How much solar necessary for my Swan to charge 2 /100ah batteries. I have 2kva Honda,dual batteries in the Nissan Patrol and will never be away more than a week at a time. We remote camp and would not like to run out in the car or van. Can I fit panels to Swan roof and if so how without ending up with leaks
All other questions are a waste till it's know what is being charged..
for example.. in my case..
- I'm running a fully self contained system..
- I have 300Ah 24v of Lithium's [240Ah usable]
At the moment, I only have a minimal Draw on the system..
-- A 240v[ac] which draws about 12Ah over night..
-- A 12v Charger which draws about 3Ah over night
The system I have is Fully charged by about 11am if the sun is shining..[I only get the sun hitting the panels by 9am] so 2hr's of sun..
I have 1200w of Solar Panels.
Now my system gives me the ability to run What ever you would like to run....
So The question is what are you using the batteries for...??
With out know what your usage is... someone could say you only need 100w's of solar.. Which could be Wrong..
There is not enough information..
Juergen
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IF I say something Dumb.. Just Smack me..
I'm full of Knowledge.. I don't profess to know EVERYTHING, but I'm constantly Learning new thing's..
Yes you can put solar on the roof of your swan , BUT be very carefull of the weight and the extra load that you would be placing on the lift mech. As for the cable, one thing i would add is a couple of Anderson plugs, one on the foof and next to the panels and a nother one just on the draw bar and a short removeable lead to interconnect the two Anderson plugs. This is so you will not have problems with the cable when the foof is been raised or lowered. Don't for get the solar controler and fit that near as possable to your batterys. I have two 120 Watt panels and a 200 Amp/ HR battery in my pop top and have no problems , but if your budget can afford it, 3 x 120 Watt panels would be ample. The problem is how to mount the panels to your roof and also were the 12 wireing is for the lighting, so as when you start to drill holes in the roof you have some idear of were the cables run, when i did mine before I drilled ,I also contacted Jayco and spoke to there service department to get some idear of were they had run the cables in the roof.
-- Edited by valiant81 on Monday 7th of July 2014 08:52:30 AM
We run lights and fans,fridge is on gas or generator but would like to know I can charge car battery as well for the 60 litre Engel
< Install a Anderson Plug, to the vehicle that is heavy enough to run the distance an Not have a huge Voltage drop. Maybe use a Folding Panel to charge the car battery..>
When camped will plug Engel into van also to save car batteries when we have solar
-- Edited by Bayonetmadness on Monday 7th of July 2014 07:45:00 AM
What type of light's do you have..? LED, Compact Fluro's, Fluro's..?
The type of light would dedicate the size of the panels you need..
What type of Fan..? 12v or 240v..?
Fridge, if it's a 3way fridge... you have no recourse but to run it ho you have been.. But the modification of a set or Computer Fan's Switched on via a thermostat is what you need..
And also see if you can jack up the insulation around the sides of the fridge..
Juegen
__________________
IF I say something Dumb.. Just Smack me..
I'm full of Knowledge.. I don't profess to know EVERYTHING, but I'm constantly Learning new thing's..
Lights are jayco std LEDs,fan are jayco 12v, Happy with Jayco fridge and to run it on gas is OK with us. Main concern is the Engel when pluged into van
I have a 200 watt panel on the roof of my Jayco Penguin
It charges a 100 ah battery
The battery can be charged by mid morning
If you have the room go for as big as you can
Redarc Solar calculator suggest min 120w to run fridge,couple led lights,TV with a 75ah battery but I am having 2/100ah AGMs and thanks for the info,This is a great site and Forum
You need to take into account cloudy days, angle of the sun, latitude and time of year for the efficiency of the panel as well as the load
I don't think you can ever have too many watts charging
A good regulator is also a must
