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Subject Topic: Battery/Inverter/Solar Panel HELP!! Post Reply Post New Topic
PersonHEJC72
02/1/2011 at 4:09pm
 Location: North Yorkshire
 Outfit: Holi * Perran 4 * Airedale 5 View HEJC72's Profile View Profile   Reply to HEJC72 Reply   Quote HEJC72 Quote  
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I have a fully charged 85aH leisure battery in Holi (my tiny 2 berth carvan)

Planning to go away with CC to a rally (no EHU) for 5-7 nights.
Got 2 LED strip lights in the van and will have 2 children who need their DS consoles and I need my mobile phone and laptop. NO other equipment runs of 12v system (don't have the luxury of heaters or water pumps!)

Thinking of buying a 300w inverter so I can charge the aforementioned equipment and a 13w suitcase solar panel to top the battery up.

Will this combination work?



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Helen xx
Mini Mad Mum


Persongeoff+emmy
02/1/2011 at 5:15pm
 Location: Huddersfield
 Outfit: swift conqueror 645+jeep commander View geoff+emmy's Profile View Profile   Reply to geoff+emmy Reply   Quote geoff+emmy Quote  
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Hi you only need 150watt inverter and maybe a higher wattage solar panel our 63 watt just about keeps up bulbs not led mind you which take 8 watts each and not0.8 watts of leds


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PersonChalkie56
02/1/2011 at 7:24pm
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Be careful the inverter tends to use power just converting to 230 volts. I am seriously looking to buy a PV solar panel but not sure how to go about it.



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A barman is just a pharmacist
with a limited inventory


Personbirder99
02/1/2011 at 10:49pm
 Location: Cambs
 Outfit: Tin tent diddy tent BIG tent View birder99's Profile View Profile   Reply to birder99 Reply   Quote birder99 Quote  
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You would probably be better getting a 12v car charger for the phones and using that off the car when out and about and plugging it into caravan system if required. That way there is no loss in stepping up to 230 volts only for a transformer to bring it back down again. My 30watt solar panel works fine in the summer months and I come home with a fully charged battery after being away for two weeks but this time of year it doesn't do much. Some laptops will run off 12v supply (well netbooks anyway) The 12v in car/caravan charger for the DS is about £5 or less. If you can I would try to power what you can off 12v and use the money you would have spent on an inverter to get the 12v chargers which can then be used in the car on long journeys etc.

Other than the laptop which will prob consume about 40watts once booted the other devices use a negligible amount of power. At a guess I would think that a normal laptop running on an inverter would take a 85ah leisure battery down to 50% in about 6 -8 hours and a diddy 13w panel just ain't going to put much back into your caravan battery even on a good day.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


PersonFrancophile1947
03/1/2011 at 4:03pm
 Location: Norwich
 Outfit: Citroen Relay Campervan View Francophile1947's Profile View Profile   Reply to Francophile1947 Reply   Quote Francophile1947 Quote  
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An inverter wastes too much power. Just go to a £1 shop for a 12v phone charger and get one of THESE for the laptop
A 13W solar panel is marginally better than useless at this time of year

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Cheers
John



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