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I know I could read through all the old posts, but a couple of direct recommendations would be much easier. We have all LED lights, two 100 amp batteries and like to watch a couple hours of tv and or run the lap top for a couple hours each day. We don't really run any other high consumption appliances - well except the fan on the heater in the winter.
How many watts of photovoltaic panels would keep us going on average. I know big difference winter summer, etc. But from experience would 80 to 100 feel like we wasted our money and make us wish we had done 200 or so. Or would 100 be just fine and save a bunch of money.
______________________________________________________________ Fallow our Camper and other adventures here:
www.johnandluisa.blogspot.com
In winter it won't matter much, I have 330w and get anywhere from around 1 to 4 amps or so. In summer 100 or 120w panel will give you a charge sufficient to do what you describe, Alan.
In winter it won't matter much, I have 330w and get anywhere from around 1 to 4 amps or so. In summer 100 or 120w panel will give you a charge sufficient to do what you describe, Alan.
So Alan are you saying the panels become mostly useless in the winter.
______________________________________________________________ Fallow our Camper and other adventures here:
www.johnandluisa.blogspot.com
So Alan are you saying the panels become mostly useless in the winter.
In the UK.....yes.
I have 145 amps which give the batteries a useful charge in half decent weather. Over the last couple of very cloudy and rainy days I've had to run the engine for 20-25 mins to be able to have a bit of lighting during the evenings, and thats with all LEDs.
In the winter you will have to resort to EHU or a genny pitched up for more than a day or two.
______________________________________________________________ "On all the oceans white caps flow,
You see no crosses row on row
But those who sleep beneath the sea,
Rest in peace for your country is free".
A 330W panel charging a 12v battery at say 14v would deliver in full light.
330W / 14v = 23.57 Amps !!
We use a 60W panel on our van in the summer in France. We charge our laptop watch 1 hour of TV a night and run a Fiamma turbo vent full blast. We have a mix of LED and stip lamps. The 110Ahr battery stays at 12v for 4 days.
I would say two 70W ish monocrystaline panels would be ideal.
Or two 100W polycrystaline panels.
Yes Antonia you are correct providing there is direct sunlight and the sun is roughly overhead, conditions we in the UK only get in Summer.
On reading my post again I think it's clear I was talking about winter conditions. In my opinion solar does not make much contribution in Winter, Alan.
I think I will have some fun with this tomorrow. There are programs available for calculating the production of a photovoltaic plant all one has to do is scale it down to camper size.
______________________________________________________________ Fallow our Camper and other adventures here:
www.johnandluisa.blogspot.com
Not quite true as the panel output to the regulator is 18V. The regulator charges the battery at 14V. ther are also slight losses in the regulation process.
So 330W/18V = 18.3 amps.
As already said this is only a theoretical maximum that can only be achieved in full sun at midday in the tropics. Its a different story here in Britain.
I have never seen more than 4.5 amps from my 90W panel. On a cloudy winters day its more like 0.3 amps
Trevor
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I've got 60 watt Amorphous from Maplins and it seems to cope for us, we are away now til next week so will try to monitor what's going on, will be interested as I may buy another 60 watts if I think it needs it, in summer we do as you all LED and a couple of hours TV etc it copes OK then.
It seems that a 100watt pv panel in Birmingham would produce 30 watt hours or 2.5 amp hours per day in December and 350 or 29 ahrs in June July. That is on average so rainy days would be a lot less. So for example if one had a tv and lap top going at the same time consuming say 8 amps per hr in Dec. there would be power enough for about 30 minutes and in June 3.5 hours. That does not include consumption from lights etc.
Seems a 600 watt generator would need 2 hours to fully charge a 100 amp battery but only if connected directly to the battery otherwise it needs 15 hours if connected to the 230v supply.
Does anyone know how many amps are put out to charge the batteries from the alternator? Driving for 4 or 5 hours does not fully charge the batteries.
In conclusion it would seem that in summer my camper using the tv and laptop for 2hrs each and all the rest would consume about 30 amp hours per day and in winter it would need around 44 amp hours. A 125 watt solar panel would make us independent in summer but in winter even going to 200 watts would not. The only solution in winter would be to run a generator during peak use periods.
The interesting thing is that say one goes wild and runs down the batteries one would have to be on hook up for at least around 20 hours to get back to fully charged position.
______________________________________________________________ Fallow our Camper and other adventures here:
www.johnandluisa.blogspot.com
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