Can you have a solar panel with no controller?

[Boringfrog]

I'm pretty sure no fridges run on 12volt, they use the power from the alternator running through the engine battery. When you stop at a petrol station with a AES fridge the gas won't auto ignite but it won't draw any 12 volt from the leisure battery.

 

[JeanLuc]

Both Hymers we have had with AES fridges it stays on permanently if no other power source. I think the idea behind it is it keeps a supply on the fridge when engine is turned off until gas takes over after 15 min, , downfall is when gas bottles are turned off for the ferry.

That makes sense to me now. Looking at the circuit diagram for the EBL226, when the motorhome is in motion, the fridge relay is switched so that 12v+ comes in to the EBL from the starter battery (i.e. alternator-supplied) via the relay and out to the fridge. This route by-passes the 15 amp fridge fuse on the EBL completely. When the fridge relay is switched to parked position with the engine switched off, the 12v+ feed from the starter battery is disconnected but another feed comes from another internal Relay (MS Relay 2) through the 15 amp fridge fuse and out to the fridge. This 12v supply comes via MS Relay 2 from the main leisure battery connection on the back of the EBL. MS Relay 2 appears to be controlled by an internal master switching module (HS 100) that is in turn activated by the control panel above the door.
So, as you say, the system relies on the logic control of the AES fridge to switch off 12V supply when the engine is not running.

 

[parigby]

Getting more directly back on topic, l too appear to be running a solar panel without a controller. When l queried it with the supplying dealer, he brushed it off with the explanation that the panel would automatically switch between leisure and vehicle battery depending upon which needed topping up the most, and that l needn't do anything. Now l am a DUMBO when it comes to electrics ( the wife would say, with just about everything else as well ), so l took the dealer at his word. Having read this thread, l'm now not so sure.

Thinking it might not be such a bad idea to get someone to look at the system, just to make sure.

 

[Boringfrog]

Getting more directly back on topic, l too appear to be running a solar panel without a controller. When l queried it with the supplying dealer, he brushed it off with the explanation that the panel would automatically switch between leisure and vehicle battery depending upon which needed topping up the most, and that l needn't do anything. Now l am a DUMBO when it comes to electrics ( the wife would say, with just about everything else as well ), so l took the dealer at his word. Having read this thread, l'm now not so sure.

Thinking it might not be such a bad idea to get someone to look at the system, just to make sure.

If this system automatically switches between leisure and engine battery how is it doing this without a controller/regulator?

 

[Lenny HB]

If this system automatically switches between leisure and engine battery how is it doing this without a controller/regulator?

Is the solar regulator built into your charger?
Dual output regulators ether give a trickle charge to the engine battery when the leisure batteries are charged or at per-determind level sometimes adjustable often set to 80%. Also could have a relay like this.

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