trackers/alarms and other sundry gizmos. A single 100W panel with sunlight further diffused by a transparent cover will be all but useless.

You don't give your location, but here on the south coast it's seems to have been a particularly gloomy solstice period.

my battery did the the same, and i managed to get the voltage back into the battery, and when established that it was holding charge i put it back in the van,  but  after a week i went into check the van and had a faint whiff of sulpher so i disconnected the battery and bought a new one, since then no problems,  the old one is still holding 12.7v left on bench but its not a enclosed area so no smell. i would swap for a new one rather than risk reusing one thats recovered from flat.