Solar Power or Not
Hi everyone,
Normally when away in the caravan we would always use an electric hook up to power everything including water heating and central heating if needed.
So I've been thinking about trying to use power from solar panels which would mean a complete overhaul of the charging side and new battery or batteries. I then got to thinking that without a hook up water heating and central heating would need to run on gas aswell as the fridge. Now I wonder whether even at todays prices for electric/gas if this is actually worth the expense of upgrading the caravan and using the "so called" free electric from solar?
Comments
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Depends on your motivation for doing it. If you primarily intend to use sites with EHU probably not worth it. If you intend to spend plenty of time ‘off-grid’ then solar panels will make that easier, but they’re not going to run your fridge, heating and hot water. You’ll need gas to do that. Alternatively invest in a generator but be prepared for many folks not enjoying the noise you’ll be making!
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Unless you have plans to widen the way you camp solar offers little advantage, if you do, it opens a whole new world of opportunities. It's pretty pointless if modest cost EHU is available everywhere you go, as presently using gas for your high energy demands is at least as expensive as the electricity, generally quite a bit dearer. Plus, gas it is not "on tap", you have to have it with you and you have to replenish it as and when needed.
I don't buy your idea it involves a complete change to the charging system, nothing actually changes just a tiny little solar controller gets added, along of course with the solar array itself.
The battery does not change, unless you presently have a sick one, as with solar the battery needs to function, and there is no need to go multiple batteries. That is the territory of those asking the solar to replicate much of the EHU, most who go solar use gas, only asking the solar to take over the normal 12 vDC role.
As Fozzie points out it opens the world of camping off grid, with rallies, holiday meets and a fair percentage of 5 van sites not offering a hook up. To us the very essence of our version of this hobby, but we realise not for all.
If that's never going to be something that appeals and you want even more facilities than just the EHU as well, then at best solar extends battery life, but little more.
DIY along with prudent purchasing a decent quality kit 100 Watt solar installation will cost about £200, and along with using gas make you independent of an EHU through all but the winter. If also needing to replace the battery, the lead acid technology best used, so still suiting the inbuilt charger, means an additional £130 odd spend.
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Our caravan came with a solar panel, but we usually use sites with electric hook up. When the caravan is parked at home, the panel keeps the battery topped up nicely, so we don't need to connect to mains. However, if the panel wasnt already fitted I would not bother investing in the cost of a panel and controller, and would not want to waste the payload.
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If you want to be independent of high price sites, you need a decent solar setup, preferably with a lithium battery and a refillable gas system. The world is your mollusc.
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At that rate, a twin Gaslow system could pay for itself in about 6 weeks touring.
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My thoughts are that we'll probably be more reliant on electricty in the future. Our motorhome solar is useful because it tops up the vehicle and leisure battery and allows us to go off grid at present. We don't have to power up a huge fridge with gas so save on that score. But gas prices are rising along with electricity so we'll have to see how this all works out for leisure purposes.
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My origonal challenge was about a replacement battery and from there I explored lithium batteries but your normal 240v charger in the caravan does not put out enough volts to charge lithium batteries (14.6v . for lead acid its 14.4v) hence the reason for saying a complete overhaul of the charging system may be needed . My caravan is 3 years old and the solar charge system uses a PWM charge controler and not a MPPT controller which is a lot more efficient and I wonder if the caravan built in monitoring system would be of any use after an upgrade.
I do however think that this is really not worthwhile given the cost of around 2000 pounds (could be more). I am still exploring options but thought it was a good subject to guage the feelings of members at this time of rising energy prices and give me and others a guide as to where the hobby may be going.
I would still like to be off grid at least part of the time while caravaning
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Of the mentioned £2000, it is the change out to Lithium that dominates that huge cost, not simply the move into solar.
" I would still like to be off grid at least part of the time while caravaning"
There is no reason why you can't, and even if started from scratch a fraction of that investment, but in your case you already have something.
In our case, with just an 85 Watt freestanding panel, we can, and generally do, go from a mid April Easter through till October, on occasion being out for 28 days, totally automatously from an EHU.
It does come with using gas, butane the cheaper if using exchanges. Though the fridge functions, we have hot water, we can "cook" food, run a bit of heating if needed, and watch the little of TV we wish to.
Whilst changing to a quality MPPT should gain a bit more yield, and at the more useful times when the solar energy is low, it in itself is not IMO a "lot more efficient", just more, and better if designed from the ground up as a MPPT system not just via a change out of the controller.
Have you tried your system in the sunnier months?
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We had power cuts at the end of November last year and we retired to the caravan for warmth and TV . We have stayed here ( in the midle of nowhere) for 30 odd years so the kitchen has a gas hob( Which was intensional) but 6 days without power was getting rather annoying by the end . We used the caravan as a warm haven that had light and tv. 2 nights is all it lasted and the result was a broken battery and the need to buy a generator for the house. I did not think that the TV would be a heavy user of the battery power so it lasted around 14 hours over 2 nights. The solar panel did not help much as the weather was rather grey and daylight rather short aswell.
This is where this thread has its origons .
This is where I have taken my research to at the moment he seems approachable and willing to help
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I think that there’s too much talk about money and not enough about enjoyment. For some, the regimentation of well equipped sites provides the safety and convenience they seek. For us, less is more. We’d really like to find those isolated, off the beaten track places popular which leisure vehicle marketing teams use for photoshoots, doubtless accessed via a traffic free road through unspoilt countryside.
If less appeals to you to, be prepared not to save money. What you save on site fees will be spent on refillable gas bottles, solar panels, extra toilet chemicals and the odd trip into a town with enough internet connectivity to download your emails. We are equipped with a few more extras too - a 12V charger for the Dyson, ditto my husband’s electric razor, an inverter for the laptop, car chargers for pads and cameras. Then there’s catalytic hair straighteners and a backup battery, charged via modified car electrics when driving without the van.
Are those extra costs worth it? I suppose that it all depends on whether back to nature is more appealing than regularly mown grass.
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We paid £9 and £10 p/n at Cricieth and Fountains Abbey ths”s respectively last summer. Goes to show what outstanding value (sic) this “clubs” pop up campsites are. 
