cruiser Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 Advice please! We find ourselves 'wild-camping' more and more each year, partly because of the high cost of many campsites, but more because of the increasing number of Aires being provided by councils and private land-owners over here. Our maximum stay until this year has been three nights in any one spot, and with two good leisure batteries and a small solar panel (made up of three Maplins panels linked together.... don't ask me any technical questions!) we have always had enough power to run our Cello Traveller 12v TV, a couple of lights on and off and obviously the water pump. Admittedly, the power panel gradually goes down from two greens to one, then to orange...but never to red! Having said that, we're now on our first four-night stay, with one night to go....and the orange light is on. I noticed the van next to us this week had a fairly substantial fold-out solar panel, (plus a constant stream of admirers) and it has me thinking about increasing our power bank. As we're not blessed with constant Summer sunshine here, would it make more sense to buy a third leisure battery (a less expensive option) or go for a larger solar panel? (Max budget around 250 euro btw) All suggestions/advice/comments appreciated, particularly from anyone who has made a similar choice either way. Thanks in advance, as always..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teccer1234 Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 solar panel without a doubt :-D :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 cruiser - 2019-07-25 11:24 AM (made up of three Maplins panels linked together.... don't ask me any technical questions!) Well I am going to ask you a question which I don't class as technical, but you may do. Whats the spec of the panels? Failing that what size is each panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 No idea how much you're getting out of those panels but in the summer a 100-150W panel covers the needs of most people. I'm guessing yours are tiny little things designed to just maintain a battery while in storage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceM Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 I’m not sure that your on-board charger would be able to cope with three batteries and if it burns out that’s an expensive item to replace so if considering that route check your charger spec first. My Elektroblock for instance can cope with a maximum of two 90Ah batteries . We have a couple of 100W roof mounted solar panels with a best in class MPPT solar regulator and at this time of the year never use EHU. We don’t bother with TV and our habitation lighting is led so we are probably low power users although we do operate laptops and mobs. By 10am our batteries are usually showing fully charged. The autumn/winter months of course would be another matter entirely especially as the gas heating will be drawing power. Personally then, I’d advocate low maintenance solar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 colin - 2019-07-25 1:08 PM cruiser - 2019-07-25 11:24 AM (made up of three Maplins panels linked together.... don't ask me any technical questions!) Well I am going to ask you a question which I don't class as technical, but you may do. Whats the spec of the panels? Failing that what size is each panel. Each panel is about 12" x 9" and, when I first connected them to my previous failing leisure battery, I didn't realise I should have fitted a regulator. It was a very sunny day, and the battery was apparently over-charged and cooked by that night. If it is relevant, I put a meter across the triple set up on a sunny day and it showed 19'volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 Bruce M.... I fitted the second leisure battery myself a couple of years ago, and both are working well thankfully, as I didn't realise it might affect the charging set-up. Now I'm concerned in case I've upset the system in some way? As I mentioned, it was two years ago and no problems to date! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceM Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 cruiser - 2019-07-25 2:11 PM Bruce M.... I fitted the second leisure battery myself a couple of years ago, and both are working well thankfully, as I didn't realise it might affect the charging set-up. Now I'm concerned in case I've upset the system in some way? As I mentioned, it was two years ago and no problems to date! This is required reading http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/solar-power.php as are, imo, many of the other links on the site. I’m not one of the electrical experts that frequent this site and am unfamiliar with the spec of your van but undoubtedly someone will be able to reveal which electrical charging unit you have and it’s maximum capabilities. Certainly if, as I suspect, you’re deep discharging your batteries then you’ll be working the charger hard, so if it’s not become cooked in the last two years I suspect your installation is within spec and you need not worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 Sigh of relief ! Thanks for the link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 If you want to add a third battery and the existing batteries are more than 6 months old the new battery won't last long. You would need to fit 3 new batteries to maximise life and charge. . If your two year old battery was added to another battery that wasn't new, it is possible that your existing battery bank isn't as good as you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 2 x 85 AH batterys + 100 watt solar panel we can stay in one place for a week (summer daylight hrs) with out loosing battery power. 3 hrs TV, lights and water pump. I'd check my batterys which could be needing replacement not unheard of after 3 yrs and fitt a new solar panel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 cruiser - 2019-07-25 2:06 PM colin - 2019-07-25 1:08 PM cruiser - 2019-07-25 11:24 AM (made up of three Maplins panels linked together.... don't ask me any technical questions!) Well I am going to ask you a question which I don't class as technical, but you may do. Whats the spec of the panels? Failing that what size is each panel. Each panel is about 12" x 9" and, when I first connected them to my previous failing leisure battery, I didn't realise I should have fitted a regulator. It was a very sunny day, and the battery was apparently over-charged and cooked by that night. If it is relevant, I put a meter across the triple set up on a sunny day and it showed 19'volts. These will probably be less than 10w each, so 30w in total, if that. We have a 90ah battery and 85w panel, at this time of year like Witzend we can go indefinitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 There's a 120 watt panel with controller on Amazon for around £145....'Eco-worthy'. Seems to have good reviews. I might consider this one. Thanks for the info btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceM Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 cruiser - 2019-07-25 5:31 PM There's a 120 watt panel with controller on Amazon for around £145....'Eco-worthy'. Seems to have good reviews. I might consider this one. Thanks for the info btw. I assume you mean this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECO-WORTHY-120W-12V-Solar-Panel/dp/B07JD48YCH/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Eco-worthy+120w&qid=1564077440&s=gateway&sr=8-5 Solar Charge Controller Model: CMG-2420 Rated charge current: 20A Rated discharge current: 20A USB output voltage: 5V Total USB output current: 3A DC output voltage: 12V Total DC output current: 2A Short circuit recovery time: 10S Open circuit voltage of solar panel: 40V No load loss: 0.05W Discharge recovery voltage: 12V/24V Over voltage protection: 15V/30V Float charge voltage: 14V/28V Over discharge voltage: 10.5V/21V Control mode: Software intelligent control Working temperature: -35?~+55? It quotes the controller as having a float charge of 14v – wouldn’t that cook the batteries? I was under the impression that a 13.1v float was the ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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