Talk to me about solar panels
Hi all,
Being relatively new to caravanning (18 months into ownership now) we are still learning things as we go along.
We brought the caravan out of storage last week and the battery was dead (no surprise there). What I didn’t anticipate was problems with the alarm, motor mover and heating system due to the dead battery.
We would like to avoid this next winter; it’s not practical for us to go to site every month to manually hook up a charger and I guess removing the battery completely over winter will once again cause the aforementioned problems. I’m thinking solar panels will be our best bet? We don’t go off grid so don’t need the solar panels to generate any power whilst using the ‘van; it will only be to maintain charge over winter.
What wattage would I need? How easy are they to install? Do I need something to prevent overcharging or to work on a 7 day cycle charging for just a few hours per week?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks. Rob
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I can't really advise much on panel fitting, as we had the dealer do it. However, our 150 watts of panels keeps our two MH batteries charged even on the shortest and dullest of winter days. That's with the constant drain from the tracker and alarm. We have used ours successfully off grid, using the 12 volt TV for several hours. I would imagine if there are no trees or other shading 80 to 100 would be adequate.
However, prior to having the MH, I used to swap the battery over in the caravan and take the reserve home to recharge. As long as you turn your 12 volt system off to isolate things like the radio, which may still draw power. Make sure the fridge is set to off, as our light would activate with the door on the clip, even with the 12 volt panel set to off. The only things then drawing power should be the alarm and tracker. I could leave it 6 to 8 weeks between changes and the battery still showed 12.4 / 12.3.
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Get the biggest/best you can afford, 150w would be a good starting point.
You can buy all the fittings you need online, roof mountings for panels etc. Most specialists have loads of info on their web page. Some people bond the mountings to the roof, personally I like to have everything screwed down and then sealed. Drilling through the roof or side panel is a bit scary but chose your position carefully double checking what’s on the other side and the planned cable route into the van. You’ll need a controller to avoid overcharging, split charger if you want to charge 2 batteries. Get one that allows you to adjust the charge distribution. I’d recommend marine fittings to take the cable through the roof/side panel. Much better quality than most you’ll find in caravan shops. You’ll need to incorporate a fuse between the charger and battery (20amp should be ok).
If you haven’t got one, you can buy trackers for about £60 which will allow you to remotely check the battery voltage using an App.
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If you really do not want to go off grid at all then all you need is a relatively small panel. I keep a 12v electric fence battery charged all year round with a 10 watt panel with no controller but that could well be overcharging the battery in strong sunlight.
I would suggest a panel with a controller so you do not overcharge the battery. perhaps 20 to 60 watts should do it. Have a look at >Sunstores web site< they do small kits for round about £70-£80
peedee
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