Buying solar panels for caravan

Imperial · Newbie

Buying solar panels for caravan

ozjohn · Guru

Imperial.
I know absolutely nothing about solar panels, but would think that some type of controller would also be required to charge the amps required to keep the battery in tip top condition.
The other option used by many is to take the battery home and keep it on a charger there.
ozjohn.

jimbo · Guru

I'll be watching this site for awhile.....As I too am looking at Solar for batteries

DeBe · Guru

Hi Anne, If you only want to keep a 12V battery charged up while van is stored, the cheapest way to do it is use a 4Watt 12V solar panel from Jaycar Electronics ZM9026 for $49.95. With this size panel you wont need a regulator. I use this system at home to keep a spare 12V battery fully charged. Atached photos are of a 100Watt solar system on my Van which keeps my Waeco 80L upright fridge going with an N70ZZ battery on the vans A frame. The panels & regulator kit was from Oatley Electronics about $500. Daryl

Smokeydk · Guru

I have a regulated 80 watt solar panel that charged my 120 amp hour battery, at 5amps..as Ozjohn said it would be cheaper to take the battery home

couple of great dealers

http://dynamicsolarsolutions.com.au/index.html

and here in SA

http://www.homeof12volt.com/

Dave

BobnBev · Senior Member

DEBE, I like it ,bare bones sola.. where you can see all the bits working its part of the fun.love the little fan on the reg. . Have had sola since 94, and love it ,always had it running every thing, tv, fridge, lights ect. And your right a 4watt. would be plenty to keep a 12volt, lead acid going ..And wouldnt cook it.. But would be pushing it to run the lights and tv when camping out..I have made up thoes little 4 watt. things for people with a 3 way fridge and silconed it to the roof of the van and run a comp. fan so when the sun comes up the fan works. keeping the fridge cond. cool. I do put a cap .across the out put..you dont have to put the sola panel on the van, just sit it in the window so it gets 3-4 hours of sun each day to keep the batt. topped up..I would love to have a 5kw aray on the house just to nark the power comp...But that may come..I run 2 two facepanels on our van and thats plenty..110 on the top side and 80 on the bottom side..thats 380 watts all up.. But you never get that...And with 2 120 agms. the fridge is happy..so are we...dont back in to anything DEBE...Sorry Anne so much talk about sola it can be sidetraking..hope all this is good..Bob n Bev

Rolly · Guru

http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/

books by Collyn Rivers will tell most of what you want to know and how to set things up.
No involvement with them except buying the books.

They are regularly updated.

PeterD · Guru

You will have to determine if you have the funds to go the full hog with a large panel or not. You will be up for around $1,000 (give or take) for a large panel and a regulator (and installation if you don't feel competent to do it yourself.

In my previous van the battery survived with a 5 W panel when in storage. I was fortunate in that I had an outside power point on the van so I could feed the solar power into the system with a minimum of effort and expense. If you acquire a small panel, make sure it has only 32 cells in it. This will have a peak power voltage of around 14.5 - 15 V instead of the 17 V PPV of 17 V. You can use this without a regulator and it should not boil your battery. It will also not charge your battery if you arrive home with the battery depleted. Make sure your last night in the van is on power or charge the battery at home before taking it to storage. (I did not have a solar panel as the TwinCharge battery recharger handled the charging on the road.)

I have my panel mounted on a wooden frame that gives it a little tilt. When the van was home in the compound the panel sat on the van and plugged into the power output on the side. When we were on the road the panel was transferred to the home carport and hooked up to the navigators car. Our new van has an 80 W panel on the top so the 5 W panel now sits permanently on the carport roof ready to be hooked up to the spare vehicle when needed.

If you consider that you will get value from a large panel in the future then this will be the way to go. I suggest you fit the largest panel that can be practically fitted or that you can afford (preferably something over 100 W.) If you have a very large panel you will not have to worry about a heavy wire from the tugs alternator to charge the battery if you are a light duty power user.