Fitted 100 watt solar panel

[barryd]

This is my worry. Last summer I hardly went on hookup and was away three months. One 110AH battery and never a problem but we did do quite a lot of miles.

My worry is winter. If I decide to do less miles and use more electric. I reckon I would be pretty peeved if I spent a load of money on panels which I dont need in summer anyway but find when I do need them in Winter they dont work.

Might just invest in another 110AH battery. Actually I might not do anything and just see how it pans out.

 

[jezport]

We have 220watts of solar panels and A 230AH battery, we only got the van which they came with last September but still saw over 9amps coming off the panels in Autumn. In winter on a bright day with no direct sun you can get upto about 1amp. I haven't checked often so cant tell you 100% but it still keeps my batteries topped up while the van is parked up

 

[pencildive]

For what it's worth I'll share my experience of solar power.

I've just bought 2 X 70 watt solar panels from gb sol. They produced 2 amps maximum, 1 amp mostly and .5 of an amp between 0900 till 1100 and 1400 till 1600. I live Nr Bournemouth. This is using a cheap solar regulator from maplin that cost £20. 16 amp rated.
The weather was hazy sunshine. The panels were flat on the ground.
Measurement was through a nasa battery monitor
More efficient regulators (mppt) should improve these figures and will find out for sure soon as I have ordered one.
I would encourage others to put down hard figures so we can work out what the real world means rather than theoretical calculations.

cheers

 

[shortcircuit]

Thanks for the factual information Pencil. It does not appear to be much of a charge return at this time of the year and the batteries would have to get a charge from another source if your needs exceeded this charge or you would flatten the batteries.

Hope others respond.

 

[oily]

At what time of the year were you using your MH?

Believe that panels do not now need a lot of sunlight but have yet to find a link to a supplier.

In October spoke to a lad at an aires with his brand new MH and he told me about all his solar power and how he was self sufficient. After 3 days he told me he was getting a generator when he got home as he had virtually no charge. He had lived in France so new what to expect in sunshine and there was just not enough.

All year round BUT we rarely stay in one place for more than one night and we do have a bank of 3 85AH batteries
I would imagine it would be a different story if we stayed in one place through the winter months but can't stay still long enough to find out
3 or 4 nights in the peak district as from tommorow woo hoo

 

[barryd]

Looking at it another way. Has anyone fitted solar panels because their battery kept going flat? What I am trying to get at is do we actually need them or do we just think we do? I certainly dont need them in the summer and we as motorhomers do tend to move around a lot. So has anyone bought them because they proved that they actually needed them?

 

[ajs]

All year round BUT we rarely stay in one place for more than one night and we do have a bank of 3 85AH batteries
I would imagine it would be a different story if we stayed in one place through the winter months but can't stay still long enough to find out
3 or 4 nights in the peak district as from tommorow woo hoo

err.. you cummin to our leek meeting ???... yer more than welcome

see the fred in the meetings section

regards
aj

 

[oily]

I was under the impression the leek site was fully booked so we decided to do our usual wilding thing and check out Monsal head, cromford basin, maybe millers dale and anywhere else we can find and in no particular order.
Thanks for the invite tho

 

[biggirafe]

I was under the impression the leek site was fully booked so we decided to do our usual wilding thing and check out Monsal head, cromford basin, maybe millers dale and anywhere else we can find and in no particular order.
Thanks for the invite tho

I would try calling the site, you always get people cancelling and with the weather today thats pretty likely

 

[NicknClair]

Looking at it another way. Has anyone fitted solar panels because their battery kept going flat? What I am trying to get at is do we actually need them or do we just think we do? I certainly dont need them in the summer and we as motorhomers do tend to move around a lot. So has anyone bought them because they proved that they actually needed them?

It is very difficult to judge what is the "ideal" way to charge and maintain batteries, as very one is different in their use and most importantly do you need them!!
You can only make a judgmental call when you can look at different examples (which these forums certainly help) of use of a motorhome and hopefully match someone's experiences with your own. Different people walk different paths, use their vans in different times of the year and use diffent electrical equipment ( I personally do not walk the path of solar or genny and have opted for advance charging, a personal decision as I am trying to use less gas).
There is no doubt that solar certainly has it's benefits, providing that the conditions are there to reap the rewards. The bottom line is this.................. without a good battery capacity and size, what ever path you walk will be a waste as not having the storage capacity for whatever method you take will be a waste of your own money!!
I have many examples on our books where solar has been of benefit (whether the van is at a farm for storage reasons, or they are wild camping in LaManga). Mainly these are customers that do not spend a great deal of time in this country and are in hotter climates (where the use of lighting and heating are not so demanding to the leisure battery bank), but I can say that every one of them certainly has a good battery bank to make the benefits of solar worthy of the investment.
It is all down to person preferences at the end of the day and most importantly where and when you use the motorhome and what is running inside.

 

[kalamitty]

I have a 50watt solar panel fitted to the roof of my van, got back from shops today to find wifey panicking, the van alarm on van making a strange noise and the key fob not working, i couldn't switch off the alarm, and nothing on the dash when switching on the ignition, so opened bonnet and checked voltage of the main battery, it read 5.3v, put a charger on and soon after was able to disable alarm. It turns out i had left a cd (multi stack) switched on and it drained all the power, now my van is left on hookup on my drive and it was getting a slight charge from solar, and van bitz have fitted a device that once your leisure battery is fully charged then it switches to the van battery, the cd must have comsumed a lot of power. apart from that we can go all week without using hookups when camping.