Going round Aus next year need advice setup with <span class="highlight">Solar</span> <span class="highlight">panel</span> ...

Submitted: Thursday, Dec 17, 2015 at 23:14

ThreadID: 131150 Views:2738 Replies:3 FollowUps:1

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Solar Power

This article covers every aspect of solar and its design and installation in RVs (camper trailers, caravans and motor homes). It shows how much power solar panels really produce,

Stephen F2

HI I somehow was highest bidder on ebay for Solar Panel the type that have no glass and fold up very small. Not sure what was doing when I bid for it.Anyways its 100watt panel,with 12/24 auto 10A solar controller.
I like to know what to do next .I have dual battery Redarc set up ,it was in Hilux when I bought it . The previous owner put 2 cig plugs in back of tub and 2 under back seat.I want to run Engel 40 litre fridge , charge my laptop and camera batteries. and run small string of led lights.
Any advice on setting up the panel to be most useful and what batteries needed and do I need Inverter. Will the 100watts be enough ? I have read many a thread and googled a lot of info and there are some conflicting views on what to run while out camping ...Thanks Steve

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Reply By: Rangiephil - Friday, Dec 18, 2015 at 09:43

Friday, Dec 18, 2015 at 09:43

The easiest way to connect it is to connect it to your starting battery.

Assuming the battery has been isolated, it will be pretty well charged and voltage will rise over the cut in point of the Redarc pretty quickly and charge it.

Or you could connect directly to the second battery. If your two batteries are still connected , this will also charge the starting battery but if not it will not.

I have a 300 watt pure sine wave inverter to charge my laptop. I had a bad experience with a 12 volt laptop charger which although rated for more amps than the laptop took, it burnt out and damaged the internal laptop power supply.

I don't personally like cig plugs as they can fall out. Either small Anderson plugs or Merit/Hella plugs are much better.
I recommend that if the panels are like most that you double the length of the cables and buy quality 8 gauge cables to minimise losses. This will allow you to leave the panels in the sun for a much longer period than with the usual 5 metre cables, without running around repositioning them all the time, if you are around trees.
Regards Philip A

AnswerID: 593925

Reply By: gbc - Friday, Dec 18, 2015 at 20:44

Friday, Dec 18, 2015 at 20:44

If the redarc is a bcdc, I'd recommend removing the solar controller and plugging the panel straight into it. It will do the rest.

AnswerID: 593941

Follow Up By: Stephen F2 - Saturday, Dec 19, 2015 at 23:57

Saturday, Dec 19, 2015 at 23:57

Thanks gbc I will contact Redarc see if they can tell what setup i have and go from there , big learning curve as so much info out there and so many conflicting views on running solar panels batteries etc ..Silly thing is I travelled to Kimberleys in 97 with 60 series Tojo petrol .and a crappy Aussie made fridge , dual batteries with stuffed solenoid , made it everywhere including out into Tanami in mid 40 temps and back via Perth to Adelaide ..BUT now I have wife and 5 year old son want to play it safe ...cheers .

FollowupID: 862320

Reply By: Sigmund - Saturday, Dec 19, 2015 at 11:09

Saturday, Dec 19, 2015 at 11:09

I'm no expert on this stuff but would report that I've heard users say the output from those flexible panels is well below equivalent glass units. So do some testing before you design the rest of the system.

AnswerID: 593961