I have a 96 toyota hiace with 2 deep cycle batteries of available storage plus the van battery. Am currently using 80 watt portable solar panel hooked to the first battery via anderson plug. have a 1100W inverter.
I want to install a solar panel on the roof of the van and have an auto electrician available for that to ensure safe installation.
Have 60 cm x 140 cm of available space on fiberglass roof.
should i buy (150w or higher?) and where is the best place to look for a kit that includes a charge contoller mounted under the panel(like the portable).
user items Waeco fridge, Laptop computer, led interior lights, phone charger, sink water pump(small) and electric shaver.
Howdy Russ, have you had a look in the Solar section of the "Techies' " section of the this great forum. It is dedicated to all things Solar. Great info by people "out there" using it now.
Quickly, 150w sounds reasonable but I would have something portable to hook into the system as well. Maybe see if that 80w beast can be included somewhere. The more the better really, without over doing it I spose.
Keep Safe out there
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So what is your intention, to hook the solar up to charge both batteries or just the other one.
I would suggest that you contact Low Energy Developments and talk to them, they should be able to supply you a kit at very reasonable price.
I would get a 150 panel if it will fit and get a seperate controller, that can be fittednear your batteries, this way you can hook up the solar controller to both batteries, then all you need to do is bypass the controller on your portable panelsand then both panels can charge both batteries at once. May need to get a couple of 50amp Anderson plugs fitted to vehicle and portable panels.
I do not have any interest in LED but I am a very satisfied customer.
I assume that the fridge is a compressor model and since it is the only nominated item that runs 24/7 it is going to be the critical item. If they are in good condition, your existing gear would easily power all the other items.
We use 120W portable panels to power a similar load and back it up with a DC-DC charger when the weather is not solar-friendly.
What worries me most about your question is that you have an 1100W inverter. You don't say what it has to power (or for how long) but there is plenty of potential to make a mess of your batteries, particularly when the motor isn't running. I would expect that even in standby mode it would be converting a few amps into heat.
As has been suggested above, I think you need to have a long talk with a solar specialist you can trust. Good luck.
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