With barely any sunlight falling on my tiny solar panel this morning,
I'm wondering if it will even try to track the sun as it moves behind the rain clouds.
So, I figured this would be a good day to test the remaining charge controller
to see if these things help? Or hurt the SOC on a cloudy day
and at night..
I've started a log to see what happens to the voltage during these next few rainy days.
Right now, the LEDs are indicating the LAs are charging, but the panel juice is very very low..
Only when the sun peeks out a little does the PV voltage move towards the 14 to 21 volt range.
I would be very surprised (and pleased) if my little 5-10 watt panel can
keep the tracker LA charged, while keeping my two big car LAs in the
ham shack topped off..
When the clear weather comes back, we shall find out!
Cheers,
Rich
Edit: 3-21-10
After 4 or 5 cloudy days (and about 7" of rain), all of the batteries still had a good SOC.
Now that it's been sunny for a few days, all three LA batteries are charging normally.
It's hazy out now and old CRV batt (Panasonic) is charging at 14.11v and the Toyota batt is at 14.16v.
The spec says they chargers will shut down at 14.2v.. One more sunny day?
