portable solar panel

[b6x]

Father-in-law is thinking about purchasing a portable solar panel for "topping-up" his leisure battery during the longer stop-overs of a tour of Italy. He's not looking at a permanent fitting so was looking at these:

 

http://www.selectsolar.co.uk/pics/sticaravankit.php

 

Any thoughts?

 

Assuming moderate usage of 12volt lighting in the evening and water pump etc, any rough ideas what wattage would be best?

How do these connect to the vehicle?

 

Many thanks in advance

 

[Clive]

This size of panel (up to 40 watt) would be sufficient to keep the battery topped up if there were no significant usage, but if the van is acting as a home with use of water pump. evening lights, Tv etc then an 80 watt panel would be more reliable and able to sustain you. The panel must be connected through a regulator so that it cannot overcharge the battery and harm it.

Some van DC electrical systems have a dedicated input point in the system so that the charge current from the panel can be monitored. But many don,t and its perfectly acceptable to connect the output of the regulator directly to the leisure battery via a suitable fuse in the positive. Fit an ammeter if you wish.

 

If you shop around you should find a quality 80 watt panel for the price asked for the 43 watt model.

 

It is safer to mount it on the roof of the van, most installers use an adhesive so no holes required in the roof.

Panels carried in lockers stand a much higher chance of getting broken during travelling of handling. Its glass don,t forget! On the roof its fixed and out of harms way.

 

Good luck

 

C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GJH]

We bought a Carasolar 50 from Solar Solutions - see http://www.solarsolutions.org.uk/carasolar.htm - at the NEC show last year. The panel we bought is more square than the one illustrated.

 

Most of our off-hookup camping will be at English Civil War Society events so we asked more experienced people than us for their advice (we only bought our van last June). Camping at events lasts up to a week. They advised that for the usage we envisaged (showers for two each day, washing up, replenishing the water tank via submersible pump from jerrycan and up to an hour of lighting at night whilst having supper) should be amply catered for with a 50w panel.

 

We used the panel for the first time (apart from testing) last weekend between Friday lunchtime and Monday morning and found that it seemed to replace the juice we had used OK. If the weather is less sunny than that glorious weekend, output will obviously be less but we expect it to be sufficient.

 

We have a 85Ah battery and when we have showers we turn the water on and off (to wet/rinse ourselves) rather than having the water running continuously (uses less power and water).

 

Clive is absolutely right about needing a more powerful panel if you have greater power demands and about the vulnerability of a free-standing panel. On the other hand, you can alter the position of a free-standing panel to catch more sun and it's a lot cheaper than having a permanent fitting.

 

Hope this helps,

Graham