solar panels - one or two??

scottie58

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I am intending to fit a 100w solar panel to our m/h in prep for a long trip next year - but would like advice if i might be better fitting 2 x100w? The van has 2 x 80 ah gel batteries fitted (new - fitted by supplying dealer, no option given to uprate them to 100 + grrrr! ). I already have fitted a combined battery to battery charger / solar regulator ( amperor) which will cope with 2 x 100 panels.

We will be away for 6 months plus and we try to stay off grid as much as possible. Fully LED lighted already.

Would 200W total be overkill with "only" 160 ah of battery??

Advice appreciated.

thanks
 
scottie58 said:
I am intending to fit a 100w solar panel to our m/h in prep for a long trip next year - but would like advice if i might be better fitting 2 x100w? The van has 2 x 80 ah gel batteries fitted (new - fitted by supplying dealer, no option given to uprate them to 100 + grrrr! ). I already have fitted a combined battery to battery charger / solar regulator ( amperor) which will cope with 2 x 100 panels.

We will be away for 6 months plus and we try to stay off grid as much as possible. Fully LED lighted already.

Would 200W total be overkill with "only" 160 ah of battery??

Advice appreciated.

thanks
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Hi

Cannot say whether 2 would be better than 1 x 100w panel but can give you our experience over nearly 5 years of using a panel. We have 1 x 130w panel mounted on the roof connected to a STECA 1010 solar regulator with until only recently 2 x 96Ah sealed batteries. (Just changed MH and transfered all the kit but changed batteries to 2x Trojan Deep cycle at 215Ah). In addition we have a battery master managing both leisure and vehicle batteries plus a 2000w inverter. Over the 5 years it has only been a couple of times we have had to put the batteries on charge after heavy use in bad weather-we use the motorhome all year and average 11,000mls+ per year in UK and Europe. I guess if I had the opportunity I would consider adding another panel but ours has functioned well alone.

Barry
 
I don't think anyone can give a hard and fast rule because it depends on too many variables. The winter we spend in southern Spain or Portugal and summer in the UK so if this is of any help:- we have two batteries giving 180amp total capacity, and two fixed 80w panels; we find this ample. Apart from LEDs we also use a 5ltr water container for topping up kettles etc. to save running the pump unnecessarily.
 
If you can afford it two is better than one for lower light conditions. In good light it won't matter as the controller will turn down the input if required.
 
If you've got the pennies, payload and regulator then go for it. Definitly worth it when the sun is lower.
 
As above if you have the room put 2 up, they are getting cheaper now so within the reach of more people these days
 
If you are away for 6 months then you are effectively full-timing and that generally means not wanting to put up with the privations of basic camping lifestyle. So you want to be able to switch on your lights without worrying about the state of the battery, have a shower whenever and maybe use one or two computers and watch TV and run the heater.
While your batteries obviously have limitations as to how long they can maintain this profligate consumption of electricity, they will do a much better job if they start each evening as close to fully-charged as possible. This will happen more often if you have two panels rather than one and now that panels are down to a dollar a watt, it isn't a big outlay.
 
Thanks for all the advice, 2 panels it will be. We have enough roof space and payload not a problem.

Tony - love your self build oka! Brilliant to see somebody getting stuck in with the tools ( I am a DT teacher here in the uk)

Thanks
 
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