Solar or Wind Power???
I think my leisure
battery is about expired. After a two hour run it perhaps lasts an hour or so .. with frugal illumination of lamps and thats about it.
It is not in the easiest of locations for charging .i.e under the front passenger seat. but on the basis even after a top up on sites it still gives up the ghost it is shot ?
It is 85 amp hour...
A couple questions would it make sense for a 110 amp bearing in mind I want the 'wild' opportunites a camping car offers ?
When camped up to keep it tip top. What is the best way
solar panel or wind power ?
Any advice has to how best I can remain campsite free would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Channa
Neither. On a good summer day in Europe the apparent angle to the sun is no greater than 60 deg. On a winter day in Spain your gonna get far less than that, more or less 40 deg.
Solar panels, at least monocrystilline, want 90 deg.for optimal efficiency. Not to mention that most of Europe sees only half a year of clear sunshine if we are lucky. With that in mind you can simplify things down to this; say 90 deg to the sun with your 100 watt panel reaps and harvests about 4.75 Amps/Hr. (You can do your own math but the tricky thing about
solar panels is they produce electricity at about 19 - 26 volts; so 100 watts/21 v. = ca. 4.75 Amps) Now simply reduce that optimal equation by the apparent angles that occur throughout the year I.E. 4.75 x .3 (30 deg. in winter) and you get a whopping 1.425 Amp/Hr. output. Its not really that simple, it's logrithmic actually, so you will really yeild less output but this is just a general guideline. The nitty gritty here is that to recover from a long winter night of partying you will need a full roof load of panels and a way to aim them effectively throughout the sun's track.
Wind genny's need wind. A lot to do the job, say 15 knots or better. Plus isolation is the key to a good nights sleep, without good isolation you will think you are sleeping in a Cessna 2 seater. They aren't all that loud, just the cheap ones, but they all whirrr when they have enough wind to do the trick. By the way, the minimum you can expect from them is an amazing 5 - 8 amps/hr. on a windy cliff... remember "per hour!" so herein lies the attraction to wind power. Perseverance pays off with charging systems, the longer you wait the more you get to use later.
Both systems can add up big and drain your wallet faster than you can drain your leisure batteries. On the continent, basic systems run about 1,500 Euros plus. Here's my tack - Get a 1000w Honda generator. Not so green and some noise issues but at half the outlay of those other systems, these little portable suitcase sized
inverter generators are reliable
battery chargers in any weather and any time of the year. Typically one will refill your batteries in less than an couple of hours. (Depending on your charger capability, 30 Amp chargers are fairly typical) The bonus is that while you are charging you can be running the computer or telly too! Yes there is a petrol cost but a 1000w Honda will run over 10 hours on 2.4 liters. That's only .25p per hour!
Also check out this post for the dope on batteries;
http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/55201-post3.html
Green or Efficient... Your Call!
