Solar power

Hi John,

I guess Dave might be refering to me when he says a shedfull of posts about solar panels

However as he rightfully says it depends on what your requirements are and where you intend to travel. There are loads of factors to take into account however the following comments I think are relevant

Get the largest panel you can afford in the space you have available.
They work great in good weather, even cloudy weather is ok
They are poor verging on useless in winter or rainy weather, particularly in this country.

That said they will work ok in summer if your useage is moderate. By that I mean it is unreasonable to expect a 100W panel with a rating of say 30AH per day in summer to replenish a battery that is draining at the rate of 50AH per day. Use Sallytraffic's solar power calculator on MHF here

Style of camping is key here as if you move around from place to place every few days then a panel will work out fine as when you move around the MH engine will recharge the batteries so the panel is helped out. If you stay in one place for weeks at a time then you will never have enough solar panels to cope

I wouldn't be without our panels they work great for us for 9 months of the year and we have done loads of calculations on cost effectiveness of Gennerators, Self Energy EG20, Efoy etc. etc. and for the price I think panels are well worth it. We still get a kick out of getting something for nothing as the sun is free - no petrol to buy, no LPG, no methanol - just sunlight.
Pete

johncardiff said:

Any advice please on fitting Solar Panels on a van conversion motorhome.
I am looking for something to keep my 85 a/h leisure battery in prime condition, which is needed to fire the 12 volt / 240 volt compressor fridge freezer which does not have a gas option. How effective are these panels, what do they cost to bu and fit, and is this a job that can be done by the Dealer, or is it a specialist operation. Many thanks, John

Click to expand...

Many imponderables and lots of previous info available by searching. Will you be driving lots, on EHU regularly or extended periods off EHU and not driving?

If the fridge, for example, consumes 40W then it takes 3.3 amps. How long it runs for will depend on the temperature you set it at and ambient temperature.

At 20deg it might take power for 20% of the time at 32deg 40% of the time. So between 16A/hr and 32A/hr. Say 24 A/hr on average so your solar needs to put that back in to keep the fridge and only the fridge running.

If you have full solar output for 4 hours a day you need 6 amps output so I'm guessing that on the most optimistic basis a panel around 107W would be needed on average to keep the fridge going. but probably more. However, a dull rainy day might have you worrying about the irreversible drain on the battery.

The battery is probably too small for anything off EHU and the best advice would be probably be to increase the battery size or have two matching batteries or dare I say it - get a generator.

If the experts would like to check the figures? :lol:


Keith

Yep that is just what I need

Plenty room just need some cash