Tecty123 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Hi I have purchased 2 100w solar panels to put on my FIat Ducato Autoroller. I have a 110ah leisure battery. Just need some advise!!!!!! When wild camping I will use gas for the fridge and heating and hot water. I want to use a TV, a laptop, phone chargers, kettle and toaster off the 12v battery! Would I need an inverter? Thanks Paul ( had my motorhome 8 months and I want to go places with no electric hook up) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Depends on wattage of appliances. Kettle and toaster would be better on gas otherwise a 150w inverter will do athough you could use 12volt appliances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Duplicate and no boose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejkay Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Just done it! Nine weeks Hebrides, Highlands, Orkneys and Shetlands. 150w monocrystaline solar panel & 2000w inverter. Used a 700w toaster, a 700w (O.P.) microwave, various battery chargers and a 240v a.c. 22" TV. No problems. Despite bad weather the leisure battery always regained full charge by about midday. The only proviso I would make is that I only used the microwave for short periods, generally less than eight minutes. Others may advise but I have heard it said that a normal battery should not be used to provide a high current, circa 100amps, for such a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 If you are going to be off hookup a lot then fit a second battery and get a 150 watt inverter. Gas is easily available and cheap if you have refillable bottles. If you do not need sites, or only small 5 van sites, then they will pay for themselves quickly. Another battery would be the most important. We have managed indefinitely from March to October with only a 90 watt solar panel but now have 190 watts at our disposal and can manage all year round in the UK (it is not guaranteed of course in December, January and February but we move often and have shorter trips). A 150 watt inverter will handle all charging duties, a digibox or a 240 volt TV. It is possible to use a large inverter but you will not get a long life from your batteries. I recently changed vans. The batteries were 5 years old and held their charge as well as when they were first fitted. It's your money, so if you want to give them a harder life, it is entirely up to you. We do things to suit ourselves and I don't know what suits you. :-D There is one other thing to consider about my proposal. Some charging systems cannot handle a second battery, Calira and Reich E-box are 2 that spring to mind. If you follow my advice, only do so if your charger will not risk overload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Are you trying to confuse use with two different threads on the same subject? Here's the reply I made on your other thread. I prefer the 12 volt route, I try to make sure everything can run off 12 v, I have a 12v adaptor for the laptop, 12v chargers for the phones, 12 v TV etc. & use gas for kettle & toast. Big inverters are not really practical unless you have the payload for a large battery bank & then you need loads of solar to charge them. I do carry a small plug in inverter ( one of those 10 quid jobs) just for when I need to charge a phone quickly as they take twice as long from the 12v chargers I have 2 x 95 A/H batteries and 2 x 100 watt solar panels we hardly ever use sites one or two nights a year . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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