lazarus Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Could anyone advise on what solar charger I should use in conjunction with a 180w panel mppt or pwm? Thanks laz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 If you going to use the van a lot in the winter I would go for the mppt as it will give more charge under lower light conditions, if use in mainly in the summer with that size panel the pwm will give adequate performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Thanks for the reply Lenny,have looked at lots of chargers, lot of rubbish out there so easy to get caught out when you know nothing about subject ! Could you recommend a brand? I do use the van all year I have a wind turbine as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Thanks for the reply Lenny,have looked at lots of chargers, lot of rubbish out there so easy to get caught out when you know nothing about subject ! Could you recommend a brand? I do use the van all year I have a wind turbine as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Sorry can't really recommend any as I've only used the Schaudt LR1218 as my van had a Schaudt Elektroblock system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 180 watts is quite a lot of solar panel (if that's what you meant) so it could raise the possibility of over-charging the batteries if the regulator fails to control the voltage well enough. We have 135 watts of panel and that seems plenty. I alsy have a Schaudt system and that seems to do very well, limiting the final voltage on the leisure to 13.6, which should be safe. If you charger allows much more than that to be applied to the leisure battery long term then keep an eye on the electrolyte level if they are a non-sealed type, you could boil them dry. There are cowboys around in this business but the technicians who installed my solar system a while ago seemed to know what they were talking about and it has performed well so I suggest you give them a ring: Wesley Bee 01202 632488 http://www.solarsolutionsltd.co.uk/ They should tell you the pros and cons and supply a suitable one if you wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 a while back I went to maplins and bought a 12 watt solar panel knowing nothing about solar and I was assured it would be ample to charge my batts,what you laughing at? well he was a salesman! after plugging the panel in it didn't take long to realise it was a piece of crap,so I did bit of homework and worked out I would need at least ten of them to put any juice back into my batts we live and learn! So I bought this solar panel off eBay not quite appreciating the size,so shot off in the wife's mx5, hour and half later I saw t.he size of the bloody panel I had to laugh I just said to the chap, be back tomorrow! The panel is now fixed on the roof just need to work out if I can run wind turbine and panel through the same controller I assumed if I purchase a mppt it would manage both systems but maybe not! Any advise would be appreciated.although I will contact the aforementioned firm thanks for the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 a while back I went to maplins and bought a 12 watt solar panel knowing nothing about solar and I was assured it would be ample to charge my batts,what you laughing at? well he was a salesman! after plugging the panel in it didn't take long to realise it was a piece of crap,so I did bit of homework and worked out I would need at least ten of them to put any juice back into my batts we live and learn! So I bought this solar panel off eBay not quite appreciating the size,so shot off in the wife's mx5, hour and half later I saw t.he size of the bloody panel I had to laugh I just said to the chap, be back tomorrow! The panel is now fixed on the roof just need to work out if I can run wind turbine and panel through the same controller I assumed if I purchase a mppt it would manage both systems but maybe not! Any advise would be appreciated.although I will contact the aforementioned firm thanks for the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keninpalamos Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 lazarus - 2014-04-07 9:11 PM Could anyone advise on what solar charger I should use in conjunction with a 180w panel mppt or pwm? Thanks laz there's an awful lot of crap out there on solar panels etc so here's some more. as someone has already pointed out what you need is a solar panel regulator not a charger not that you could buy one because a solar panel charger doesn't exist. If it did there would be an awful lot of solar panels exploding! The solar panel regulator will regulate how much charge your battery bank requires and allow the power from your solar panel to go to the batteries. Some regulators are of the plug and play type and some are programmable so you can get the most out of your solar panel depending of coarse how much sun there is available at any given time. The regulator will ask what type of battery you have, ie, gel, wet etc. all you have to do is select what type of battery you have. This allows the regulator to supply the optimum charge rate for that type of battery. So when you start your engine or use a hook up connection or use your wind turbine or use your Evoy or built in nuclear power plant your solar panel regulator will adjust automatically as to how much charge to allow throu to your battery from your solar panel automatically. So there is no need for switches, fuses, alarms, flashing lights, nuclear fusion concerns or your trousers exploding. Simple...squeak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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