What do you think of this solar setup

Solar

I was advised to get a portable one mine is a 120w so if I changed vans I could use it in the next van but it's heavey to lump about given the choice again I would have it fitted to the roof but the portable is supposed to be better as you point it to the sun and it's supposed to be more affective than being stuck on the roof?
 
Had a look at that type but did not want to keep puting up and down every time i move on or leave the van
 
martinr said:
Had a look at that type but did not want to keep puting up and down every time i move on or leave the van
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I used much the same components for Hugo, there is a post on here covering it, and that package looks to me to be good value. The six brackets alone would be £25.00 odd. Don't forget that the supplied controller will limit you to one panel only.
John
 
looks ok for the money in my opinion.
The cables from the panel to the conroller look a bit thin to me. In a 12V system it's all about the correct cable size. Do you consider to add more panels later? The 10A controller may not be big enough if you add another panel later.
What size of leisure battery do you have?
Do you know what your power requirement will be? Just lights and heating or more stuff like TV and computer.

We had a 125aH battery and a 100W solar panel on previous motorhome and that was fine to run the lights (all LED) and the fan blower of the heating all night. By 11-12am next morning on a sunny'ish day the battery was topped up again.

PS keep in mind that you may need some more money for the cabling to your leisure battery
 
Thanks for the info. I only have room for1 panel and the lesure battery is 100a so on that basis i think i will bite the bullet. The point on the cables, do you get volt drop if you run long cables from the controler to the battery?
 
This looks like good value.
I have a similar system which charges two 115Ah leisure batteries and the vehicle battery, it has been doing that for the past three years with no problems.
The trick with volt drop is to install the regulator as close to the batteries to get the most out of your panel.
 
martinr said:
Thanks for the info. I only have room for1 panel and the lesure battery is 100a so on that basis i think i will bite the bullet. The point on the cables, do you get volt drop if you run long cables from the controler to the battery?
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It all depends on how long your piece of string is! The recommended 'proper' stuff is 4mm diameter, but I wouldn't worry too much over a 3m length. It's not mission critical!
John
 
Ok thanks for that i was going to put the controler with the other electric bits but they are at the far end of the van so i will have a rethink on that.
Thanks for all the posts :dance:
 
It looks like you stick the fixing kit to the roof, what do you think i should use?
 
kenj said:
I was advised to get a portable one mine is a 120w so if I changed vans I could use it in the next van but it's heavey to lump about given the choice again I would have it fitted to the roof but the portable is supposed to be better as you point it to the sun and it's supposed to be more affective than being stuck on the roof?
Click to expand...

Fixed horizontal panels will give less total output on any given day than a panel constantly shifted so as to be directly facing the sun, depending of course on how diligent you are at moving the thing. But these days panels are cheap and eg doubling up the area of a horizontally positioned fixed position panel array will probably more than make up the deficit and be an economical proposition. And no faffing around moving things.

It's all come a long way from the days when 20 years ago 2X60W panels cost me €700 euros and that was in Portugal where there was nominal VAT levied to encourage take up.
 
It looks like you stick the fixing kit too the roof, what glue do you think i should use?
 
i got 2 100 watt panels of ebay 100 bucks and used this split regulator charger 25 bucks which charges starter batt and leasure with the lowest one geting charged first.
 

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martinr said:
It looks like you stick the fixing kit too the roof, what glue do you think i should use?
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There is no sticky other than Sikaflex 291! I stuck the panel to the brackets with it as well.
John
 
i used fence clips and bolted to panels then bolted through roof of van to alloy plates as glueing them to roof is only held by the paint not a very strong engineering solution in my eyes but to each there own.
 
trevskoda said:
i used fence clips and bolted to panels then bolted through roof of van to alloy plates as glueing them to roof is only held by the paint not a very strong engineering solution in my eyes but to each there own.
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I would rather remove the paint from the roof than drilling a hole through it. But all depends on the van you have. There are many many panels fitted just with sikaflex and no reports of flying panels on the forums.
I am going to use Sikaflex 512 but will bolt the panels to the brackets in case I need to replace one or get to the wiring. My entry gland is somewhere under the panel. Not by choice, I will use the large hole from the status ariel which I don't need and take off.
 
i used a marine nylon deck gland for each panel and there under the panels so no water and cables out of sight.
 
martinr said:
It looks like you stick the fixing kit too the roof, what glue do you think i should use?
Click to expand...

I used Sikaflex on both my vehicles and when I came to remove the brackets from one vehicle they were stuck so fast that I pulled off some of the fiberglass roof with it. I had to patch up where the brackets were stuck down and make good.
I have used Sikaflex on every installation since, and only drilling where I need the cables to go through.
 
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