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Subject Topic: what solar panel ? Post Reply Post New Topic
Personjjob
20/9/2013 at 7:57am
 Location: Long Ditton Surrey
 Outfit: Discovery TD5 Auto Tabbert Comtesse View jjob's Profile View Profile   Reply to jjob Reply   Quote jjob Quote  
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Hi all,

Thinking ahead a bit on this ..

What watts of solar panel would I need to keep a caravan battery charged when not used ?

Thanks

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John


Personjasie
20/9/2013 at 8:16am
 Location: Bath
 Outfit: Bailey Palermo & Kampa Brean View jasie's Profile View Profile   Reply to jasie Reply   Quote jasie Quote  
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we have a 20W hooked up to keep fully charged in storage.

it is inside the skylight and has kept it fully charged so far.

oh add it runs through a pwm charge controller to make sure its not overcharged etc


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PersonAl+Mel
20/9/2013 at 8:29am
 Location: Hants
 Outfit: Fleetwood Heritage 640 EB & ML270 View Al+Mel's Profile View Profile   Reply to Al+Mel Reply   Quote Al+Mel Quote  
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Depends on your power needs. The biggest power drain for us is using the mover at both ends of the trip home. We fitted a 100W panel to the roof of our 'van about a year ago and it does the job.

No problem in the summer, plenty of sunlight, long days, so bags of power. In the winter there are days when the sun is low in the sky, often doesn't appear, thick cloud and virtually no power. Even when the 'van is not in use, the alarm and tracker are draining the battery 24/7 - so the bigger panel the better! Check the space on your roof before buying though. You could fit two smaller panels if there isn't room for one big one.


Persontimtheenchanter
20/9/2013 at 8:35am
 Location: Yeadon Leeds!
 Outfit: Swift Challenger & Defender 110SW View timtheenchanter's Profile View Profile   Reply to timtheenchanter Reply   Quote timtheenchanter Quote  
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if its just for storage, a 4W panel does mine, no drain on mine when not in use though.
If you have an alarm/tracker id look at a 10W minimum.


PersonAceMarauders
20/9/2013 at 11:43am
 Location: Northamptonshire
 Outfit: 1983 ABI ACE MARAUDER View AceMarauders's Profile View Profile   Reply to AceMarauders Reply   Quote AceMarauders Quote  
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This is the one i brought last week before we went away and it kept are battery toped up



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She may be old, she may be rough around the edges but she is our home from home and we love it.


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PersonJasonr01
20/9/2013 at 12:50pm
 Location: nottingham
 Outfit: swift ace courier View Jasonr01's Profile View Profile   Reply to Jasonr01 Reply   Quote Jasonr01 Quote  
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so ace Maruders, can I ask a question
how or where would you place and connect to the battery.
we have thought about getting a solar panel for our van but my in-expiriance thought you would have to get main dealers to fit.
sorry if sounds a daft question


Personrayjdyer
20/9/2013 at 9:13pm
 Location: West Dorset
 Outfit: Elddis Autoquest 180 View rayjdyer's Profile View Profile   Reply to rayjdyer Reply   Quote rayjdyer Quote  
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10 -20 watt for direct connection to a battery without a charge controller. Anything beyond that definitely fit a charge controller otherwise you'll cook the battery. Don't buy the rubbish little panels that you see on eBay that claim to be trickle chargers. They won't work as they are only 0.5-1W. A hamster in a wheel could do better than that.

Actually that's not a bad idea....


PersonAceMarauders
21/9/2013 at 2:12pm
 Location: Northamptonshire
 Outfit: 1983 ABI ACE MARAUDER View AceMarauders's Profile View Profile   Reply to AceMarauders Reply   Quote AceMarauders Quote  
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Quote: Originally posted by Jasonr01 on 20/9/2013
so ace Maruders, can I ask a question
how or where would you place and connect to the battery.
we have thought about getting a solar panel for our van but my in-expiriance thought you would have to get main dealers to fit.
sorry if sounds a daft question

We have fitted are battery under the seats and the solar panal connects with two crocadile clips onto the teminals. Still with invertor and lights connected.
When we pull up on site i just prop it up in the window which ever is facing the sun. I even tryed it laying flat on the table with the curtains pulled and it was still charging obviously not as much. We dicided on that panel as i didnt want all the charging units and so on in are little old van.


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She may be old, she may be rough around the edges but she is our home from home and we love it.


Personbotty
22/9/2013 at 2:26pm
 Location: home
 Outfit: caravan eccles moonstone 2012 View botty's Profile View Profile   Reply to botty Reply   Quote botty Quote  
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We got a 90 watt from selecta solar leisure its in ccc mag we got it this summer to go on a ccc rally used it for 10 nights with 110 leisure battery and it never went below 13 amps it was charged up again by midmorning and we also bought a a coverter to charge laptop brill for doing rallys

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s


Personchindley
23/9/2013 at 10:30am
 Location: Lowton Warrington
 Outfit: Chevrolet Captiva 4x4.Lunar Quasar 524 View chindley's Profile View Profile   Reply to chindley Reply   Quote chindley Quote  
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Ive just ordered this one seems quite cheap at £55 inc delivery for 75 Watt


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PersonAl+Mel
23/9/2013 at 3:53pm
 Location: Hants
 Outfit: Fleetwood Heritage 640 EB & ML270 View Al+Mel's Profile View Profile   Reply to Al+Mel Reply   Quote Al+Mel Quote  
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Excellent price!



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