Hello!
Absolute newbie here, to vanlife, the forum, and electrical. I may have made a major rookie mistake with electrical, but I have no idea how to tell…
The backstory:
We bought a van that already has a simple build, including electric (yay!). We have 2 solar panels, a Renogy Wanderer solar charge controller, 2 golf cart batteries, and a Pure Sine Wave Inverter. All but the solar panels sit in the area between the front seats.
We took the van to the shop, and had to move the electrical setup out of the way, so they could access the engine from the inside. In doing so, 2-3 of the connections fell out of the charge controller. I think it was the positive battery connection and the negative solar connection. Not knowing anything about electrical, we just left it that way for the entire time that the shop had it (about a week).
I fixed the connections on the charge controller this morning. As far as I can tell from the lights on the charge controller, everything looks normal (PV light is flashing green, Battery light is solid green).
I just tried turning the ARB 12v fridge on, and it won’t power on. According to the manual, it could be a blown fuse.
I checked the charge controller manual, and it sounds like it’s dangerous to leave the connections in the state that they were in (only partially connected). So, now I’m worried that indeed a fuse is blown (or there’s another issue with our electrical setup), but I have no idea how to tell.
The fan is also connected to the electrical setup and it’s working fine, and I am able to charge a phone with the inverter.
I am grateful for any thoughts that anyone is willing to offer. Thank you!