New Solar panel

PetenHelen
PetenHelen Forum Participant Posts: 7
edited April 2017 in Caravans #1

I got the Aldi solar panel to keep the battery charged whilst stored.
It says it can be used inside and plugged into the 'cigarette lighter' socket. Just wondered does anyone do this and is it effective?

Alternatively, how much do they cost to have fitted on the roof?

Comments

  • kevlon
    kevlon Forum Participant Posts: 21
    edited May 2017 #2

    Hi PeterHelen

     I previously used a small SP to keep a forklift battery topped up with no problem. Do you have an alarm fitted to your van? If so I would suggest fitting a panal to your roof to keep the battery, alarm and maybe a tracker topped up. I fitted a 150 Watt panal to my van last weekend. There are kits available from Amazon,including everything you need, I bought all of my elements separately costing around £220.  If you aren't confident enough to fit one yourself I would imagine having one fitted by a dealer will be around the £400 mark.

    I hope this helps.

  • tadhatter
    tadhatter Forum Participant Posts: 47
    edited May 2017 #3

    We're looking at sp for additional options for cl sites as well as environmental reasons. I have a caravaner friend who showed me his set up with a semi-flexible panel which he installed himself and showed me how easy it was. However, I am not confident. I have looked at semi-flexible panels online for about £300 and then there is the controller to sort. For 150W some sites say 10amp is sufficient whilst others say 20amp is required. Then some suggest that a WMP type controller is fine whilst others say MPPT is better. 

    So I enquired of a few dealerships and mobile service operators to see what they could offer and confused me further! Bottom line is that for 150w panel with MPPT controller I was being quoted £500 upwards for them to supply and fit! None would fit only.

    As a result, not being electrically minded nor great at DIY, I've given up for the time being but I' msure we will revisit as technonlogy improves further and prices continue to fall.

     

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
    1000 Comments
    edited May 2017 #4

    Despite the weight premium, I would counsel against a semi-flexible panel and go for a framed one. I, and a number of others have had semi-flex ones fail after a couple of years.

  • Boff
    Boff Forum Participant Posts: 1,742
    1000 Comments
    edited May 2017 #5

    To connect up a solar panel you don't have to be very electrically minded. It's only 4 wires. 2 from the controler to the battery and 2 from the solar panel into the controller. The order I have written battery first is the order you should do it. The type of controller MPPT have some theoretical advantages, but unless you are going to connect panel in series i don't think you will notice. I personally would (have) buy a good PWM controller rather than a cheap MPPT. 10amp controller should be ok for 150W.

    This was my shopping list when I fitted a 150W panel to my roof, all sourced from eBay

    solar panel 150W (rigid)

    Solar controller

    10m solar cable terminated in 2 mc4 connectors

    Panel mounts, maybe not needed for flexible panels?

    Cable gland for passage through roof

    hole saw for making neat hole in said roof

    Adhesive sealer Sikaflex 512?

    A few SS screws to fix panel to mounts

    I chose a rigid panel, because there are some reports on the net of flexible panels failing. Of course you pay a penalty in terms weight It's not a difficult job to fit one I takes planing to work out a route from the roof to the battery and a bit of nerve to drill a hole in the roof.

    Alternatively I would look at buying something like a 80-120W folding panel A folding panel is much more efficent when deployed than a roof mounted panel because the panel on the roof is not at a very efficient angle. The main reason I fitted one on the roof is our caravan is in storage and there is no opportunity to charge the battery between trips. Experience tells me that with the panel on the roof the battery will be fully charged when we go away even in the depths of winter.

    Hth

     

    PS as I was writing this Cyberyacht posted, I knew he was one who had had problems with a flexible panel. 

  • kevlon
    kevlon Forum Participant Posts: 21
    edited May 2017 #6

    Tadhatter, where abouts in the country are you? Since posting I have fitted another panal to a friends van and others are enquiringly. If you're not too far away from East Yorkshire I'll gladly come along if you meet my travelling expenses. I'm sure between us we can have a system up and running in no time. I can advise you as to what you need but "Boff" has provided a comprehensive shopping list that is worth looking at. You can send an email to paulosimpson74@mail.com if you wish. Please include your phone number 

  • ABIPete
    ABIPete Forum Participant Posts: 88
    edited May 2017 #7

    Hi, a cautionary tale!! Be very careful when drilling through the roof. It can contain multi wire cables... ask me how I know!!  It took me a long time to repair 6 damaged wires buried in the roof. I had no trouble with a previous van but this time big problem. Now all sorted and solar panel working well.

  • Boff
    Boff Forum Participant Posts: 1,742
    1000 Comments
    edited May 2017 #8

    Unlucky.   If want to play real Russian roulette try drilling a hole in the floor of a caravan with underfloor heating.   Not much you can except to plan carefully and not to drill in the vicinity of and lights.  

    Incidentally, friend of ours had a leaking roof very recently.  They managed to track the problem down it didn't take long. Whoever had at the dealer installed the SP had not bothered to put any sealant on the cable entry gland. 

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