Selecting solar battery maintainers

[lfcave]

I am thinking of buying g a solar battery maintainer so the battery is ready to go when we want to go. We own a Jay Feather 7 19XUD (think small). I have looked at "SUNER POWER 12V Solar Car Battery Charger & Maintainer - Portable 6W Solar Panel Trickle Charging Kit for Automotive, Motorcycle, Boat, Marine, RV, etc." They also have a 2.4 W , 12 W, and 14 W. I am not electrically knowledgeable and I am assuming the W stands or watts.
Any explanation or help would be appreciated.

[GHen]

All situations are different, so I’ll explain mine.

My rig will use about 4 amps a day if I don’t use anything, that’s around 48 watts, a day. So let’s say it’s sunny 6 hours a day, 48 divided by 6 is 8 watt minimum to keep everything charged.
I have 300watts on the roof for use when I’m using a lot when camping.

The bigger the solar panel the better charging will be on a cloudy week. Another option is to have a full disconnect on the battery or remove the negative cable when your not using it. I always turn off my batteries if it’s going to be somewhere that I can’t check on it for a month or two. Snow can cover the solar in the winter. I don’t want to take that chance, so I disconnect the batteries.

[lfcave]

Thanks for the info. I am beginning to think that a complete shut off for the battery would be simpler to do. We electrical neophytes forget about all the little things that are electrically powered when we aren't using the camper.

[gypsmjim]

Whether you use a solar charger or not, you still need to have a battery switch that disconnects the entire trailer's electrical system. A marine grade Perko switch is best.

Those miniscule chargers you cited are worthless for what you want to do. IMHO, they are a gimmick.

Renogy sells an RV 100 watt solar system and it works awesomely well.