New Van Solar questions

if your new van comes with a fitted alarm then you will need the leisure battery to keep it battery in the alarm charged. if you let a leisure battery go below approx. 12v then you can start to do damage to the cells wich means going to storage site and removing battery and taking it home to charge which could be every 2/3 weeks. a solar panel will charge battery up even on dull days over winter and maintain the battery for a good number of years. the trouble you have if you use a cover then the solar panel is a waste of time as you say you only use sites with EHU. ask if you can have a second leisure battery instead of solar panel so you can keep one charged at home to take to storage site and swap when required. just a thought.  

I would think carefully about covering it up. I say this because our previous van was covered up in winter by the then owners and one winter it had mould spots grow on various surfaces inside, mainly on some locker doors. It had been cleaned off but if you looked for them you could still see the stains it left.

There's more about solar power and its uses on the "saving money" section too.
Meanwhile we're debating about whether to cover or not, so this has been interesting!

"I don't understand is how can a brand new 2018 caravan suffer from damp?"

It shouldn't unless it leaks on panel a joint or around a seal on a window/door/hatch or something fitted on the roof   The internal mould comes about due to lack of air circulation inside the caravan from  being covered up. Some folk do cover without problem but having seen what had happened in our old Coachman I'd rather just have to deal with washing it down after its been standing and getting the black streaks and green algae off the paintwork .

Assuming you have an alarm fitted then your battery will not last over the winter without recharging or solar panel. Manufacturers recommend once a month recharge. Even worse, unles you have a “smart charger” you should not rely on EHU to recharge a discharged battery, although it is fine for top-up. A standard Caravan charger does not give a high enough voltage for a full recharge although many caravans nowadays are fitted with Sargent systems and similar which are fine to recharge on EHU.

Concerning damp, of the four caravans we owned three had damp. The first eventually had to be written off, the last, a Bailey Unicorn, was a total disaster and had to go back to the factory twice. Long story. Of course only a small number of caravans are like that but once you’ve had the problem you tend to be a bit sensitive! I don’t think where or how you store the van makes much difference because it is usually a matter of poor construction, insufficient sealant etc.

Just had a look in the hand book, it says if you use a cover it must be breathable and the caravan ventilated every 4-6 weeks.

5 -6 weeks or a little more from a good battery is quite normal. I can leave my 44 year old Triumph in the garage longer than that and it will still start. Longer periods of inactivity will see the battery start to sulphate and shorten its working life though.

Your new Caravan will have an alarm and if you use it, it will put a parasitic draw on the battery. your SP should compensate for that if you have it fitted. 

An open roof vent under a cover? cant see the point, if the cover sits flat on the roof then it makes no difference.

Interesting indeed with many similarities to ourselves.  We took delivery of our first new caravan in 40-ish years just a month ago, complete with factory fitted solar panel.

Previously we've used storage sites and removed the battery for home charging.  However, for the time being the new van will be on our drive with the battery fitted and connected to a maintenance charger.   Back up batteries for alarms only last 3 months or so at most so need to be kept charged via the vans 12v circuit.  We were told that on our van the alarm battery is not maintained via the solar panel. Surely an oversight?   If we move the van back into storage we'll need to re-think. Possibilities include buying a more manageable small car or motorbike battery as extra alarm back up.

It is also possible to have solar panel windows in caravan covers and top range manufacturers supply them. Whether we can get a clear panel tailored in to our cover is another consideration.  Small, portable solar panels can help to maintain small motorbike batteries above 12v even on cloudy days so that is another consideration for secure storage.  Having tried top covers, all-over covers and (the majority of the time) no cover, this time we pulled the fuse on the solar panel (our first) and covered over for the winter. We washed and thoroughly dried the van before the cover went on.  We're hoping for protection from bird droppings and leaves from trees.  Our cover has vents in 4 places and zips on all 4 corners so we will lift it for a few hours during dry spells.  (Wishful thinking).  We've also put 2 "Aero" type dehumidifiers inside the van just to reduce humidity as much as possible.  Our handbook recommends such measures.

Regarding damp.  We were told that some of the damp meter readings in our 11 year old trade-in were lower than in the structure of most new vans when they leave the factory!  It's not just wood that has a moisture content but soft furnishings, cushions, carpets, bedding etc.  It's just not practical to remove it all and keep it at home so there'll always be material that holds moisture somewhere in the van. New caravans are well ventilated so they allow air to enter - including damp air. So all we can do is ventilate as best we can and take measures to reduce humidity.

To date (tempting fate) we've never had mould inside any of our vans. We had some on the exterior whilst in storage.  The van next to ours had turned green with algae and it spread to ours very quickly  (about 10 weeks whilst I was too ill to check the van) and caused mould in some areas too. Neither van had covers on. We spent a day cleaning and spraying our van with "wet and forget" and that worked well.  Then we asked for a different pitch.

So, yes damp is a worry. Mould is also a worry but can be managed more easily.  The jury will no doubt remain out regarding covers.

My suggestion would be to keep a watchful eye on things as best you can,  not to worry too much and above all enjoy you new van.  

If you are having the solar panel fitted and its not covered over allowing it to do its job then you have nothing to worry about, If you don't and the caravan sits for any length of time with an alarm and /or tracker drawing current from it, it will run down the battery if its not receiving any kind of charge. 

My alarm, so I assume yours will be? is quite happy if the battery is disconnected as it has its backup one in the unit inside the caravan. You may find though that a tracker, if you have one, will trigger an alert and you'll get a call from the monitoring company.

If you go to the Elddis web site, you can download a PDF of the hand book for your new caravan and have a read up on a lot of this stuff. It may answer a lot questions you have and help you to understand all the equipment in your new van before you even take delivery 

Link to Elddis Hand Books

OK. lets get down to business. covers will only keep the van clean. they will not stop damp in a van and in my opinion will cause more damp than if left without. right, it rains one day and all the ground gets soaking wet and will be the same under the van, next the sun comes out and starts to dry the ground through evaporation, this moisture goes up and if a caravan has a cover on it this moisture will be trapped in the cover. years ago I tinkled with classic cars and was always advised to never put a car in a garage when it was wet but to let the wind and sun dry it first (unless there was heating in the garage to dry it) hence the car would rust quicker. cars and caravans nowadays are made to be left outside. galvanised chassis and plastic body panels etc etc. do they stop your garden furniture from rotting/rusting or going moldy. NO. that's my rant over. sorry. 

regulators do what they are called-regulate. so a solar panel can output a lot more voltage than a battery needs or can take before being fried. batteries should need no more than approx. 14.5 volts to charge so a regulator downs the voltage/amps coming into it to protect the battery.  solar gives say 20v into regulator but only gives out 14.5 volts to maintain the charge. don't be put of by the figures as a fully charged new or well looked after battery will read about 13v even though it states its a 12v battery. if a leisure battery constantly drops below 12v then damage to the cells can happen.