Scrumpy Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Hi Anyone recommend a solor panel set up for our motor home. We want to do a lot of wild camping so needs to be good. Hopefully not to expensive. Also we can't plug the home in all the time so it spends a lot of time not plugged into mains. Worried the leisure batteries will discharge. Also the last owner had two leisure batteries fitted. They are in seperate places in the van. Silly question but how does the control panel know which one is either charging or not. Are they easy to fit yourself. Any help greatly appreciated. Ps anyone advise where we can park our motor home for the Newbury show this weekend as they not taking anymore on site. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickyDee Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Hi and wellcome to Motorhomeing. I have a Rythm M/H and have fitted a 80W solar panel on the roof,I find between may and sept it is ok for keeping the battery charged up. Outside of this the sun is too low in the sky to really put anything in. For some reason Swift installed a 12 / 240v fridge in this van and I find I have to turn it off at night as it realy takes it out of the battery. If you are constantly on the move it seems ok but if camped up for a few days then keep an eye on battery levels :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Scrumpy - 2016-05-19 11:47 AM Anyone recommend a solor panel set up for our motor home. We want to do a lot of wild camping so needs to be good. Hopefully not to expensive. Also we can't plug the home in all the time so it spends a lot of time not plugged into mains. Worried the leisure batteries will discharge. Also the last owner had two leisure batteries fitted. They are in seperate places in the van. Silly question but how does the control panel know which one is either charging or not. Are they easy to fit yourself. /QUOTE] As long as the leisure batteries are wired correctly with adequate cable the system should be able to recognise them as one unit asthe voltage will equalise. One way to ensure this, and the way I always use, is 50 amp fused cable with the positive input/output terminal on one battery and the negative input/output terminal on the other battery. As far as a solar panel goes get the biggest you can justify the cost of bearing in mind you can always add another as you can never have too much power. MPPT regulators cost more than others but are well worth it for the extra control that they offer. Your van may have it's own built in solar regulator within the power control unit? Not difficult to fit but tricky and time consuming if you are new to it and the whole key to it is getting the roof fitting where the cable enters sealed watertight, and not everyone likes being on the roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Yesterday we had one of the first correctly fitted Solar Panels!! A Motorhome that had the Solar Panel fitted and wired as per the Motorhome/Eelectronics Manufacturer recommendations. I think Norman Molyneaux had expected us to find fault with his work but we couldn't, all very well done. When you consider only 3 Dealer/professional fitted installations have been right out of the hundreds of vehicles we do, that's a pretty poor show. Suggest you read our Solar Power pages so you understand enough to be able to check the fitters work afterwards : http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/solar-power.php As an example of how bad it can be, last week we had one Solar Installation wired direct to the battery on a Sargent EC325 equipped motorhome, yet this charger unit throws 18v into the battery when on 'boost' charge. The manufacturer specifically advises that NO equipment must be 'direct connected' to the battery, they even supply a built in Solar Regulator in the Sargent Power Distribution unit for a Solar Panel, but it wasn't used. The Motorhome came to us with 'a faulty Charger unit' because the Stereo (wired directly to the Habitation battery) had failed three times after they plugged in EHU. The Stereo had been fitted by the Dealer they bought the vehicle from when new. Whenever the charger went into it's 18v boost mode everything connected to the battery, both Solar Regulator and Stereo received 18.6v. The EC325/EC328 manual states, in bright Red letters : WARNING Higher voltages may be present at the battery (<=18v). Do not connect ANY equipment to the battery while the charger is operating. Failure to comply with this warning may lead to equipment damage and will affect the battery charger performance. The difference between it being done as recommended by the manufacturers is not is not just a safety/reliability issue, but can mean another 30% charging power. We don't Solar Power, so this isn't an 'advert' to get work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAS Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Put the biggest panel on that you can and it should keep you going during the summer at least as long as you don't go mad with showers or any other heavy usage. Winter though will be a bit more of a problem as not so much input. As for the Newbury show we've just paid and parked up. Lots of space still left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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