<span class="highlight">generator</span>/inverter over solar power

I guess most people on here will tell you to go with Solar. I started with a Generator and then added a 80W panel years later and both have their positives and negatives.

I am happy that I have both as I have camped in areas where there’s just way to much shade for solar to work...or it’s overcast for a entire week. I guess whatever option you go with get a quality regulator and a quality generator.

You can use solar panels in NP's but not many NP's will allow you to use a generator. An inverter is good for charging laptops, phones etc... Do you have an auxillary battery fitted? That may be worth exploring. Good luck

Whether you use a gennie or a solar panell you will need a deep cycle battery as well.
You dont want to run the gennie 24/7 when your stopped & of course the solar panels will not be working at night. Also you will need a battery charger if you go for the Gennie.
Your Engel will work the best on 12volt rather than 240 if you get an inverter.
Cheers
Stu

Charlie, you might find our Electricity for Camping Blog here useful to get you started.

Cheers,

Val

The old problem! I run a 60l Engel fridge freezer for food and ice, which remains in the vehicle, and a 35l Engel fridge for drinks which is removed from the vehicle and plugged into the trailer for bar duties at night powered by a 1000w Yamaha inverter generator which plugs into the trailer with a 240V lead to the vehicle. Each battery has its own charger, 10a for the trailer and 16a for the vehicle.
I had a deep cycle battery in the trailer, with a 12v lead to the vehicle, but on hot nights with the increased power demand and the voltage drop the fridge freezer was not running efficiently. I have just fitted a deep cycle battery to the vehicle as well so now I have plenty of power for the hot nights. I now only have to use the genny for about 2 hrs in the evening now to freeze the ice and recharge both batteries, with the vehicle d/c battery being charged on the move and powering both fridges. In NP I have sufficient power to not need the genny in the evening if I can't use it. I only use the solar panel if we are camped during the day to help maintain the vehicle d/c battery for the fridge/freezer to help it run efficiently, as it keeps the battery at about 13v generally. Don't make the mistake of buying a cheap genny, all you will do is eventually destroy everything with electronic circuits. I would only use one for running incandescent lights, nothing else. Pay the money and get an inverter (full sine wave) generator. They are also much quieter. I had been wrestling with your problem for a few years, and being tight, didn't want to spend the money but in the end I came to the conclusion that to do it right and have dependable power I had no alternative.

I am a great fan of solar.

Solar is effective (most of the time), silent and less frequent maintenance required than a genny, and it is always there - no setting up and fuelling up when you stop or upsetting the neighbours by using a genny. We used to use an 80 w panel to charge one deep cycle battery and it ran a small caravan fridge and a couple of lights in fine weather, just used as a portable put out when we stopped. These days it is easy to get larger wattage panels so if setting up as we did before i would choose a much larger panel and battery ti match.

We now have 4 x 130 w roof mounted on the caravan to charge four batteries and we have more than enough of power for long term all seasons travelling for fridge, Engel as a freezer, lights, water pumps, computer, fan, inverter used charge small batteries (camera phone and small power tools eg drill) electric shaver etc. We have 12 v telly and DVD player too but we don't have time to watch them when out having fun. The old 80 w is roof mounted on the tow vehicle to run the Engel in the vehicle as well as for lights when camping out away from the caravan.

Of course solar is not as effective in very cloudy and/or wet spells, but you wouldn't want to be in that type of weather with a camper trailer anyway. It is also not as efficient in the hot tropics.

Motherhen

Personally i think solar is the way to go for what u are going to run. Nothing worse then a camper nearby in the pristine bush starting up his/her genny.

wizzer

It all depends on your power requirements. As you only have a Engels and a few lights, a solar panel with a decent deep cycle battery should be fine. And even when you get a few cloudy/wet days in a row, just charge the deep cycle battery up with your vehicle for an hour or so. No need to buy another generator when you already have one (ialternator in your vehicle).

Cheers

Captain

I believe a Honda 2 is the go over solar panels. Why? Well, when I was away in remote area (No-one around) the vehicle's battery was flat, with the aux at 10.8 volts. Battery MUST be 12 volts to start my diesel. I took smart charger (Projector) out of camper,started Honda two,plugged in smart charger which commenced to charge vehicle battery. Wife & I settled down had a cup of tea & generally tidied up the camp after about an hour & half started vehicle. You cannot do that with solar panels in that time & never if it was raining or overcast. Solar panels are a great accessory but for me money is tight & I did my sums & decided on the Honda 2. I could not afford both. When I bought it, solar panels were about $10 per Watt. With my set up I nedded two 80 panels (according to solar seller fella) so at 160 watts that was going to set me back $1600.....Engel cost me $1750 with all the goodies. That is my opinion & retreating now ibnto the bunker to take cover from returned fire.

thanks for all the replies, Solar looks like the way to go, will need to suss out a good store etc...
Thanks again for all the rplies

I use a solar panel array (80 watts) to keep a charge into the batteries.

My backup, should the solar panels not provide enough juice, is a built-in "genset".
It's my vehicle alternator:-)


Bill.

We are on the road full time and have solar & 3 kva generator. Generator is necessary when weather is overcast etc. And don,t care wot the non generator pepole say

I use a generator when 240 is not available. I find it very good at keeping neighbours away

Be careful that you have enough room to properly carry the solar panels. Once my wife has packed all of the stuff she wants, then the only way we can fit a loaf of bread in the vehicle is one slice at a time.

I had to make the same decision as you are trying to make. I finished up with a 1 kva Honda generator which is small, light-weight and extremely quiet. I have a Xantrex 40A charger so I do not have to run the generator for all that long. The Xantrex has a remote control which allows you to charge at different percentages of the maximum charging rate. This is most useful for campgrounds such as Cape Leveque that have a 2A circuit breaker for each campsite.

There are Solar Panel advocates that object to people who 'selfishly' start up their generator to charge their batteries, yet almost in the same breath state that if there is insufficient sunlight, they charge up their batteries by starting up their 4.2 litre diesel. My Honda generator is much quieter than any large diesel engine. I do agree that some of the very cheap generators are very noisy and should be banned.