sundance kid Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I am considering fitting a 120 watt solar panel to my Autocruise Stardream to help feed my amp hungry Eberspacher heater and allow more use of Cl sites without hookup. I figure that the saving on the ever rising cost of club sites should soon recoup the cost. Wondered if anyone has purchased a solar panel off Ebay as there seems to be some good prices and were they happy with their buy. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I believe that you will need to fit a considerably bigger panel than a 120 watt one to keep up with a diesel heater in winter. Like two of them? As heaters tend to be necessary in winter this also tends to be the time when the sun is not so hot or awake for so long. Also you are more likely to spend more time in your MH with the lights and TV on in the evenings. Don,t get me wrong, I love the idea of solar panels but not of Diesel heaters. If you are on hookup then YES you can support the current consumption of a diesel heater but you can also run a small electric 1KW or on some sites a 2KW fan heater which is much quieter than the diesel heater, especially for anybody outside. Good prices for Solar panels can be found at Solarworld in Germany. They do mail order to the UK. Don,t forget a regulator. http://www.solarworld24.com/index.php/cat/c6_60W---100W-Solar-Panels.html for example If you want to extend your wild camping capability then increasing your leisure battery bank may be a better idea. There is a lot than can still be said in favour of the older Carver or Truma gas convector heater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundance kid Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 Clive. Thanks for your reply. The plan is to fit a solar panel and second battery. We should then have enough power for most of the summer as the heating would only be used for an hour or so a day for hot water and the occassional use of the blown air heating. During early spring and late autumn we would tend to use club sites or CL's with hook up and use 240 volt with a fan heater. Midwinter trips would be just the odd weekend at the most. The motorhome is less than two years old so it would be a huge expense to take out an expensive heater unit and to install a Truma heater. As you have experience of diesel heaters do you think this set up would be ok. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Hi Mike, As you don,t plan winter use then it sounds like you should be OK. I did have an Eberspatcher blown air heater in a box to fit to my own motorhome but in the end decided not to and it went via Ebay. My experience with these devices is on battery electric industrial tractors where they are used for drivers cab heating and screen de-misting. This they are OK at but in my opinion not ideal for a motorhome because of noise and battery consumption considerations. "When you really need it you can.t support it for more than a few hours" was the comment. However on the battery powered trucks the batteries were 700 ampere hour ish and 80 volt and the heater was supplied via a 250 watt DC-DC converter which gave 13.8 volts out. As the main battery was charged once a day (airport baggage handling tractors) the power taken by the heater was minimal. The laugh was topping up the 1 gallon diesel tank on a battery powered vehicle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1ntersun Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Clive re Solarworld24 in germany. They advertise and sell on ebay as KOEKRAF I am very tempted at their prices but I don,t want the hassle of receiving a damaged one as there feedback shows some arrived smashed and not easy to get compensation Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundance kid Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 Clive. The heater is very efficient but you are right about the noise. The exhaust roar is not too bad but the worst is the fan vibration at start up. It appears to be amplfied through the casing and the exhaust pipe. Looks like I will have to get underneath and try and locate the source before it gets to hot to touch. I tend to agree with Richard that some of the solar panel dealers seem to pass the onus onto the purchaser if there is any damage on delivery. There are a couple of dealers where you can arrange to collect which would be a safer option. I would not take a chance on any which are shipped from China or Taiwan and have heard that the quality can be suspect. It would still be interesting to hear from anyone who has purchased a solar panel from any of these Ebaty sites. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 I purchased our 80 watt BP panel, regulator & ammeter from Marlec Engineering in Rutland. I picked it up myself. (The people who make the Rutland wind generators.) You need to haggle for a good price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Clive - 2007-11-18 11:15 AM The laugh was topping up the 1 gallon diesel tank on a battery powered vehicle! Had the same with an electric Pugeot car. Used petrol for the heater ! Took about 20 miles for the heater to warm up to anything sensible, trouble was the range of the car was 40 miles, or 30 if you played it safe ! Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dethleff Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 w1ntersun - 2007-11-18 11:15 AM Clive re Solarworld24 in germany. They advertise and sell on ebay as KOEKRAF I am very tempted at their prices but I don,t want the hassle of receiving a damaged one as there feedback shows some arrived smashed and not easy to get compensation Richard Yes bought a 70 watt panel with free regulator off them some time back. I had no problems at all. Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 I see one dealer is located in bedfordshire, so might give him a call for next panel, any problems and it's not to far to 'send the lads round' :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.