Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Can someone help?

I gotta solar panel and reg and use it on longer trips to keep the batteries charged. The reg is a bigger one and is not vehicle mounted as I lend it to others. I can easily mount it on the cargo barrier with cable ties, have the panel mounted on the roof rack and plug the wires into the reg when I stop.........but can the wires from the reg go to the 10mm accessory wire that comes from the battery to the fuse box in the rear of the truck, or does it have to go back to the battery?

TIA

as long as there is a permanent electrical connection to the battery.. ie the accessory wire connection point is not switched through a relay with the ignition..

just check that there is 12V at the rear fuse panel with the ignition off..

there should be no problem.

10mm is more than enough to take the current from the solar panel/regulator..

im assuming that the panel is not plugged in while the engine is running..
(this could be bad)

AFAIK most solar panel regulators are set up so as to not allow higher voltages to feed back into the panels (ie. for at night when the battery voltage is higher than the panel output). So, in theory, having it connected to the vehicle with the engine running shouldn't be a problem.

As the_smoo said you shouldn't have any problems providing there's a permanent 12v connection to the battery. The worse case will be the battery will take a little longer to charge due to voltage drop across the cable. But it will still charge to the same level.

i looked into the solar panel thing a while ago..

some of the cheaper type panels do not have the reverse (blocking) diode to stop current flowing to the panel..

Not sorted yet but this was my game plan if I got posative responses. But the panel wont be plugged in when driving as the wires will be running in an open window, and the 10mm wire is direct off the aux battery so I will hook the reg up to there which will save me running another thru the car.
Thanks again

the_smoo wrote:i looked into the solar panel thing a while ago..

some of the cheaper type panels do not have the reverse (blocking) diode to stop current flowing to the panel..

That means your battery could discharge into the solar cells if the sun goes behind clouds, and you'd have to disconnect them at night! Even a cheap kit regulator I built had protection against that...

i looked around a while ago.. quite a lot of regulators and/or panels dont have this feature..

pretty amazing considering the cost to implement it...

BP solar are good.. some are self regulating, and also have reverse current blocking diodes all within the panel..

Go and buy a blocking diode. I had a small solar panel on top of my battery on my camper to keep it trickle charged when not in use. The diode cost bugger all, and you just solder it into the + lead.