Solar panels - quantity discount?

I just put these on a Grande Frontier today for my first customer 2x80's with 20amp reg. These panels were from the ebay seller at £148.70 each currently
I'm in Leeds and happy to share knowledge experience, much of which is posted in pictures on motorroamers but I'll put any new stuff on this forum too.
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Just a forewarning, the second set of 80 watt panels I ordered from the ebay seller in geeste germany have actually arrived as 2x50 watt panels so NOT happy
 
2 x 80 watt panels

Me too! However I would like to know what kind of "usage output" I would get for 2 x 80s? I have 2 x 100ah leisure btys and would want the solar panels purely for re-charging purposes. Is this overkill or not enough? tks1
 
Techno100 - These panels were from the ebay seller at £148.70 each currently
I'm in Leeds and happy to share knowledge experience.

We travel to Leeds from the Midlands to visit our son and his wife, usually in the car - could this be a viable reason to bring the MH, visit, and at the same time have 2 x 80s fitted...mmmmmm?
 
Anything is possible but this job requires a dry day at least until the panels are positioned.
I don't have an area for parking.
The adhesive needs 24 hrs before driving.
Have you mapped your roof space dimensions for what will fit and where?
 
Me too! However I would like to know what kind of "usage output" I would get for 2 x 80s? I have 2 x 100ah leisure btys and would want the solar panels purely for re-charging purposes. Is this overkill or not enough? tks1


Assume on the average cloudy UK day you may get 40W from an 80W panel for say 8 hours.

For 2 panels that's 80x8 = 640 wh of power stored up (This is just typical you may only get say 50x6 = 300 wh on a gloomy winter day)

Now say your lights take 30W and your TV/lap top 50W = 80W total (You'll have to look at your own appliances to find out what power they use)

You'd be able to run your lights and lap top for 8 hours in the evening, 8x80 = 640wh. (But if it was the winter example, you'd be 340wh negative!)

So what "usage output" depends on winter/summer/country and what appliances you want to run, but the generally in summer you'll cope with stuff like lights and TV or laptop without need for hook ups whereas in UK winter you may fall short. If you like taking early nights and only use your lights and TV for 4 hours then you'll be OK, so whether it is overkill or not enough depends entirely on you. You'll have to do your own calculation for your own usage patterns ;)
 
Anything is possible but this job requires a dry day at least until the panels are positioned.
I don't have an area for parking.
The adhesive needs 24 hrs before driving.
Have you mapped your roof space dimensions for what will fit and where?

Tks for reply Techno100.
1. Will have to pick a day when forecast is good.
2. Do you visit owners to fit panels? My son lives in Middleton.
3. No problem because we would stay at his place.
4. No! Sorry but new to this, do not know the dimensions of the panels and have not measured the spare area of the MH.

So, will need to do a bit of prior prep and planning but am still up for having 2 x 80 fitted. Will keep monitoring/searching!
 
Assume on the average cloudy UK day you may get 40W from an 80W panel for say 8 hours.......;)

Firefox, many thanks for the techie info, will record and store. The outcome you have illustrated is ideal. Once it's getting dark we snuggle into the fixed bed and read our books for about 10 mins and then sleep until first light. Up with the dawn chorus and on to our next visiting place/NT/Eng Heritage/Brit Stop .....etc
 
Yes I go to the van at home or rallies/meets
Dimensions are critical so get measuring! 80 watt panels come in various sizes but the cheaper ones tend to be 1105 to 1205 long by 540 to 600 wide, there are some square ones but without knowing what roof land you have you're a non starter. Also need to take into account sliding rooflights and aerials and satellite
If you want to pm me I'll tell you the price I work to assuming you want everything supplied and fitted.
 
Firefox, many thanks for the techie info, will record and store. The outcome you have illustrated is ideal. Once it's getting dark we snuggle into the fixed bed and read our books for about 10 mins and then sleep until first light. Up with the dawn chorus and on to our next visiting place/NT/Eng Heritage/Brit Stop .....etc
No problem. I've got a couple of 110 Ah batteries and I think 2x90W panels will give hook up free conditions most of the year for wild camping. I'm just fitting one at the moment though to see how it goes. A 100Ah battery can be discharged for maybe 50Ah without caning it too much. That's 50A x 12V x 1h = 600Wh which is about what a couple of solar panels of 80 or 90 W could give back on an average day, so one panel of that size for each largish battery seems about right.
 
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Yes I agree.
I have 200 in bits for my 2x110 and looking forwards to our first winter test.
 
I am not dishing solar, and in an ideal world we would all live off it.

But here's my 2 penneth. I have 2 110a/h led lighting, no TV, 1000w inverter for laptops and iPads and phone charging.

I once left my 12v fridge on and in the morning we had flat batteries. I started the engine for 20 minutes and I did another 4 days without moving (festival).

So in conclusion 20 mins of tick over charging will cost next to nothing and if done at the right time will not upset anyone nearby, and believe me at a festival they pack us in.
 
I have contacted eco solar and they are going to send me some details and pricing through.
Once I have this we can see if we can use our bulk buying power.
Each sale will be directly with ecosolar not with wildcamping.

Phil

Any news, Phil?

Thanks

Chris
 

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